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DROPBOX · OWN-CLOUD EVENT BACKUP

Event Photos Backed Up to Dropbox

Guests scan one QR and upload to your event gallery. Galeira mirrors every approved photo into a Dropbox folder you control, and a backup receipt in your dashboard shows exactly which files reached your Dropbox.

  • Connect your own Dropbox once, reuse it for every event
  • Guests never need a Dropbox account or login
  • Per-event folder created automatically on first upload
  • Backup-receipt page lists every mirrored filename + hash
  • Only approved photos mirror; rejected ones never leave Galeira
  • Disconnect Dropbox anytime, your files stay where they are
Your eventLIVE
galeira.com/e/SARAH
Backup receiptAll healthy
Collected347 photos
Backed up347 / 347
CloudGoogle Drive
FolderWedding_2025/
12 new photos just now

Why couples and event hosts pick Dropbox for event backup

Dropbox is the folder most hosts already use for contracts, vendor files, and the photographer's final delivery, so adding the guest-uploaded crowd photos to the same account keeps everything in one place. With Galeira, your guests still use the lightweight gallery built for phones, while the originals land inside a Dropbox folder you own from the first upload. The host signs in to Dropbox once during event setup; from then on, every approved photo and video flows into a per-event subfolder without anyone touching the Dropbox app. Because Dropbox has clear sharing controls, you can hand the folder to a parent, a videographer, or an editor without re-uploading anything. And because Galeira never hides the originals behind its own paywall, you can stop paying us and still have full-resolution files sitting in your Dropbox the next morning.

  • One destination for vendor files + guest crowd photos
  • Familiar sharing controls hosts already understand
  • Photographer can pull originals directly from the folder
  • Works even after you cancel Galeira

How Galeira plugs into Dropbox (one-time connect, then per-event folders)

The connection happens in the host dashboard under Backup destinations. You click Connect Dropbox, sign in through the official Dropbox OAuth screen, and approve the scope you want Galeira to use. From that point on, every event you create in Galeira can mirror its approved uploads into a fresh subfolder, named after the event slug and date, with no extra clicks at event time. Guests still scan the same QR they would for any Galeira gallery and upload from their phone browser; nothing about their experience changes. Behind the scenes, the mirror runs after the moderation queue clears a photo, so anything you reject in the host app is never written to Dropbox. If your Dropbox quota fills up mid-event, Galeira keeps accepting uploads into the gallery and retries the mirror as soon as you free space, so guests never see an error.

  • Connect once in dashboard → Backup destinations
  • Per-event subfolder created on first approved upload
  • Guest UX is unchanged — just the QR and gallery
  • Mirror retries automatically if Dropbox is full or offline

Folder structure + the dated verify file

Inside your Dropbox, Galeira writes into one folder and keeps it simple, so you can find anything later without opening our dashboard. Galeira creates one folder per event, named after it — Galeira — Anna and Marco Wedding — inside the parent you authorised at connect time, which under app-folder scope is Apps/Galeira. Approved originals land directly in that event folder, keeping the filename the guest's device gave them. There is no nested tree to learn and no previews folder: what is in there is the full-resolution set. Each verification run drops a small dated text file, galeira-verify-2026-08-15.txt, into the same folder; it is proof of life for the connection and is safe to delete. The backup receipt in your Galeira dashboard is the other half — it names the destination, the folder, the counts, and the last successful verification, so you can compare our number against the file count Dropbox shows you.

  • One folder per event, created at connect time and named after the event
  • Guest filenames are preserved, so the folder reads like a camera roll
  • A dated galeira-verify-YYYY-MM-DD.txt proves the connection still works
  • Compare Dropbox's own file count against the receipt's count

Dropbox app-folder scope vs full-Dropbox scope

Dropbox offers two permission scopes for third-party apps, and the scope Galeira requests is fixed by how the app is registered rather than chosen per connection. App-folder scope is the tighter of the two: Dropbox creates a sandboxed folder called Apps/Galeira, and Galeira can read and write only inside it, never the rest of your Dropbox. Under full-Dropbox scope the event folder is created at the root of your account instead. Either way the destination is a folder Galeira creates and names after the event, not one you point it at — so if you want guest photos to sit beside a photographer's delivery folder, move the folder after the event rather than expecting to choose it up front. The OAuth screen states which scope you are granting before you approve.

  • App-folder scope = sandboxed Apps/Galeira folder only
  • Full-Dropbox scope = the event folder sits at your Dropbox root
  • The OAuth screen states the scope before you approve it
  • You can revoke either scope from dropbox.com at any time

Restore + share workflows after the event

After the event, the Dropbox folder is the canonical copy you hand to whoever needs the photos. To share with one person, right-click the event folder in Dropbox and use the standard share link — they get the originals, the previews, and the marker file. To restore the event back into Galeira (say, to rebuild a slideshow next anniversary), open the event in the host dashboard and click Restore from Dropbox; Galeira reads the same folder and rehydrates the gallery without any re-upload from guests. If you ever cancel Galeira, nothing in your Dropbox changes: the folder, the originals, the previews, and the marker file all stay where they are, and the public receipt page keeps working as long as the marker file exists. That is the whole point of own-cloud backup — the photos belong to the host's Dropbox, not to us.

  • Share via Dropbox link, no Galeira account needed
  • Restore from Dropbox rehydrates the gallery in-app
  • Cancelling Galeira does not touch your Dropbox files
  • Receipt page keeps verifying as long as marker file exists
Own-cloud backup

Back up originals to a cloud you already own.

Galeira stores the event gallery so guests can view and download it, but the important part is ownership. When you connect a cloud destination, approved originals mirror to a place you control: Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive. The backup-status page shows what copied, what is pending, and what needs attention.

External cloud-provider outages and account deletions are outside Galeira's control — which is exactly why the receipt matters. You can verify, retry, and export while your archive is active.

How Galeira compares to the methods people try

Each method gets photos somewhere. The differences are in friction, quality, privacy, and what you can recover afterward.

MethodWhere it breaksHow Galeira fixes it
Asking guests to upload directly to a shared Dropbox folderMost guests do not have Dropbox, balk at installing the app, and HEIC photos break on older clientsGuests use a phone-browser gallery via QR; Galeira mirrors approved photos into your Dropbox for you
Photographer uploads everything to Dropbox after the eventMisses the candid phone-camera moments and arrives 2-6 weeks lateCrowd photos land in the same Dropbox within minutes of being approved during the event
Manually downloading from a sharing app and re-uploading to DropboxSlow, error-prone, and you cannot prove which files actually got copiedMirror runs automatically and the backup-receipt page lists every mirrored filename, its destination, and the bytes copied
Trusting a sharing app's built-in cloud as the only copyAccount suspension, plan downgrade, or shutdown can put the photos behind a paywallOriginals live in your own Dropbox from the first upload; cancelling Galeira does not affect them
Using Dropbox file requests for the eventGuests must type names and emails, and there is no moderation step before files hit your folderScan-and-upload QR with host moderation; only approved photos reach your Dropbox folder

Questions hosts ask before they create the QR

Do my guests need a Dropbox account to upload?

No. Guests scan your event QR and upload from their phone browser into the Galeira gallery. Galeira is the one talking to Dropbox on your behalf, not the guests.

Which Dropbox plans does this work with?

Any Dropbox plan that supports third-party app connections, including Basic, Plus, Family, Professional, and Business. You only need enough free space in the account for the event's approved photos and videos.

What happens if my Dropbox fills up during the event?

Guests keep uploading into the Galeira gallery without seeing any error. The mirror job retries in the background and writes the pending files into Dropbox as soon as you free space or upgrade the plan.

Can I pick which folder inside Dropbox the photos go into?

Not at connect time. Galeira creates a folder named after the event — inside Apps/Galeira under app-folder scope, or at your Dropbox root under full access — and writes only there. The folder is an ordinary Dropbox folder, so you can move it wherever you like afterwards; reconnect the destination if you move it before the event is over.

Are rejected photos ever written to Dropbox?

No. The mirror only runs after a photo clears your moderation queue, so anything you reject in the host app never reaches your Dropbox folder. This keeps the Dropbox copy aligned with what is publicly visible in the gallery.

How do I know the receipt is describing my real Dropbox folder?

The receipt reports what Galeira's mirror worker recorded — the destination, the folder, and every file it confirmed Dropbox accepted. It is not reading your Dropbox live while you look at it, so the honest check is the one you do yourself: open the folder and compare its file count against the receipt's, and look at the date on the newest galeira-verify file to see when the connection was last proven to work.

What if I want to move the Dropbox folder later?

Files already mirrored are yours to move — they are ordinary Dropbox files and nothing about them depends on Galeira. But Galeira keeps writing to the folder it was connected to, so if you move it, reconnect the destination in your event settings and check that the next verification succeeds before the event.

Can I disconnect Dropbox after the event?

Yes. Disconnecting revokes Galeira's access to your Dropbox account, but every photo, video, and marker file that was already mirrored stays in your Dropbox. You can also revoke access from dropbox.com at any time.

Will the photographer's final delivery also go through this folder?

Only if you choose to put it there. Many hosts on full-Dropbox scope point Galeira at the same client folder the photographer delivers into, so crowd photos and pro photos sit side by side.

Does this replace the in-app Galeira gallery for guests?

No. Guests still view, react to, and download from the Galeira gallery during and after the event. Dropbox is the host's backup destination, not the guest-facing surface.

Keep reading

Create your event QR in about 60 seconds

Guests scan, upload, and view the gallery. You keep full-resolution originals backed up to your own cloud.