User Manual
Everything you need to install, configure, and use your private family photo archive.
Requirements
MemoraNest runs on standard shared hosting. No Docker, no terminal, no technical skills needed.
Package contents
After purchase you will receive an email with a download link. The zip file contains three items:
install.php or the package/ folder. They must stay in the same directory for the installer to work.
Installation
Installation takes less than 5 minutes. You only need access to your hosting file manager.
Download the zip file from the link in your purchase email. Unzip it on your computer — you will see install.php, the package/ folder, and license.txt.
Log in to your hosting control panel (cPanel, Plesk, or similar) and open the File Manager. Navigate to the root folder of your domain — usually called public_html or www.
Upload both install.php and the entire package/ folder to the root of your domain. Make sure they are in the same directory.
Go to yourdomain.com/install.php in your browser. The installer will open.
Copy the license key from license.txt and paste it into the form. Enter your family name, choose an admin username and a secure password (at least 6 characters).
The installer sets everything up automatically. After 3 seconds it redirects you directly to the admin panel — no login required.
install.php and the package/ folder from your server for a cleaner setup.
First access
After installation you land in the admin panel. Here is what you will find:
Admin panel — yourdomain.com/admin/
The admin panel has four tabs: Upload, Delete, Organize, and Guest Uploads. This is where you manage everything.
Family gallery — yourdomain.com/album/
The main gallery. This is what your family sees when they visit the site. Albums are organized by year.
Home page — yourdomain.com/
The family home page with recent memories and quick navigation.
Grandparents View — yourdomain.com/grandparents/
A simplified view designed for grandparents and older family members — larger photos, fewer controls.
yourdomain.com/album/?family=your-family-name with your family. They do not need to log in to view photos.
Uploading photos and videos
Go to Admin → Upload tab. You can upload photos and videos directly from your computer.
Choose the year and album from the dropdowns, or create a new one by selecting + New year or + New album.
Drag and drop files onto the upload area, or click Choose files. You can upload up to 100 MB per batch. If the total size exceeds 100 MB, a warning appears and the Upload button is disabled — remove some files and try again. Photos go to /photos/, videos to /videos/ automatically.
The progress bar shows upload status. When done, the gallery rebuilds automatically — this may take a few seconds.
A note on videos
MemoraNest accepts any common video format (MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV, etc.). For best results on the web — smaller file size and instant playback — we recommend converting videos to MP4 before uploading.
Free tools that make this easy:
- HandBrake (Windows, Mac, Linux) — free, open source. Use the Web → Gmail Large 3 Minutes 720p30 or Fast 1080p30 preset.
- Compressor (Mac) — paid, very simple. Drag the video, choose a web preset, export.
- iMovie (Mac, iPhone) — free. Export as MP4 at medium or low quality for sharing.
Managing albums
Organize tab — reorder, rename and download
Go to Admin → Organize. Select a year and album. The Organize page opens as a dedicated full page — clean and focused.
- Reorder photos: drag and drop to change order. On iPhone and iPad, use the ↑↓ arrow buttons on each photo.
- Set cover: click Cover on any photo to use it as the album cover.
- Rename album: click the ✏️ icon next to the album name. Type a new name and press Rename.
- Download ZIP: click the ⬇️ icon to download all photos and videos in the album as a ZIP file.
Delete tab — remove photos or albums
Go to Admin → Delete. Select year and album, check the photos you want to remove, then click Delete selected. To delete an entire album, click Delete album.
Password-protected albums
You can lock specific albums with a password so only people who know the password can view them.
Go to the gallery (yourdomain.com/album/) and click the ⚙️ gear icon in the top-right corner. Enter your admin password to activate admin mode.
In admin mode, a Protect button appears in the top bar. Click it to open the protection panel.
For each album you want to protect, enter a password and click Enable / update. Enter a SALT (a secret phrase used to generate the hash — use something unique and memorable).
Click Generate JSON, then Save to server. The album is now locked. Visitors will see a lock icon and need to enter the password to view it.
Grandparents View
A simplified, easy-to-use page designed for grandparents and older family members. Larger photos, fewer buttons, direct access to the latest memories.
How to share it
Send family members this link: yourdomain.com/grandparents/?family=your-family-name
They will see a simple page with the latest photos, favorite albums, and family videos — nothing complicated.
Screensaver
The ⛶ button in the top bar starts a full-screen slideshow of all family photos — perfect to leave running on a tablet or TV. The slideshow automatically skips password-protected albums for privacy.
Videos
Albums that contain videos appear in a dedicated Family Videos section. Tapping a video album shows only the videos in that album. Tapping an album in the main grid shows both photos and videos together.
Language
The page has a language selector in the top bar. Available languages: English, Italiano, Español, Français. The choice is saved on that device.
Theme
The theme (dark/light) is synced with the rest of the site. If a family member changes it on one page, it stays consistent everywhere.
Install as app (PWA)
On iPhone or iPad, open the Grandparents View in Safari, tap the Share button ⬆, and choose Add to Home Screen. It will appear as an icon on the home screen and open like a native app — full screen, no browser bar.
Share Memories — guest upload
Family members can contribute photos directly from their phone, without needing an admin account.
Setting up
Configure the guest upload settings: enable it, set the allowed albums, and optionally set up email notifications via SMTP so you are notified when someone uploads.
Send family members the guest upload link: yourdomain.com/guest/?family=your-family-name. They can upload photos directly from their phone.
Guest uploads go to a pending queue. Go to Admin → Guest Uploads to approve or reject them. Approved photos are added to the gallery automatically.
Settings
Go to Admin → Settings (the ⚙️ button in the top bar). Settings are organized in four tabs.
Family tab
Edit your family name, configure the Grandparents View, customize button icons, and set a custom label for the ⇄ Families selector button. For example, rename "Families" to "Countries", "Clients", or "Departments" to match your use case. The label updates instantly without any rebuild.
Grandparents View settings
- Enable Grandparents View page — show or hide the Grandparents View for this family.
- Custom title (optional) — text shown at the top of the Grandparents View page. Leave empty to use the family name.
- Button icon (optional) — any emoji displayed on the button that links to the Grandparents View. Use Ctrl+Cmd+Space on Mac to open the emoji picker.
- Button label per language — set a custom button label for each language (English, Italiano, Español, Français). Leave a field empty to use the default label for that language.
Email / SMTP tab
Configure your SMTP server for email notifications. Required for guest upload notifications and password reset.
Security tab
Change your admin password and email address.
Info tab
Shows your installed version, domain, license key, and slug.
Background customization
You can personalize the gallery background with a custom color or image. Both settings are in Admin → Settings → Family tab.
Pick any color using the color picker in the Background color field. The color is applied to the home page, gallery, album view, and Grandparents View. It persists between sessions and syncs across dark and light mode.
Upload a photo to families/{slug}/bg/ via the file manager, then enter the filename in the Background image field (e.g. my-bg.jpg). The image is displayed as a full-screen cover with a subtle dark overlay to keep text readable.
config/app.json. Your photos and family data are never affected by settings changes.
Managing families v4.0
MemoraNest 4.0 supports multiple families on a single domain. Each family has its own admin, albums, and settings. The first family created during installation is the primary family — only its admin can add or remove other families.
Adding a new family
Only the admin of the primary family (the first family created at installation) can add new families.
This button is only visible to the primary family admin. It opens the family management page.
Enter the family name, a URL slug (e.g. smith-family), an admin username and password. Click Create family.
Removing a family
On the same Add family page, each non-primary family has a 🗑 Delete button. Deleting a family moves its entire folder to a backup directory (families/_deleted_{slug}_{date}/) — no data is permanently deleted.
_deleted_ prefix) and re-add it to config/app.json.
Family selector
Visitors can switch between families using the ⇄ Families button on the home page, or by going directly to yourdomain.com/families.php. Families protected by an access password show a 🔒 icon in the selector.
Family access password
You can restrict access to a family with a separate password. This is different from the admin password — it is shown to any visitor who opens that family's home page.
Log in to the family you want to protect and open Settings.
Enter a password in the Family access password field and save. From now on, visitors must enter this password to view that family's gallery.
Updating MemoraNest
When a new version is available, you will receive an email with a download link for the update package.
Unzip the update package on your computer. You will find an update_package/ folder and an update.php file.
Upload update.php and the update_package/ folder to the root of your domain using the file manager.
Go to yourdomain.com/update.php and click Run update. The updater copies the new files, creates a backup, and runs a gallery rebuild automatically.
/families/ is always preserved. A backup is created automatically before any file is changed.
Forgot your admin password?
If you cannot log in to the admin panel, use the password reset feature.
Visit yourdomain.com/admin/login.php and click Forgot your password? below the sign-in button.
Enter the email address configured in your SMTP / guest upload settings and click Send reset link.
You will receive an email with a reset link valid for 1 hour. Click it and set a new password.
Manual reset (no SMTP)
If SMTP is not configured, you can reset your password directly via the file manager on your hosting panel.
Go to bcrypt-generator.com, enter your new password, set rounds to 10, and copy the generated hash.
v4.0: open families/{your-family-slug}/config.json
v3.1.0: open config/app.json
Find the "admin_password" field and replace its value with the bcrypt hash you generated. Save the file.
Setup service — done for you
If you purchased the MemoraNest + Setup option ($249), we handle the entire installation for you.
What to expect
After your purchase you will receive an email asking you to schedule a short remote session via TeamViewer — a free, safe screen-sharing application.
Download the free version from teamviewer.com. No registration needed — just download and run it.
TeamViewer will show you a 9-digit ID and a temporary password. Send these to us via email — they are valid for one session only.
We connect to your computer, upload MemoraNest to your hosting, run the installer, and verify everything works. You can watch the entire process on your screen.
Once setup is complete, go to Admin → Change password and set your own private password. Do this before the session ends.