What is the PhotoDay Studio Uploader?
Studio Uploader is a desktop app (available for Mac and Windows) that uploads your photos to PhotoDay directly from your device.
It's built for large jobs: point it at a folder, and it uploads faster and more reliably than uploading through your browser.
If your connection drops or your computer falls asleep, it will resume automatically. Multiple images will upload concurrently, and several image batches can be added to the queue, eliminating the need to manually upload multiple smaller batches of images.
Installing and signing in
Download Studio Uploader for your operating system (Mac or Windows).
•Mac arm64: For Macs with Apple Silicon chips (M1, M2, M3, M4 series) — anything released since late 2020.
• Mac x64: For Macs with Intel processors — older Macs before the Apple Silicon transition.
Open the app and sign in with your PhotoDay studio account.
Once you're signed in, you'll stay signed in on your device — you won't need to log in again each time you open the app.
Finding and selecting a job
The main screen shows your jobs as a grid or list. By default, it shows jobs within a week of picture day—use the search bar or the view filter (by shoot date, active hot folders, or recently uploaded jobs) to find a job outside that window.
Double-click a job card to open the upload window for that job.
Uploading photos
From the upload window, choose how you want to upload:
One-time Upload — drag in or browse to a folder of images for a single upload batch. Use this for a standard, one-and-done upload.
Hot Folder Sync — point the app at a folder, and it automatically uploads any new images added to that folder going forward. This is useful for live or tethered shooting, where images are being added continuously. You can have up to 15 hot folders active at once.
Before starting either type of upload, choose how you'd like duplicate images handled:
Keep, and retain existing tags — replaces the file but keeps its current metadata/tags
Keep, and replace tags — replaces the file and its metadata
Skip — leaves the existing file as-is and doesn't upload the new one
Pause and warn — stops the upload when a duplicate is found so you can decide what to do
Once you've set your options, select Add to upload queue to start the upload.
Managing your upload queue
The queue panel shows all your uploads in progress:
Active uploads — in-progress, queued, and paused batches. You can pause, resume, cancel, or reorder queued batches to change what uploads next.
Completed uploads — finished and canceled batches, with a count of images uploaded. If a batch completed with errors, double-click it to see which files failed and why.
Settings
From the app's settings, you can control:
Whether the app launches automatically when your computer starts, and whether it starts minimized
Whether the app updates itself automatically
Your default duplicate-handling preference (you can still override it per upload)
Notifications — for example, getting notified when an upload finishes or pauses, including by email
The app also runs in your system tray, so you can keep it uploading in the background without keeping the window open.
Troubleshooting
If some images in a batch fail to upload, the batch will show as Completed + Errors. Double-click the batch to see the list of failed files and the reason for each failure so you can address them individually.
FAQs
Do I still need to use the web uploader?
No — Studio Uploader is a full alternative to uploading through your browser, and is recommended for larger jobs.
What happens if my upload is interrupted?
The app automatically resumes from where it left off, rather than starting the batch over.
Can more than one person upload to the same job at once?
Yes — multiple users can upload to the same job at the same time. Standard duplicate handling rules apply across everyone uploading to that job. Additional users will need to have the Studio Uploader permission in their user settings.
Do I need to keep the app window open?
No — once an upload is queued, you can minimize the app or let it run in your system tray in the background.
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