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 public backup-receipt page 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
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 .galeira-verify marker file
Inside your Dropbox, Galeira creates a predictable tree so you can find anything later without opening our dashboard. The root is the folder you picked at connect time, then one subfolder per event using the format YYYY-MM-DD-event-slug, then originals/ for full-resolution files and previews/ for the moderated web-sized copies. At the top of each event folder we drop a small text file called .galeira-verify that lists the event id, the host email, the connection timestamp, and a checksum of the folder contents at write time. That marker is what powers the public backup-receipt page: anyone with the receipt link can confirm the folder really belongs to that event, without needing access to your Dropbox itself. If you rename or move the folder later, that is fine — the marker file travels with it and the receipt page keeps verifying.
- ✓Root → YYYY-MM-DD-event-slug → originals/ + previews/
- ✓.galeira-verify file pins event id + host email + checksum
- ✓Receipt page reads the marker, not your Dropbox login
- ✓Safe to rename or move the folder after the event
Dropbox app-folder scope vs full-Dropbox scope
Dropbox offers two permission scopes for third-party apps, and Galeira lets you choose at connect time. App-folder scope is the tighter option: Dropbox creates a sandboxed folder called Apps/Galeira and we can only read and write inside that one folder, never the rest of your Dropbox. Full-Dropbox scope lets you point Galeira at any folder you already use, which is helpful when you want guest photos to land next to the photographer's final gallery in your existing client structure. Most hosts pick app-folder scope for their first event because it is the easier mental model — if anything ever goes wrong, you know exactly which folder to inspect. Hosts running multiple events a year, or pros backing up client weddings, usually switch to full-Dropbox scope so they can keep the photographer delivery folder and the crowd-photo folder side by side.
- ✓App-folder scope = sandboxed Apps/Galeira folder only
- ✓Full-Dropbox scope = pick any existing folder
- ✓Scope is shown clearly on the OAuth screen at connect time
- ✓You can revoke either scope from dropbox.com at any time
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, OneDrive, S3, or WebDAV. 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.
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?
Yes, if you connect with full-Dropbox scope. You pick the parent folder at connect time, and each event creates its own dated subfolder underneath. App-folder scope locks everything to the Apps/Galeira folder instead.
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 does the backup-receipt page know my Dropbox folder is real?
Each event folder contains a small .galeira-verify marker file with the event id, host email, and a content checksum. The receipt page reads that marker through the Dropbox API to confirm the folder belongs to your event.
What if I want to move the Dropbox folder later?
You can rename or move the event folder anywhere inside your Dropbox. The marker file travels with it, so the backup-receipt page keeps verifying without any changes on your side.
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.