Volume Photography Issues With Sytist - Solution Requests

I have been using sytist for 3 months now leading into a very busy season of kinder photography. There is a number of issues/shortfalls I am finding with the software that if addressed would make this software ideal. Currently there is lots of room for error with volume work as I will attempt to list below.

1. Passwords that are not entered (forgotten etc) in the filename during LR workflow are uploaded to ALL children's galleries - It would be more beneficial if the photos just did not show at all and would solve the PRIVACY issue . Obviously this is a user error - but it would just be better if this wasnt a potential problem.

2. Sometimes the password is entered correctly in the filename - but then when browsing through your photos for a gallery - some passwords show under the image name and some dont - so this can be a little confusing as then you have to check on the image to see if it is actually passworded.

3. The fact that group photos cannot be listed as a PRINT product only causes me no end of troubles. You really need to have a checkbox that you can tick if you DONT want the image to be downloaded or added as a digital product.

4. In packages - the tiny little tick item is making most of my parents stumble with selection of photos in packages. THE MAIN reason I chose to use sytist was for package options - now it is my number one email with confused parents who dont' know that they need to click on the "tick" to add that photo to the cart - A simple checkbox with "ADD this image to collection " would be so much more helpful and point out the obvious to parents. I can understand it and generally 50% can it's just the other 50% - which is quite a large amount when in terms of volume photography means a lot of stuffing around on my end to then do the order for them / produce a manual order etc.

I know I have lots more things that along the way I have found to be less than ideal but mainly the fact that class photos not being able to cancel as a digital item is the biggest !!!! surely I am not alone in this situation !

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I can't speak to much of what you're saying as I haven't used the passwording and group photo features, but I agree the 'add to package' part can be a bit confusing for my clients as well.

On my price list, I added a "Product Group" called "how to order" which comes up as the first tab, with a few basic tips and a link to full instructions typed into the group description. It seems to help a bit...

For the group photos, could you just drop it entirely from the way you're applying it and create an extra product they can add to the cart? They'd need to opt-in rather than opt-out, but that way you could add the print or download options as a product and it would be handled a bit differently. Not sure if that helps ...

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Thanks Michael. - that is actually a very helpful idea - although the only way that might be an issue if parents go in and only want to order the group photo (much to my dismay of course) but I could keep it as a product still but use it as an add on to other product. I will explore that option.

And the Product group as a How to Order - another great idea. I might look into that - but the ole comman " people dont read issue" still comes into play so hence why the "tick" should be done away with as it's just another source of confusion. State the bloomin obvious - although even that doesnt work for some - but I think the success rate would be higher !

Again appreciate your comments and advice !

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We've just started using Sytist and are still using a link to our manual PDF paper forms since we didn't get setup started soon enough before hitting our busy season. (And did NOT want to deal with testing a new system at our highest volume season!)

Your comment about the group photos is something I hadn't thought of as we also do not offer digitals for groups. If you do find a solution to this, please post it here!

Very helpful comment on the "How to order" product group. THat's a great idea as well.

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Another option to add instructions is to add it to the product group description. See Attached

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