When you have to deal with external vendors who are not part of your Pics.io team and they do not need to use Pics.io on a daily basis but just have to upload new assets from time to time, you might need a separate place to store and review such files before they end up in your team's library. For this purpose, Pics.io introduces the Inbox feature.
What is an inbox?
An Inbox is a place that allows non-Pics.io users to upload files to your library for further review.
How can I create an inbox?
Only teammates with the ‘Manage Inbox’ permission can access, use, and configure this functionality. To create an inbox you need to do the following:
Locate the Inbox section within the left-side menu bar;
Click on the plus button to create a new inbox and type its name;
Customize your inbox by changing the URL link, setting the start/expiration dates, theme, logo, and required fields;
For security and explanatory purposes, you can protect the inbox with a password and enable the customizable modal windows that pop up every time a person accesses the inbox or uploads files;
Click the Publish button on the left;
Once done, copy the URL link to your Inbox and share it with external people for them to be able to upload data to your Pics.io library.
As for other ways on how to create an inbox, you can press on the 'Add assets' in the upper-right corner of Pics.io, where you will need to select the 'Upload via inbox' which will also direct you to the creation of an inbox.
Last method of creating inbox is to have an empty collection, and the middle section of Pics.io will show a few buttons with possible ways of populating it with assets - you can choose 'Upload via inbox' button, which will behave the same way as the method above.
When you decide to close/delete your inbox, just go to the inbox settings and click ‘Unpublish’. After that, the shared link won’t be accessible anymore, and accessing the link directly will produce an information screen stating that it's inactive.
If you have multiple inboxes, it's possible to sort them by name or create time depending on your needs.
How does this feature work for external users?
People may access your inbox just by following the link to the inbox you share with them. They can upload files of different formats, add comments to them, and fill out the metadata fields if necessary. For them to start uploading files, they just need to drag & drop files or folders from a computer to the page opened when following the link or click the 'Add files from device' button on the same page.
NB! People visiting your inbox won’t be able to see its current content or files they uploaded. So, if someone added files to your inbox previously, these assets won’t be shown to the inbox visitors.
NB! When uploading folders to the Inbox, only the files within the folders and subfolders will be uploaded—the folder structure itself will not be preserved.
How can I manage my inboxes?
Next to the inbox name you can see the globe icon which allows you to customize your inbox. Besides, you can click on the three vertical dots to rename, delete, or copy the link to the shared inbox.
Pics.io allows customizing your inboxes by adding the possibility to run them on your own custom domains and display your company's logos. This should help you label inboxes for different clients or follow your company's brand style guides.
Customize links to inboxes
When sending the upload link to someone, you might need it to look similar to your company's domain name. To do so, you can use any of the domains added to your Pics.io team account.
Revise the part on adding domains to the Pics.io team account to run your inbox on a custom domain.
Add logos
Replace the default Pics.io logo with your own to craft a unique one by featuring your logo within the inbox interface.
Change theme
Select either the Dark or Light theme for your preferred inbox appearance.
NB! Certain inbox customization options may not be available for the Micro and lower plans. Upgrade your plan to Small (and higher) or get the distinct Branding feature via Billing.
Also, on the Main tab of the Inbox settings, you can find checkboxes with the fields that can be filled during the asset's uploading process. If the field is marked as Required - it means that the person who is uploading assets will have to fill out the field.
Click the eye to enable/disable the visibility of a field and tick the checkbox to enable/disable external users to fill out the field before uploading.
How to embed an inbox into external websites?
In case you have a website, and you would like to insert the inbox into one of the pages, you are welcome to use the iFrame feature.
To do this just follow these steps:
Mouse over the inbox published to the web in the right-side collections tree;
Click on the globe icon to go to the inbox settings;
In the "Main" section of the settings copy the inbox link and paste it into the iFrame string.
Here is an example of what the string should look like:
<iframe src="https://inboxes.pics.io/inboxname" width="1024" height="768" frameborder="0"></iframe>
What happens after files are uploaded to an inbox?
Once files get to an inbox, you can proceed with moving them to the corresponding place of your shared library. Here you can simply select assets or search them by a criteria within the inbox and distribute them among different collections in your Pics.io library. To do so, just open the Infopanel in the top right corner -> locate the Collections section -> click on the paperclip icon, and choose the destination where you want to move your assets. If you don’t need to use files further, it’s possible to delete them beyond recovery.
Are there any limitations on the number of inboxes?
The number of inboxes you may create depends on your billing plan. When you are on the trial, there is an opportunity to test this functionality and create 1 inbox. Check the limitations for paid plans below:
Micro - 1 inbox
Small - 5 inboxes
Medium - 10 inboxes
Enterprise - unlimited inboxes
NB! The Inbox feature is not available with the Solo plan by default but can be purchased additionally via Billing.
What is the maximum file size for inbox uploads?
Files larger than 8GB cannot be uploaded to Inboxes. This restriction applies to individual file size, not the total size of multiple uploaded files.
Will I be notified when new files are added to my inbox?
Sure! To do so, you need to enable the corresponding notification in the notification settings of your account. Learn more about Pics.io Notification Center.