Web Forwarder

You can of course completely skip the picdrop.com address for sharing your galleries and use your own internet address instead. This way you can share a link in your emails, WhatsApp chats, Instagram DMs etc. that perfectly matches your branding.

With picdrop’s Web Forwarder, picdrop remains invisible when you share your gallery links. For example, www.picdrop.com/johndoe/gallery becomes johndoe.de/clients/gallery

If you are already registered with picdrop, you can find the installation files here and the instructions for installing the Web Forwarder here.

Here we explain briefly what the picdrop Web Forwarder does. Perhaps this will make it easier for you to decide for or against it?

• picdrop's Web Forwarder redirects links from your website to the corresponding picdrop gallery

• the Web Forwarder has an influence on the appearance of your gallery links

• the gallery link to a virtual gallery in picdrop without the Web Forwarder looks like this: www.picdrop.com/youraccount/galleryname

• with Web Forwarder the link will look like this: www.yoursite.com/clients/galleryname or like this: https://picdrop.yoursite.com/galleryname

All galleries and the associated gallery links that were created before the Web Forwarder was installed will remain accessible after the installation as they were before. The links will not change when the Web Forwarder is installed on your server.

The picdrop gallery link will continue to be displayed in the address bar of your browser even after the Web Forwarder has been installed. In the Share menu of each gallery, however, you will now find your own Web Forwarder link to the gallery. Both links always work in parallel.

Very important: picdrop cannot be installed directly on your server. This is because picdrop is a very complex program that we are constantly working on for you. Furthermore, perfectly adapted servers and the interaction of several functions are part of the perfect picdrop, which is why it is not possible to use it on other servers.

You can find the Web Forwarder and instructions on how to install it in your picdrop account settings under the Web Forwarder menu item.

If your server fulfills all basic requirements (Apache, PHP support and a valid SSL certificate), but still displays error messages during installation, please send us an email to hello@picdrop.com. Please send us the exact address where your (non-functioning) Web Forwarder is installed. We will then be happy to help you solve the problem.

You have managed to install the Web Forwarder on your server. The gallery overview can be called up via the new address (www.deineseite.de/picdrop/) without any problems, but when calling up individual galleries via their addresses (www.deineseite.de/picdrop/galerie), your website only spits out errors.

The solution is usually quite simple: please also upload the ".htaccess" file, which is included in the ZIP of our Web Forwarder. It seems to be missing in your case.

Unfortunately, uploading this file is often skipped as it is not displayed on many PCs & Macs. Some operating systems see the .htaccess file as part of their system files and therefore hide it. If you cannot find the file, show the "hidden files" (or similar) in the settings of your operating system or your FTP program. You will then be able to see the .htaccess file and upload it to your Web Forwarder folder on your server.

If this does not work or you need further help, you can always contact us at hello@picdrop.com.

You have installed the Web Forwarder from picdrop on your server according to our instructions and stumble across this phenomenon:

• The link directly to your account works and you end up on your gallery overview. So e.g. www.deineseite.de/picdrop works perfectly.

• However, all links to the galleries via your Web Forwarder show an error page. More precisely, a 404 error page with the design of your own website.

In this case, everything indicates that you have installed the Web Forwarder correctly on your server. A file with the name .htaccess has also ended up in your Web Forwarder folder. Apparently there is another .htaccess file in a main folder on your server that is getting in the way of the Web Forwarder.

Technical explanation: What exactly is a .htaccess file?

An .htaccess file is a configuration file for Apache servers, among other things. Several functions can be controlled in an .htaccess file: e.g. password protection for individual areas of your server, rules for the automatic redirection of URLs, etc.

Possible conflicts with multiple .htaccess files

If you use Wordpress for your website, then you most likely already have an .htaccess file on your server that ensures that the appropriate file is always loaded on your server for a specific URL. If the htaccess file does not find a suitable result on your server, a 404 error page will be displayed. This is also regulated in the .htaccess file.

The Web Forwarder from picdrop also provides an .htaccess file. This file specifies, for example, how the links to your galleries must be redirected in the background so that your galleries can be displayed.

Now it can happen that the .htaccess file in your main folder cannot find a rule for a gallery URL and is then always automatically redirected to an error page. The .htaccess file in your Web Forwarder directory is therefore bypassed and cannot resolve a gallery.

How can I get rid of the 404 error page?

To do this, you need to make changes to the .htaccess file in the main folder that belongs to your website. You need to add an exception there that explicitly excludes the Web Forwarder directory from being handled by your .htaccess file.

Unfortunately, we cannot offer a universal solution for this, as it can look different on every website. If you are not very familiar with this yourself, the person who usually takes care of your website, i.e. your webmaster, is the right address here! Feel free to forward the link to this article so that you can quickly find the right approach!

Another note on WordPress plugins

Especially with WordPress installations, it can also happen that plugins, e.g. to speed up your site or for search engine optimization, repeatedly make changes to the .htaccess - so even Web Forwarders that previously worked can suddenly point to the 404 error page due to a plugin update. It is therefore a good idea to search for the causes of these plugins too!