Understanding book settings

Every book has settings that control who can see it, how contributors identify themselves, and how submissions are handled.

The "What's this book for?" picker tags the book with a use case (wedding, memorial, daily journal, etc.). Changing it updates the dashboard greeting, reminder copy, and PDF cover treatment immediately. Learn more.

Looking for the SMS / WhatsApp / Telegram / Email switches? Those moved to the dedicated Channels page on your book. Settings covers visibility, moderation, display, and branding.

Visibility

Visibility controls who can see your book and submit memories. You can change this at any time in your book settings.

Public

Anyone who knows your book's URL can view it and submit memories. Public books are accessible via their slug-based URL (e.g., /b/my-book/) without any authentication or token. Use this for books you want to be widely accessible, like a community guestbook or public memorial.

Link only (default)

Only people who have your shareable link can access the book. The link includes a secret token (e.g., /b/my-book/?token=abc123...) that acts as a password. Anyone without the token sees a 403 (access denied) page.

  • The shareable link is available on your book's detail page. Click Copy link to share it.
  • The QR code for your book encodes the full link including the token, so scanning it grants access automatically.
  • People with a valid invite link in their session can also access the book without the token.
  • If you ever need to revoke access, you can regenerate the token in your book settings. This instantly invalidates all previously shared links; anyone who had the old link will no longer be able to view the book until you share the new one.

Private

Only the book owner and invited members can view the book. Visitors must be logged in and have an active membership. Everyone else, including logged-in users who aren't members, sees an access denied page. People with a valid invite link in their session can also access the book before accepting the invitation.

Verification mode

  • Anonymous: contributors don't need to provide a name or identity.
  • Unverified: contributors provide a name, but it's not verified.
  • Verified: contributors must have an account and be logged in to submit.

Moderation mode

  • Auto-approve: submissions go live immediately.
  • Manual: you review and approve each submission before it appears in the book.

Display order

  • Chronological: oldest first.
  • Reverse chronological: newest first.
  • Curated: you drag and drop to set the order.

Story dates

Story dates decides which date each memory is filed under on your timeline. There are two choices:

  • When the memory happened: uses the photo’s capture date (from its EXIF data), so an old scanned photo lands in its real time: a 1985 wedding photo shows up in 1985, not on the day you uploaded it.
  • When it was shared: uses the date the memory was posted, so today’s entry is dated today. This is what you want for an ongoing diary, where every entry belongs to the day you wrote it.

The default is Auto, which picks the right basis from your book’s purpose:

  • Memory collections (weddings, birthdays, memorials, retirements, vacations, and “Other”) default to when it happened.
  • Personal journals (daily journal, 1-second-a-day) default to when it was shared.

You can override the default for any book. Switching is safe: both dates are always stored, so changing Story dates instantly re-sorts your timeline and you can switch back at any time; nothing is lost.

Story dates affects your public book page, the embeddable memory wall, the photo gallery, and the PDF export. It works alongside Display order: Story dates chooses which date to use, while Display order chooses the direction (oldest first, newest first, or your curated arrangement).

Branding

Customize the look of your book's public page. Go to your book's detail page and click Branding to configure accent colors, images, subtitles, and more. Available options depend on your plan.

  • Cover image: appears next to your book title, like the cover of a physical book. Landscape photos work best. Recommended: 1200 × 400 px or wider, max 10 MB.
  • Hero image: a full-width banner across the top of your public page, above all other content. Think of it as a backdrop that sets the mood. Recommended: 1600 × 400 px or wider, max 10 MB.
  • Favicon: a small icon shown in the browser tab. Max 1 MB.

You can crop and adjust any uploaded image using the built-in crop tool. The branding page updates the on-screen preview as soon as you click Apply crop, so you can confirm the framing before saving. Cover and hero image crops respect phone-photo orientation and keep the saved image in a valid web format after editing. Learn more about all branding options.

Welcome message formatting

Your book's welcome message supports markdown formatting. When editing your welcome message, a toolbar provides shortcuts for bold, italic, headings, bulleted and numbered lists, links, block quotes, and horizontal rules. The formatted text appears on your book's public page exactly as you write it.

SMS name collection

When SMS submissions are enabled, you can toggle SMS name collection in your book settings. When turned on, the SMS bot will ask contributors for their name before accepting a submission. When turned off, SMS submissions are recorded without a contributor name. This is useful if you want a frictionless experience and don't need to identify who sent each message.

Lifecycle state

  • Active: accepting new submissions.
  • Closed: no new submissions, but the book is still viewable.
  • Archived: hidden from public view.

Audio display mode

For books with audio submissions, you can choose whether the audio player or the transcript appears first on the public page. Go to your book’s settings and find Audio display mode. Options are Player first (default) and Transcript first.

Timezone

Set your book’s timezone so that submission timestamps are displayed in the correct local time. This affects how dates and times appear on the public book page. Choose the timezone that matches your event or your audience.

It also decides what counts as “today” when a date is entered. A memory can never be dated in the future, and this timezone is what that is measured against when we do not know the contributor’s own: the shared date on a bulk photo import, a date a contributor texts back when we ask when a photo was taken, and any edit where their timezone was not recorded.

Edit token expiry

When anonymous contributors submit a memory, they receive an edit link that lets them make changes. The Edit token expiry hours setting controls how long this link stays active (default: 72 hours). After the expiry period, the edit link stops working and the submission can only be modified by the book owner. The maximum is 720 hours (30 days). Set it to 0 to turn edit links off entirely; contributors then need you to make any changes for them.

Ready to try it? Create your free memory book