Customizing Gallery and Collection pages

Galleries are what hold your photos in your account. Each gallery will have its own web page that is used to display the photos that it contains.

Those images are displayed as thumbnails in the gallery page. This guide explains how to customize the thumbnails pages of your galleries.

The Gallery Thumbnails Page is customizable and is available for you to customize anytime using Customize Website View.

1. In your account, go to Photos.
2. Navigate to the desired Gallery under the Organizer.
3. Hover the mouse pointer over Preview then click on Customize.

The page will refresh with customization tools displayed in a menu across the top of the page confirming that you are now in customization mode.

For Zenfolio users that signed up after May 10 2018, please see the updated instructions below

1. In your account, go to Photos.
2. Navigate to the desired Gallery under the Organizer.
3. Click on Preview.
4. In the Customize view, click on Edit
5. Then choose Page from the dropdown menu that appears

The page will refresh with customization tools displayed at the top, confirming that you are in the customization mode.


Through Customize Website View, you'll be able to customize the thumbnails page by applying different Themes, Layouts and Options to the page.

• Layouts control the placement of different elements on the page.
• Themes control the colors and fonts used on the page. You can apply any pre-made theme or create your own custom theme.
• Options allow you to show or hide various elements on the page. This is used to further fine tune the page based on the Layout applied to the page.

Please note: the same customization options listed here are available for Collections. The steps listed can be used in the same way to customize a Collection's Thumbnails Page.




Please see click on these links to navigate directly to these customization options for the Gallery Thumbnails Page.

• Selecting a Layout for the Gallery Thumbnails Page
• Selecting a Theme for the Gallery Thumbnails Page
• How to access Gallery Thumbnails Page Options

Also see this guide for how to set up the thumbnails page to display in a collage style with Dynamic Thumbnail Grids.

Selecting the Layout

Layouts define the elements and their placement on your Thumbnails Page.

Once you've entered the Customize view, follow these steps to change the Layout:

1. Make sure that Gallery Thumbnails is selected in the top left corner.
2. Click Layout in the top menu. A popup window will open.
3. Uncheck Use Default Settings for Layout, Theme, and Options if necessary
4. Click to select the layout you would like to use for the Thumbnails Page.
5. Click Apply to confirm and apply the selection. The page will refresh with the new layout applied. Review the page with the new layout applied. Repeat steps 2 to 5 until you are happy with the selection.
6. Click Publish to apply the changes to your live site and exit this mode.

See the Help section about saving new default visitor view settings to apply to new Thumbnails Pages.

Selecting a Theme

The Theme of your Thumbnails Page will define its visual appearance. The theme controls the page's colors, background image, opacity of elements on the page, fonts, font sizes and font colors.

A number of themes are provided to choose from and Zenfolio is continually adding new themes.  You can also create your own custom theme and apply it to the page.

Once you've entered the Customize view, follow these steps to select a Theme:

1. Make sure that Gallery Thumbnails is selected in the top left corner.
2. Click Themes in the top menu. A popup window will open.
3. Uncheck Use Default Settings for Layout, Theme, and Options if necessary
4. View your Theme options as Large Previews or Thumbnails using the view selection icons. We will use Thumbnails for this example.
5. Select the Theme from the themes provided or choose a Custom Theme.
6. Click Apply to confirm and apply the selection. The page will refresh with the new theme applied. Review the page with the new theme applied. Repeat steps 2 to 6 until you are happy with the selection.
7. Click Publish to apply the changes to your live site and exit this mode.

See the Help section about saving new default visitor view settings to apply to new Thumbnails Pages.

Access Thumbnails Page Options

Through the Options panel, you can configure the different options available under the selected layout.  These options will vary based on the layout selected.  Try different layouts to see which options are available under each layout.

Once you've entered the customize view, follow these steps to access Page Options:

1. Make sure that Gallery Thumbnails is selected in the top left corner.
2. Click Options in the top menu. A popup window will open.
3. Uncheck Use Default Settings for Layout, Theme, and Options if necessary
4. Select the tab that contains the option that you would like to configure
5. Configure the selected element by setting it to Show, Hide or by entering in a value into the field provided
6. Click Apply to confirm and apply the selection. The page will refresh with the new options applied. Review the page with the new options applied. Repeat steps 2 to 6 until you are happy with your changes.
7. Click Publish to apply the changes to your live site and exit this mode.

See the Help section about saving new default visitor view settings to apply to new Thumbnails Pages.

Want to add a booking widget to your site? Check out Zenfolio's booking tool, BookMe! 

BookMe is an easy-to-use scheduling feature that allows your clients to book your photography services directly from your website.  BookMe removes the guess-work from availability requests and gives you the power to focus on what you do best - managing your photography business.