How to Send Photos on the Internet using Shutterfly

To sign up for a free account

1. Connect to the Internet, open your Web browser and go to shutterfly.com

2. Click once on "Not a member?" on the right. 

3. Fill in the form and click once on "Join Now!". 

4. Click once on "Yes, I accept the Terms and Conditions"

5. The "Welcome to Shutterfly" page will be displayed.

Note: The above procedure need only be done once, when you initially sign up for a free account.  Thereafter, all you have to do is go to shutterfly.com and type in your password.

To make a new Shutterfly album

1. Open your Web browser and go to shutterfly.com.  Type in your Password in the upper right and click once on "Sign in". (Note: You can also upload from Picasa 2; see below).

2. Click the Add Pictures button.

3. Type a name for your album next to "Album name".

4. Click the Next button.

5. To add photos, first click "Choose pictures...", click in the "Current Folder:" menu at the top and select the folder containing your photos (for example, if you want to send a picture that is in the your My Pictures folder, click My Documents, then My Pictures). If the pictures are in a folder, double-click on the folder.

6. The pictures in the folder listed under "Current folder" are displayed as thumbnail pictures with little checkboxes under each one.  Select the pictures you want to include in your album by clicking on each picture so that its checkbox is checked.  (Note: you can include pictures of any size, even original digital camera photos.  You don't have to resize them. Shutterfly willl automatically display the pictures to fit the viewer's screen).

7. When you have all the pictures selected, click the "Add selected pictures" button at the bottom of the screen.

8. The photos will be uploaded to Shutterfly.  Depending upon the speed of you Internet connection and the number of pictures, this may take several minutes.  The time remaining for completion of uploading is displayed at the bottom of the window.

9. When it's finished, it will display "Upload Complete".  Click on either "Add more pictures" if you want to upload more pictures from another folder on your computer, or click on "View pictures" if you've finished adding pictures.

10. The added pictires are displayed as thumbnails.  Click "View entire album". 

11. You can now click on any the colored items on the right to: View the album as a slideshow, Enhance/fix pictures (rotate, crop, choose borders, etc), Edit titles and descriptions, Organize the album (re-arrange the order of the pictures); or Delete pictures.

12. To send these pictures to someone via email, click "Share the album" on the right or on the green "Share online" tab at the top of the window, then click Next.

13. Type in the email address(es) to which you want to send the invitation into the To: box. If there are more than once email address, separate them with commas.

14. Type in a subject and message and click once on the blue Share now button on the right.
Note: The people to whom you send an invitation will receive a short email message asking them to click on a link to view the pictures.  When they do so, they will be taken to a Web page that shows your message and the first picture in your album. They can click on the "View Pictures" button to see the enture album.  They will be invited to order prints, but they do not have to order anything - they can simply view the pictures one at a time or view a slide show of the entire album.  They do not need to sign in, or give their name, email, or any other information.  It costs nothing to view the pictures, view a slide show, or to print pictures on their own printer.  Only ordering prints costs anything (that's how Shutterfly makes its money), but that's optional.  Albums that you make on Shutterfly are permanent and free.  Viewers can print a picture from a Shutterfly album on their own printer by clicking on the thumbnail of the desired picture to display a larger version, then right-clicking on the photo and select "Print Picture...".  Viewers can save a picture from a Shutterfly album on their own hard drive by clicking on the thumbnail of the desired picture to display a larger version, right-clicking on the photo and select Save Picture As...", then clicking Save. The picture will be saved in their "My Pictures" folder, which is in the "My Documents" folder. 
To edit one of your Shutterfly albums or create a new album

1. Open your Web browser and go to shutterfly.com.  Type in your Password in the upper right and click once on "Sign in".

2. All your previously-created albums will be listed, showing you how many photos each album has. To create a new album, click the "Add Pictures" tab or click "Create a New Album" on the right, type in an album title, and click the "Save now" button on the right. Then Add Pictures as above.

3. To edit a previously-created album, click on the little round gray button just below the album, then click the green  "Add pictures" or "View & Enhance" tabs at the top.

4. In the Pictures mode, you can click on any the colored items on the right to view the album as a slideshow, Enhance/fix pictures (rotate, crop, choose borders, etc), edit titles and descriptions, organize the album (re-arrange the order of the pictures); or delete pictures.

To invite people to view an album

1. Open your Web browser and go to shutterfly.com.  Type in your Password in the upper right and click once on "Sign in".

2. All your previously-created albums will be listed.  Click on the little round gray button just below the album, then click on the green "Share online" tab at the top of the window, then click Next.

3. Type in the email address(es) to which you want to send the invitation into the "To:" box. If there are more than once email address, separate them with commas.

4. Type in a subject and message and click once on the blue Share now button on the right.

To upload albums from Picasa 2

1. Before going into Shutterfly, open Picasa 2 and select (Ctrl-click) the pictures you want to upload. 

2. Click on the Order button at the bottom.

3. Click the Choose button under Shutterfly. Log in to Shutterfly with your usual Shutterfly email address and password and click OK.  The picture will upload automatically.
(c) Tom O'Haver (toh@umd.edu), April 2005