Digital Downloads

SimplePhoto's Digital Download feature enables high resolution images hosted by SimplePhoto to be purchased in varying sizes and automatically fulfilled. When a customer purchases a digital download, SimplePhoto will send an email and text message with links to the images they purchased in addition to a copyright release PDF file. Digital Download products can apply to either a single image, all images in a gallery, or a pre-set number of images. Multiple resolutions can be offered, so you could offer the printable high res image for a higher price and a lower resolution image for a lower price.

See our Details and Limitations section below for important information regarding SimplePhoto's digital download feature.

Click here to view our video tutorial that will walk you through how to add different types of digital download products to your SimplePhoto reorder price list.

High Resolution Image File Size

The file size of high resolution images stored by SimplePhoto are different than the originally uploaded images because SimplePhoto resizes and compresses high resolution images. Most high resolution image upload methods will resize the high resolution image to 2500 pixels on the longest side. SimplePhoto applies a small amount of JPEG compression before uploading and storing images.

High Resolution Image Uploading

High resolution image uploading must be enabled for an account. When "High resolution upload" is enabled, all future uploads performed using supported upload methods will cause a high resolution version of images to be stored by SimplePhoto. To enable high resolution image uploading, click the Gallery & Event Settings link (for SimplePhoto 2.0) or Advanced Account Settings (for SimplePhoto Classic) on the SimplePhoto Dashboard, then search for "High resolution upload" to find the setting. Click the High Resolution Upload checkbox to enable high resolution uploading and scroll down and click Update.

Only images uploaded that are larger than 900 pixels on the longest side will be considered high resolution images. If you'd like to upload images smaller than 900 pixels on the longest side and sell digital download products for those images, please contact the SimplePhoto support team so we can make the necessary configuration changes.

Please note that Digital Download products will only be visible in galleries uploaded with high resolution images.

High resolution image uploading is currently supported for these uploading methods:

The "Upload Images" button in the Gallery Control Panel.
The "Upload Gallery per directory" button in the "Import" tab
The "PhotoLynx" button in the "Import" tab
The "Timestone" button in the "Import" tab
The "Tab-Delimited Import" button in the "Import" tab
The DP2 Bridge Gallery Upload program (further setup is required inside the DP2 Bridge Gallery Upload program).

Most high resolution image upload methods will resize the high resolution image to 2500 pixels on the longest side.

If you are using a Windows PC and you are using one of our browser based upload methods, we recommend using Internet Explorer 8 or higher. Based on our testing, the upload tool available when using Internet Explorer performs much better when you are attempting to upload a large number of images.

PhotoLynx users will need to adjust the "Max Large Image Size" setting inside the SimplePhoto export window in ImageMatch in order to export high resolution files. We recommend that setting be no bigger than 2500 when uploading high resolution files.

DRUMS users, in the "DRUMS - Web Order Export" window, please change the "Path to Student Image Files" to a folder that contains high-resolution image files.

Timestone users will need to adjust the SimplePhoto export configuration file to increase the size of images generated using the SimplePhoto export in Timestone.

Close the Timestone program if it is currently running.
We recommend that you first make a copy of the existing configuration file C:\Program Files\Common Files\Timestone Shared\Exports\SimplePhoto.xml . You can name the backup something like SimplePhotoBACKUP.xml
Edit the SimplePhoto.xml file. Open Windows Explorer or File Explorer, navigate to the folder "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Timestone Shared\Exports\", then right click on the SimplePhoto.xml file and choose "Edit". Change the value of size="320x400" to "1600x2000" on the third line down. This will increase the size of the images generated by the SimplePhoto export inside Timestone. We also recommend changing the Company attribute value to something like company="SimplePhoto High Res", so the selection in the Timestone export window will be easy to identify. Save the edited file.
Open the Timestone program and perform a test export.

Add "Digital Download" products to price lists:

When editing a price list, click the Digital Download button to add a digital download product to a price list. When setting up a Digital Download product you can choose to sell the full resolution image or sell a smaller image size by providing a long edge pixel size. If the "Maximum Pixel Width or Height" option is checked and a pixel value is provided, SimplePhoto will resize the full resolution image to that size when generating a customer's digital download files.

Digital Downloads sold as Threshold Products

To offer a digital download with all gallery images as a threshold product that is available on the checkout screen when a customer's cart reaches a certain threshold, click the Threshold Digital Download button, when editing a price list, or the Required Threshold Digital Download button if the digital download is free after the threshold price has been met and you do not wish to make the digital download optional. Currently, digital download threshold products are only visible when no orders have been placed for a gallery.

Digital Downloads in a package or composite

To add a digital download as a package product, a package addon, or as a composite product image node, see the help file: Digital Downloads in a package or composite

Green Screen Digital Downloads

SimplePhoto can apply backgrounds to knocked-out images as part of the automated digital download fulfillment process. Please see the Green Screen Digital Download documentation for more information on this feature.

Customize Email Message and Copyright Release text

The email message text for Digital Download orders and the Copyright Release template can be customized. Click the Custom Text link in the Settings section of the SimplePhoto Dashboard (for SimplePhoto Classic), OR click on the Price List Settings link in the "Settings" section of the SimplePhoto Dashboard (for SimplePhoto 2.0), then search for Digital Download to find the templates near the bottom of the screen.

Customer shopping experience

Digital Download products will only be visible in galleries containing high resolution images.

When a customer adds a Digital Download product to their shopping cart, they will see the following message on the checkout screen, the receipt screen, and inside the email order receipts:

Your order contains Digital Download products.Digital Download products are delivered via email when the checkout process is complete. Within 10 minutes after ordering, you should receive a separate email that contains links to the image files purchased. If you do not receive an email 20 minutes after your order was placed, please contact your photographer.

If a Digital Download is the only product purchased in a shopping cart, no shipping options will be shown to the customer during checkout.

Automated digital download processing

When a Digital Download order is placed, SimplePhoto immediately begins building the digital download files using the high resolution images stored by SimplePhoto.
SimplePhoto then generates a copyright release PDF file. Photographers are able to adjust the template used to generate the Copyright Release using the instructions outlined in the "Customize Email Message and Copyright Release text" section above.
SimplePhoto zips the generated images and the copyright release into a single file for easier downloading.
SimplePhoto generates an email and text message containing all the necessary links and sends this email to the customer.
The email text is then also added to the end of the order stored on the SimplePhoto Orders report, so photographers can also access the Digital Download content.
After at least two weeks, the Digital Download files are removed from SimplePhoto servers.

SimplePhoto generates an email containing text similar to the example below. The first three paragraphs are customizable (everything between "We appreciate your business" and "If you have any questions"). See the instructions in the Customize Email Message and Copyright Release text section above.

Update: As of Aug 19, 2020, the digital download email sent by SimplePhoto contains a link to the mobile-friendly digital download gallery instead of individual image links. The email subject line now also contains the studio's company name.

Subject: Your photo order from [Account Name] is ready for download!

Email body text:

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We appreciate your business!

Your photo order is ready for download! Please click on the link below to download your photos and print release form. You may download your photos individually or download a zip file containing all photos and the print release document.

If you have any questions, please contact [PhotographerEmailAddress].

Please visit this link to download your images. This link will expire in 2 weeks.

If you're having trouble clicking the link, copy and paste this URL into your browser: https://downloads.simplephoto.com/not1a1real1link

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Text message sent for digital download orders

Customers who place an order containing digital download products can receive a text message in addition to an email notification. When a shopping cart contains one or more digital download products, customers will see the message "Links to download your digital files will be sent to your phone and email" on the shipping information or customer information form.