Lightroom Classic plugin
Never leave Lightroom.
The plugin closes the loop at both ends. Select a shoot and export it — clientgallery.io appears in the Export dialog like any other destination, and the gallery is built, named, password-set and ready to send by the time the render finishes. When your client is done choosing, one more command flags the loved photos in your catalog and gathers every pick into a collection. No browser, no drag-and-drop, no retyping filenames from an email.
One-time setup
Five minutes, done once per computer. After this, publishing is just the Export button.
1
Download and unzip
Click Download the plugin above to get
clientgallery.io-Lightroom.zip. Double-click the ZIP — it becomes a folder named clientgallery.io.lrplugin. Move that folder somewhere permanent, like Documents. Don't leave it in Downloads: Lightroom points at the folder, so if it moves later, the plugin breaks.2
Add it to Lightroom Classic
In Lightroom, open File → Plug-in Manager. Click Add (bottom-left of the plugin list), select the
clientgallery.io.lrplugin folder, and click Add Plug-in. clientgallery.io appears in the list with a green light — “Installed and running.” Click Done.3
Restart Lightroom
Quit Lightroom completely (
Cmd + Q) and reopen it. Lightroom builds its list of export destinations at launch, so the plugin won't show in the Export dialog until you've restarted once.4
Paste your studio key
On clientgallery.io/studio, scroll to the bottom and click Show my studio key, then Copy. In Lightroom, select any photo and press
Cmd + Shift + E (Export). At the very top of the Export window there's a dropdown labelled Export To: that says “Hard Drive” — switch it to clientgallery.io. Paste your key in the Studio key field and click Check — it should greet you by name. The key is remembered from now on.5
Watch the dropdowns — there are two
The Export window has two menus labelled “Export To:”. The one you want is at the very top of the window, next to the title — it lists destinations (Hard Drive, Email, clientgallery.io). The other sits lower, inside the Export Location panel, and only ever lists folders (Desktop, Documents…). If you're staring at folder names, you're in the wrong one — look higher.
One-click sync — the Publish Service
The power-user upgrade: the gallery lives in Lightroom's left panel, Lightroom tracks what's new or edited, and one click of Publish pushes exactly the changes. Nothing to remember.
1
Set up the service, once
In the Library module's left panel, find Publish Services and click Set Up… next to clientgallery.io. Paste your studio key, click Check, then Save.
2
Create a gallery as a collection
Right-click the clientgallery.io service → Create Gallery. Its name is the gallery's name. Drag photos onto it exactly like a normal collection.
3
Click Publish
Select the collection and press Publish. New photos upload; ones you've re-edited since the last publish upload again and replace themselves — Lightroom shows you the “New” and “Modified” queues before you commit.
4
It stays true both ways
Remove a photo from the collection and publish — it leaves the online gallery. Rename the collection — the gallery renames. Delete the collection — Lightroom asks first, then the gallery is taken down.
Importing client selections back into Lightroom
When the client sends their picks, pull them into your catalog — flags, stars and a collection, matched by filename. No retyping.
1
Wait for the picks
Your client stars the photos they like and hearts the must-haves, then presses Send. You'll see the gallery marked “picks in” on your dashboard.
2
Copy the gallery link
Open the gallery on clientgallery.io/studio and click Copy client link — the same link you sent the client is how the plugin finds the right picks.
3
Run the import
In Lightroom, choose Library → Plug-in Extras → Import clientgallery.io Picks…, paste the link, and confirm.
4
What it does in your catalog
Matching by filename, the plugin rates starred photos ★★★, rates hearted photos ★★★★★ and flags them as Picks, and gathers every selection into a collection named after the gallery.
5
Edit exactly what they chose
Open that collection and retouch — you're working only on what the client asked for. Re-run the import any time; it re-syncs to the gallery's current picks.
Good to know
- • Your studio key is a password. If a machine leaves your hands, regenerate the key on the dashboard and the old one dies.
- • A free account holds one gallery — exporting to the same name keeps topping it up. Unlimited galleries are 10 $/month.
- • Picks match on filename, so import into the catalog holding the same files you published.
- • Lightroom Classic only — the cloud-based Lightroom app doesn't take plugins.
- • Prefer a plain list? Every completed gallery also has an Export picks (.txt) button.