My couple says the gallery link doesn't work: a troubleshooting checklist

A checklist for when a couple says the gallery link does not work: what to ask them first, then published, expired, password, PIN, email wall, wrong link and browser.

“The link doesn’t work” almost always means one of 6 things: the gallery is not published, it has expired, the couple is typing the download PIN where the password goes, the email registration screen looks like a login, the link they have is not the gallery link, or the app they opened it in is not a real browser. Before you touch a setting, ask 3 questions: what exactly is on the screen (a screenshot), what device and app they opened it in, and which link they used (ask them to forward the message). The screenshot alone solves most of them.

Then work down this list in order.

What to ask first

Send this, word for word if you like:

“Sorry about that. Can you send me a screenshot of what you see, tell me whether you are on a phone or a computer, and forward me the message with the link in it? I will have it sorted in a few minutes.”

The screenshot tells you which screen they are stuck on. The device tells you whether it is a browser problem. The forwarded message tells you whether the link is right and whether the password was sent with it. Do not ask “what does it say” over the phone; couples read out the wrong thing.

The checklist

Symptom they describe	Likely cause	Fix
“Page not found” or “This gallery is not available”	Not published, or unpublished by mistake	Open the gallery in your studio and check its status. Publish it.
“This gallery has expired”	Expiry date passed, or set to the wrong year	Extend the expiry and resend the link
“It asks for a password and mine is wrong”	They are entering the download PIN, or a space or period came along when they copied it	Send the password on its own line in a new message, nothing else in the message
“It asks for a password and I never got one”	Password sent in a separate message they missed, or you never sent it	Resend it; check the delivery email included it
“It wants me to log in” or “make an account”	Email registration screen	Tell them it only asks for an email, no account, no password, and takes 5 seconds
“It asks for a PIN when I download”	Download PIN is on	Send the PIN; explain it is only for downloading, not viewing
“It opens someone else’s photos” or “it opens your homepage”	Wrong link: your portfolio, an old gallery, a preview link, or a vendor’s shared set	Copy the gallery link from the gallery itself and resend
“It opens but nothing loads” or a white page	In-app browser (Instagram, Facebook, Messenger), a very slow connection, or an ad blocker	Ask them to open it in Safari or Chrome; try wifi
“It works on my phone but not my laptop”	Old browser, a corporate network, a VPN	Update the browser, try another network
“The download never arrives”	Large ZIP is emailed as a link, and it went to spam	Check spam; resend; try a single section

Published

The most common cause. You built the gallery, previewed it, wrote the email, and never pressed Publish, or unpublished it to fix a photo and forgot. Check the status first. In FOCL Galleries the sequence is Publish, then Send to couple, and the help center walks through it under publish and send.

Expired

Check the expiry date. A gallery set to expire 12 months after a June wedding expires the following June, and the couple who goes to download in July sees an expired page. Extend it, resend, and decide what your policy is; wedding gallery expiration policy covers the options. Also check the year: a date typed as 2025 instead of 2026 expires the gallery the moment you publish it.

Password

Three password failures, all human:

PIN as password. The gallery has a password to view and a PIN to download, and the couple has both in the same email. They type the PIN into the password screen. Send the password alone.
Copy-paste debris. The couple copied the password with a period or a trailing space from a text message. Send the password on its own line, with no punctuation after it.
Case. Passwords are usually case-sensitive; phone keyboards capitalize the first letter of a new message. Choose passwords that are all lowercase, or say “all lowercase” when you send it.

Email wall

Email registration asks a guest to enter an email address before viewing. To a guest, it looks like a login. Say what it is: “It just asks for your email so I can tell who has viewed; there is no account and no password.” If the couple objects to the wall at all, turn it off for their gallery.

Wrong link

Ask them to forward the message. The links that get sent by mistake:

Your studio or dashboard URL, which asks them to log in as you.
Your portfolio homepage rather than the gallery.
A preview link you opened while designing, which may not work once you are logged out.
A vendor’s shared set, which shows a subset.
Last year’s gallery for a different couple, from an old email you reused as a template.
A link with a period, a bracket or a quotation mark stuck to the end, which the messaging app included in the link.

Copy the link from the gallery itself, paste it on its own line, and send it again. How to send a gallery link by text message covers the format that avoids the last item.

Browser

If the screenshot shows the gallery half-loaded, or a white page with your logo and nothing else, the problem is where they opened it. Links tapped inside Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, or some email apps open in that app’s built-in browser, which blocks some scripts and downloads. Ask them to tap the menu and choose “Open in browser”, or copy the link into Safari or Chrome. Other causes in order: a slow cellular connection (try wifi), an ad blocker or a privacy extension (try a private window), a browser several years out of date, and a work laptop behind a corporate filter.

If it still fails, open the link yourself in a private window. If it fails for you, it is on your side or the platform’s. If it works, it is on theirs.

Downloads

“The link doesn’t work” sometimes means “the download doesn’t work”. A 10 GB whole-gallery ZIP is not instant on most platforms; it is prepared and emailed as a link, and that email lands in spam. Tell the couple to expect an email, check spam, and try a single section first. In FOCL Galleries a large ZIP is emailed as a link valid for 7 days. How to download wedding photos from an online gallery is written for the couple and you can send it to them.

Preventing the next one

Open the link in a private window on your phone before you send it.
Send the link on its own line, and the password in a separate message.
Use the platform’s delivery email so the password and PIN are in a record the couple can search for.
Set the expiry at publish, and put the date in the email.
Check who has viewed 2 days after sending. If nobody has, the email went to spam; text them.