Online sign-up

Parents sign up their child before photo day themselves, with photo consent. The children land directly in your groups. No paper. No retyping lists. No chasing parents.

Updated 9 October 20267 min read

At a glance

  • One switch in the Online sign-up tab creates the link and the QR code for parents.
  • Only the click in the confirmation email signs a child up. Every decision is recorded with a timestamp.
  • You always see who is signed up, who has withdrawn and what you need to review.
1

Turn on sign-up

Sign-up belongs to a photo job. Open the job and switch to the Online sign-up tab.

  1. 1Create groups Parents pick their child's group when signing up. Without a group the form does not open.
  2. 2Flip the switch Pixalo saves right away and creates the link for parents and the link for the school.
  3. 3Check form and deadline Decide which consents are asked and until when sign-up is open.
  4. Share the link By email to the school, as a poster or as a parent letter with QR code.
  1. 1Notice: children are waiting in the group without assignment. Assign now takes you straight there.
  2. 2Key figures: Registered, Withdrawn, To review and Deadline. View sign-ups right below opens the list.
  3. 3Link for parents: open, copy or create a new one.
  4. 4Form and deadline: which consents apply and until when.
  5. 5For the institution: a separate link to a printable list.
  6. 6Poster and parent letter: QR code, template, PDF, email and printing.

Only one group?

If the job has only one group, parents cannot pick one. All children then land in that group. So create your groups before you share the link. Children can also be moved later.
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3

Form and consents

With Edit form you decide what parents are asked. The consent texts are legally fixed and versioned. You only decide whether a consent is required, optional or not asked.

  1. 1Consents: Required, Optional or Not asked for each item.
  2. 2Rule: at least one type of photo must be possible.
  3. 3Own questions: text, hint, question type, required and order.
  4. 4Add question: up to five questions.
ConsentWhat you can set
Individual portraitRequired or optional. Optional means parents can sign their child up for the group photo only.
Online galleryAlways required. Without the gallery there is neither access nor an order.
Group / class photoRequired, optional or not asked. Without the individual portrait it is fixed to required.
Internal useOptional or not asked. Notice board or yearbook of the school. An additional purpose may never be forced.

No child without a photo

If individual portrait and group photo are both optional, parents must choose at least one. Pixalo checks this in the form and again on the server.

Under Own questions you ask what you need for planning. For example a sibling photo or a preferred background. The answers appear in the list and in the CSV export.

Question typeHow parents answer
Yes / NoTwo buttons. A clear decision.
CheckboxA single tick box. As a required question it must be ticked, otherwise empty counts as no.
Short textOne line of free text.
Choice listOne option from your list. At least two options, none twice.

Questions are not consent

Questions appear in your language, without translation. Answers apply per family. They are not in the consent record and not in the list for the school. If you change questions later, existing answers are kept.
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4

Deadline

Under Sign-up open until you pick the last day. When you change the date, Save appears next to it.

  • The chosen day still counts, in every time zone until the end of the day.
  • Empty means no deadline. Remove deadline clears the field.
  • After the deadline, or with the switch off, parents see a notice that sign-up is closed.
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5

What parents see

The form shows your shop name, the name of the school and the date of photo day. It adapts to any phone.

  1. 1Your child: first name, last name and group. Add another child for siblings.
  2. 2Consent: exactly the items you have set.
  3. 3Further details: your own questions.
  4. 4Your details: name, email and an optional reminder before the order deadline ends.
  1. 1Submit the form Nothing is saved yet. Pixalo sends a confirmation link to the email address.
  2. 2Confirm the link The link is valid for 7 days. After a typo, parents correct their details and send again.
  3. Child signed up Only now is the child in your group. Parents get a confirmation with a personal link.

The address matters

The confirmed address later also receives the gallery access. If the child's group is missing, parents choose My class is not listed. You then assign the child yourself.
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How a sign-up finds its child

If you already imported a list of children, Pixalo creates no duplicates. It compares first name, last name and group, ignoring upper and lower case.

CaseWhat happens
Child is already in the groupIt gets the parent address and the consent. The access code stays the same.
Child is newPixalo creates it in the chosen group, with its own access code.
Child is already linked to another addressNothing is overwritten. The child gets the notice Check email and counts under To review. Parents see that you are reviewing the sign-up.
Child without a nameIs never matched. Pixalo creates a new child. So no stranger's address ends up on a placeholder.

Import and sign-up together

Both work. Import the school's list first and then turn on sign-up. Make sure the group names match. That way most sign-ups find their child by themselves.
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7

Sign-ups and consents

The View sign-ups button below the key figures opens the list. It shows every child with parent, every decision and the answers to your questions.

  1. 1Print and Export CSV.
  2. 2Columns: child, parent, individual photo, group photo, internal and your questions.
  3. 3Check email: someone else signed this child up.
  4. 4Consent record (PDF) for this child.

Print

The list as a page for photo day. Who may be in the individual photo, who in the group photo.

CSV

All columns for Excel or your own software, with the answers to your questions.

Consent record

Every decision per child with timestamp and text version. This is how you prove consent.

To review

With Check email you clarify with the school who really has parental responsibility. Until then the first confirmed address stays valid. So nobody can get a child's access code just by knowing its name.
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Assign children without a group

When parents choose My class is not listed, Pixalo creates a holding group and parks the child there. Its name follows your studio language, for example No group yet in English or Ohne Gruppe in German. The tab shows a notice with Assign now.

  1. 1Holding group: this is where the children wait.
  2. 2The child: select it and move it to the right group.

Move the children into their groups, one at a time or several at once. How it works is described under Move children. Once the group is empty, the notice disappears.

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9

The list for the school

The head wants to know before photo day who is signed up and who must not be in the group photo. There is a separate link for that. Copy link for the school and send it on.

  1. 1Counters: signed-up children and children who must not be in the group photo.
  2. 2Not in the group photo: right at the top, with name and group.
  3. 3Per group: every child with individual photo and group photo.

Only what is needed

The list shows no email addresses and no access codes. Search engines do not find it. With Print list the head has it on paper on photo day.
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10

Poster and parent letter

Not all parents read emails. A poster on the door or a letter in the tray reaches everyone. Pixalo fills in link, QR code, photo day and deadline itself.

  1. 1Pick a template Poster online sign-up or Parent letter online sign-up, or your own template.
  2. 2Design it if you like Design in the card designer opens the card designer. There you adjust colours, texts and logo.
  3. PDF and printing Download PDF saves the template as a finished PDF. Send by email sends that PDF to an address you choose, such as the school. Print opens the print view.
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11

Withdrawal by parents

Withdrawing must be as easy as consenting. That is why the confirmation email contains a personal link. It is valid for about 13 months. Parents need no account for it.

  1. 1Progress: Registered, photo day, gallery.
  2. 2Your consent: withdraw optional items one by one.
  3. 3Withdraw all consent: with a confirmation step. The child is then not photographed.

Pixalo does not delete photos by itself

You see every withdrawal in the Withdrawn figure and in the list. If photos have already been taken, please check yourself whether you need to remove them.
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12

What your team may do

Photographers in your team see sign-up with the Events permission. They may only change it with a permission of its own.

PermissionWhat it allows
Events & photo jobsView the tab, list, CSV and consent record.
Pricing & sales in eventTurn sign-up on and off, form, deadline, template and creating a new link.
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Frequently asked questions

Do parents need an account?

No. Name, email and one click on the confirmation link are enough.

What happens with a typo in the email?

Then no link arrives and nothing is saved. Parents fix their details with Correct details and send again. For common typos the form also suggests the right address.

Can parents sign up siblings together?

Yes, up to five children in one form, even in different groups. If you allow several access codes in the settings, they later order everything in one basket.

Can parents change their details?

They withdraw consents via the personal link. For other changes they fill in the form again. The new confirmation replaces the old one.

How do parents get the photos later?

Through the confirmed address. When you send the gallery, every family gets its access by email.

What happens to sign-ups when I turn sign-up off?

They are kept. Only new sign-ups are no longer possible. If you turn it back on, the same link works.

Continue to the app workflow

Photo day with the app

How to photograph with the Pixalo app on photo day and match every photo to the right child.