jAlbum / Upload

For others to see your album it needs to be uploaded to a web server. jAlbum has a built in ftp client that makes it convenient to upload your final album to any web server you have access to. You can use any ftp client software to upload your albums, but this embedded uploader will save you time. By default, it only uploads new and changed files, making updates to an existing gallery quick and convenient. It also keeps track of previously uploaded files and can therefore safely delete files that are no longer in use (This record is kept in a file called "manifest.jmf" and is stored within each album on the server). To open this window, click on the small triangle at the right of the upload button and select ‘upload/Manage’, or press Cmd/Ctrl+M.

If you execute "Make all" or change image related settings, such as image dimensions, scaling quality or image filters, then all images need to be re-processed and re-uploaded. jAlbum is usually smart enough to figure out when reprocessing is needed. Simply press "Make album" every time you make changes to a gallery and let jAlbum figure out the most efficient way to update your gallery

Note, if you hold down ALT/Opt and then click upload/manage you can open multiple upload windows, allowing you to publish to more than one location at a time.

Accounts

This section lets you select what server to upload to. jAlbum can keep track of multiple servers. The settings for each server is stored in an "Account profile". You see a list of your account profiles here.

The selected account will became the default if you do Menu>File>Save as default

If you are using jAlbum storage and you change your jAlbum username, on your profile page, then you will need to replace your old account with a new one using your new username.

Add

You can add a new account profile by clicking on the Add button. You will then be asked what type of account to use, an existing one on another server or your jAlbum account, select ‘Use an existing account on other server’, if you want to upload to your own website and select 'Use my jAlbum account" if you want to upload to jAlbum.net.

For more information about uploading to your own website go here.

For more information about uploading to your jAlbum account go here.

Remove Removes the selected account profile from the list below.

Rename Enables you to rename the selected account profile.

Current account

Web Address If using jAlbum hosting this field is populated for you, if using your own web account then enter the address of your site, e.g.

https://mySite.com

A correctly entered address, that is one that exists, will show in green text, a non existent address will show in red and will need correcting.

Type Select what connection type (protocol) to use. Choose between FTP, FTPS, FTPES and SFTP.

Server name Enter the name of the server to connect to, usually in the format "ftp.myserver.com". You may also specify an initial path after the server name, for instance "ftp.myserver.com/initial/path/here". Specifying an initial path here is usually only needed on servers with hidden directories.

Username Enter the username for this account. If you don't know what to enter here, ask those who administer the server.

Password Enter the password for this account. If you don't know what to enter here, ask those who administer the server.

If you don't want jAlbum to store your password, keep this field blank. jAlbum will then ask you every time you connect.

Advanced dialog

Port number Server port number. Usually 21 for FTP and 22 for SFTP connection types

Passive mode Keep checked to enable connecting from networks that are behind firewalls

Force UTF-8 Always write files with UTF-8 encoding no matter what the server reports. It is usually best to keep this checked but some older servers may need it switched off to properly manage foreign characters.

Show full server directory tree Show not only the current "ftp root" but show the full path to it from the physical file system root of the server. (Only available on some connection types.)

Connect Connects to the selected server.

Connected

This window will open when you have selected an account and clicked on ‘connect’. It presents the folder tree of your server and allows you to manage files and folders on the server and select a directory to upload your album to. Use a dedicated directory for each album! jAlbum will suggest a folder name for the album. If you don't like the suggestion or wish to use another folder as target for the upload, press ESC to cancel the folder creation and point out another target folder.

You can use drag and drop to rearrange files and directories on your server. You can also upload arbitrary files and directories by simply dragging them from your file system and dropping them onto the relevant directory of your server

Toolbar

Tip, you can password protect subfolders of jAlbum hosted albums by selecting the folder and then right clicking it and select ‘Password protect’

Create a new album directory

Add a directory under the currently selected one. Use a dedicated directory for each album.

Rename

Change the name of the selected directory.

Download the selected directory

You can download a directory to your computer, either to import into jAlbum or to any location on your computer. If you choose import the files will be saved to ‘My Albums location’.

Delete

Deletes the selected directory or file.

Refresh Directory

Force jAlbum to refresh the display so it correctly reflects the contents of the selected directory.

Mark as web root

jAlbum needs to know what folder on your server that represents the "root" of your web site. This is important so jAlbum can figure out the correct web address of the final album (used by the address link below for instance). For many servers this folder is the root of the ftp account itself but folders like "www" and "public_html" are also commonly used. jAlbum tries to automatically detect this folder. If it fails, it will warn you about it. You can then use this button to select the correct folder. Doing so will also promt you to enter the corresponding web address that this folder represents, usually in the form http://www.mysite.com

Password Protect

jalbum.net accounts only. Allows you to add, or delete, a password to restrict access to albums or to sub folders of albums. See Manage Privacy for more information.

Note, the link above also describes how to 'hide' albums hosted on jAlbum.net from other users.

Used and free space

Lets you quickly check your jAlbum hosting details, how much space you have and how much is unused, and upgrade your account if you want to.

Advanced

By default jAlbum only shows the directories on your server. This button lets you see and manage files as well.

Address and share button

Shows the URL for the current directory, click on it to visit your album. If the address is wrong, see "Mark as web root" above.

Click on the button next to the address to copy the address of the current directory to clipboard, so you can share it with people.

< Back

Close the current connection and return to the list of account profiles

Upload

Uploads the contents of jAlbum's local "album" folder to the currently selected folder. jAlbum will be smart enough to only upload changed and new files. Click the small triangle on the edge of the button to upload everything.

Before the upload starts, jAlbum presents this confirmation dialog. Ensure the upload path and privacy settings are correct.

Click the Privacy button if you want to edit the privacy settings. You can add a password to the album or you can hide or make the album visible on your jalbum.net profile page. Hit OK and wait for the upload process to complete.

jAlbum Hosted Albums

If you have uploaded using a jAlbum Standard or Power account then you can manage your albums from your user pages. See This page for further details.

Fixing upload problems

If you have problems uploading an album there are several things you can try to resolve the problem.

Delete the manifest file

Click the rightmost, ‘spanner’ icon, advanced button in jAlbum's "Upload/Publish" window to also reveal files. Now locate the "manifest.jmf" file in the target folder and delete it, in some cases might also require deleting the album's root index.html file too. Ensure the target folder is selected and retry the upload. You can read more about the manifest file here

Check your web root

You can only upload albums to folders which lie below the so called "web root folder" of your ftp account. Usually, this folder is the same as the root of your account or a folder named "public_html", "www" etc. You can see what folder is your current web root folder as it has a small globe icon attached to it - see 'Mark as web root' above

Changes not being seen

This could just be a browser caching problem, try clearing your browser cache or use a different browser to check. If you still have problems check your local album, does that look correct? If not remake the album by clicking 'Make album' don't try 'Force Remake' or 'Make Test', jAlbum will figure out the changes required.

Some providers use caching on their servers. You may want to temporarily disable the server cache. Consult their documentation.

Change the Account type

If you have problems making a connection try a different account type - see above for how to do this.

Corruption of Account profile

On rare cases an account profile may stop working for no apparent reason. You may try to delete the existing profile and add it again.

Server configuration problems

Configuration for some servers through the GUI may fail for some reason. You may try to modify file .jalbum/accounts.xml with a text editor. Always close jAlbum before doing so.

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