Understanding book settings: Our Memory Book

Every book has settings that control who can see it, how contributors identify themselves, and how submissions are handled.

The "What this book is for" picker tags the book with a use case (wedding, memorial, daily journal, etc.). Changing it updates the dashboard greeting, reminder copy, and PDF cover treatment immediately. Learn more.

If we retire a book type, any book already using it keeps that option selected and selectable in this picker; only new books stop being offered it.

Looking for the SMS / WhatsApp / Telegram / Email switches? Those moved to the dedicated Channels page on your book. Settings covers visibility, moderation, display, and branding.

Visibility

Visibility controls who can see your book and submit memories. You can change this at any time in your book settings.

Public

Anyone who knows your book's URL can view it and submit memories. Public books are accessible via their slug-based URL (e.g., /b/my-book/) without any authentication or token. Use this for books you want to be widely accessible, like a community guestbook or public memorial.

Link only (default)

Only people who have your shareable link can access the book. The link includes a secret token (e.g., /b/my-book/?token=abc123...) that acts as a password. Anyone without the token sees a 403 (access denied) page.

The shareable link is available on your book's detail page. Click Copy link to share it.
The QR code for your book encodes the full link including the token, so scanning it grants access automatically.
People with a valid invite link in their session can also access the book without the token.
If you ever need to revoke access, you can regenerate the token in your book settings. This instantly invalidates all previously shared links; anyone who had the old link will no longer be able to view the book until you share the new one.

Private

Only the book owner and invited members can view the book. Visitors must be logged in and have an active membership. Everyone else, including logged-in users who aren't members, sees an access denied page. People with a valid invite link in their session can also access the book before accepting the invitation.

Before a memory is accepted

Accept without a name: contributors don't need to provide a name or identity.
Ask for a name, no check: contributors provide a name, but it's not verified.
Confirm by email first: contributors get an email and must click a link to confirm before their memory reaches your queue.

Before a memory appears

Appear immediately: submissions go live immediately.
Wait for my approval: you review and approve each submission before it appears in the book.

Order memories

Oldest first: chronological.
Newest first: reverse chronological.
The order I choose: you drag and drop to set the order.

Story dates

Story dates decides which date each memory is filed under on your timeline. There are two choices:

When the memory happened: uses the photo’s capture date (from its EXIF data), so an old scanned photo lands in its real time: a 1985 wedding photo shows up in 1985, not on the day you uploaded it.
When it was shared: uses the date the memory was posted, so today’s entry is dated today. This is what you want for an ongoing diary, where every entry belongs to the day you wrote it.

The default is Auto, which picks the right basis from your book’s purpose:

Memory collections (weddings, birthdays, memorials, retirements, vacations, and “Other”) default to when it happened.
Personal journals (daily journal, 1-second-a-day) default to when it was shared.

You can override the default for any book. Switching is safe: both dates are always stored, so changing Story dates instantly re-sorts your timeline and you can switch back at any time; nothing is lost.

Story dates affects your public book page, the embeddable memory wall, the photo gallery, and the PDF export. It works alongside Order memories: Story dates chooses which date to use, while Order memories chooses the direction (oldest first, newest first, or your curated arrangement).

Branding

Customize the look of your book's public page. Go to your book's detail page and click Branding to configure accent colors, images, subtitles, and more. Available options depend on your plan.

Cover image: appears next to your book title, like the cover of a physical book. Landscape photos work best. Recommended: 1200 × 400 px or wider, max 10 MB.
Hero image: a full-width banner across the top of your public page, above all other content. Think of it as a backdrop that sets the mood. Recommended: 1600 × 400 px or wider, max 10 MB.
Favicon: a small icon shown in the browser tab. Max 1 MB.
Accent color: Use default color keeps the Our Memory Book terracotta, which the color picker shows until you choose your own. Untick it and pick a color to use yours.

You can crop and adjust any uploaded image using the built-in crop tool. The branding page updates the on-screen preview as soon as you click Apply crop, so you can confirm the framing before saving. Cover and hero image crops respect phone-photo orientation and keep the saved image in a valid web format after editing. Learn more about all branding options.

Welcome message formatting

Your book's welcome message supports markdown formatting. When editing your welcome message, a toolbar provides shortcuts for bold, italic, headings, bulleted and numbered lists, links, block quotes, and horizontal rules. The formatted text appears on your book's public page exactly as you write it.

Ask texters for their name first

When SMS submissions are enabled, you can toggle Ask texters for their name first in your book settings. When turned on, the SMS bot will ask contributors for their name before accepting a submission. When turned off, SMS submissions are recorded without a contributor name. This is useful if you want a frictionless experience and don't need to identify who sent each message.

Accepting new memories

Yes, accepting: the book takes new submissions.
No, closed to new memories: no new submissions, but the book is still viewable.
Archived: hidden from public view.

Archiving lives at the bottom of the settings page under Archive or delete. It asks you to confirm first, keeps every story, member and export, and can be undone from the same place. Only the book’s owner can archive or delete it.

Audio display mode

For books with audio submissions, you can choose whether the audio player or the transcript appears first on the public page. Go to your book’s settings and find Audio display mode. Options are Player first (default) and Transcript first.

Time zone

Set your book’s time zone so that submission timestamps are displayed in the correct local time. This affects how dates and times appear on the public book page. Choose the time zone that matches your event or your audience.

It also decides what counts as “today” when a date is entered. A memory can never be dated in the future, and this time zone is what that is measured against when we do not know the contributor’s own: the shared date on a bulk photo import, a date a contributor texts back when we ask when a photo was taken, and any edit where their time zone was not recorded.

Book code

The Book code is the short word contributors text or email to reach your book (3 to 10 letters and numbers). Every book gets one when it is created. Choosing your own code depends on the book’s plan: when the plan does not include custom names the field is shown but cannot be edited, and the rest of your settings still save normally. Upgrade the book’s plan to pick a custom code.

How long contributors can edit their memory (hours)

When anonymous contributors submit a memory, they receive an edit link that lets them make changes. The How long contributors can edit their memory (hours) setting controls how long this link stays active (default: 72 hours). After the expiry period, the edit link stops working and the submission can only be modified by the book owner. The maximum is 720 hours (30 days). Set it to 0 to turn edit links off entirely; contributors then need you to make any changes for them.