How to Download Photos from Shutterfly

Many of us use Shutterfly to store our images, but do you know how to take them out of Shutterfly? It can be a bit of a tricky process and there are a few important things to know.

•You can only download 500 images at a time

•For some photos, usually ones that were brought into Shutterfly a couple of years or more ago, it will not automatically download full-resolution images or the correct metadata. There is a workaround for that below.

•We always recommend downloading a few images, then checking to ensure the metadata of that photo is correct. If you are on a MAC you can check metadata by opening up the photo, navigating to “Tools” in the top bar, then selecting “Show Inspector”. Click through and look for the Exif data, you’ll just want to double check the date is correct for that photo as that is one of the most important pieces of metadata to keep intact.

Downloading recent images from Shutterfly

  1. Select up to 500 images

  2. Click the download button (cloud with the down arrow) in the upper bar

 
 

3. Find the email from Shutterfly with the link to download your Zip file(s).

4. Click the link and save the files to your computer.

If you have been a long-time user of Shutterfly, or you are noticing the file size or metadata of your downloaded images is incorrect, please refer to the following steps below to ensure your photos download correctly. For most people, it is recommended to try following these steps instead of the ones above.

  1. Select up to 500 images

  2. Hit the download button (cloud with the down arrow) in the upper bar

  3. You will get an email from Shutterfly letting you know your images are ready for download. Open up this email.

  4. If Shutterfly hasn’t automatically downloaded the correct resolution and metadata, then in that email you will see a little link below the “Download” button. The link will say “Need Original Files?”. Click on that link. 

 
 

5. It should then ask if you want to “Prepare originals” or “Get high resolution”. Choose “Prepare originals”.

6. When the originals are ready for download (this can take multiple days) you should receive another email from Shutterfly letting you know they are ready with a link to download. Click that link to download the originals.