=== Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes - NextGEN Gallery ===
Contributors: photocrati, imagely
Tags: gallery, wordpress gallery plugin, photo gallery, image gallery, slideshow
Requires at least: 5.5.4
Stable tag: 4.2.2
Tested up to: 7.0
License: GPLv3
Requires PHP: 7.4

The most popular gallery plugin that lets you create galleries and albums in seconds.

== Description ==

= WordPress Gallery Plugin =

NextGEN Gallery has been the industry's standard **WordPress gallery plugin** since 2007 and continues to receive over 1.5 million new downloads per year. It's easy to use for simple photo galleries, but powerful enough for the most demanding photographers, visual artists, and imaging professionals who need a comprehensive photo gallery solution.

NextGEN Gallery offers complete WordPress gallery management with the ability to batch upload photos, import metadata, easily add, delete, rearrange photos and create an unlimited number of galleries. You can even simply provide a zip file or choose a folder to upload photos.

But our photo gallery plugin doesn't stop there!

> <strong>NextGEN Pro</strong><br/>
> This plugin is the lite version of the NextGEN Gallery plugin, which offers all the gallery features you'll need like photo albums, lightboxes, backups, search, sharing, filtering, print fulfillment, eCommerce, animations,  and tons more. [Click here to purchase the best photo gallery plugin for WordPress now!](https://www.imagely.com?utm_source=wprepo&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=liteversion)

The free version of NextGEN gallery provides three main gallery styles (slideshow, thumbnail, and imagebrowser galleries) and two album styles (compact and extended), all of which come with a wide array of options for controlling size, style, timing, transitions, controls, lightbox effects, and more. Learn more about <a href="https://www.imagely.com/?utm_source=wprepo&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=liteversion" target="_blank">NextGEN WordPress Gallery Plugin features.</a>

The best gets better with full support for the Gutenberg block editor. Now you can add a photo gallery or album anywhere on your site, with a page builder type feel directly in the WordPress editor. We truly make creating, building, and editing galleries easy.

= Feature List =
We've built NextGEN Gallery to be extremely powerful and full of features.

* **Albums** Organize multiple photo galleries into albums for easy sorting and viewing
* **Tags** Group multiple images together with tags, with easy-to-update renaming and management
* **eCommerce** Sell images from your photo gallery, or sell entire galleries with our built in payment processing. Works with Stripe and PayPal.
* **Slideshows** Make your galleries automatically rotate through a series of images
* **Themes** Access 84+ different types of themes to showcase your galleries
* **Animations** Create visual interest with 25+ different types of animations for each gallery
* **Watermarks** Protect your work with image and text-based watermarks.
* **Capabilities** Customize who can read, edit, and publish galleries with refined permsisions controls
* **Image Proofing** Let your customers choose which photos to purchase and improve your workflow.
* **Print Fulfillment** Sell your photos and ship prints directly to customers with automated print lab fulfillment and zero commissions
* **Auto Tax calculations** Automatically calculate sales tax when required for your customers.
* **Coupons** Offer discounts and incentives to increase your gallery sales
* **Lightroom Integration** Automatically sync and create photo galleries from Adobe Lightroom into NextGEN Gallery without any need to update your website.
* **Social Sharing** Create viral social media opportunities when your images are optimized for Open Graph and X
* **Image Commenting** * Add deep engagement to your images within the lightbox to increase gallery engagement
* **Deep Linking** Link directly to a specific image from one of your galleries
* **Frontend Search** * Add powerful filtering for your gallery based on tags
* **Hover Captions** * Add social sharing, tiles, and descriptions for each image
* **Digital Downloads** Offer digital downloads of your images for free, or chage for them with our eCommerce gallery plugin
* **Right Click Disable** prevent images in your galleries from being downloaded with easy right click and drag/drop protection.
* **Customization** * We've built in lots of individual customizations for each of our features so that you can make NextGEN Gallery perfect for you

As you can see, we've built a photo gallery plugin that is suitable for everyone! Want a specific or missing feature? Just let us know.


**NEXTGEN GALLERY DEMOS**<br>
*<a href="https://www.imagely.com/wordpress-gallery-plugin/basic-thumbnail-gallery/" target="_blank">Basic Thumbnail Gallery</a><br>
*<a href="https://www.imagely.com/wordpress-gallery-plugin/basic-slideshow-gallery/" target="_blank">Basic Slideshow Gallery</a><br>
*<a href="https://www.imagely.com/wordpress-gallery-plugin/basic-imagebrowser-gallery/" target="_blank">Basic Imagebrowser Gallery</a><br>
*<a href="https://www.imagely.com/wordpress-gallery-plugin/basic-compact-album/" target="_blank">Basic Compact Album</a><br>
*<a href="https://www.imagely.com/wordpress-gallery-plugin/basic-extended-album/" target="_blank">Basic List Album</a><br>

**NEXTGEN PRO DEMOS**<br>
*<a href="https://www.imagely.com/wordpress-gallery-plugin/pro-ecommerce-demo/" target="_blank">Photo Print Sales</a><br>
*<a href="https://www.imagely.com/wordpress-gallery-plugin/pro-proofing-demo/" target="_blank">Photo Proofing</a><br>
*<a href="https://www.imagely.com/wordpress-gallery-plugin/digital-download-demo/" target="_blank">Digital Downloads</a><br>
*<a href="https://www.imagely.com/wordpress-gallery-plugin/pro-mosaic-gallery/" target="_blank">Pro Mosaic Gallery</a><br>
*<a href="https://www.imagely.com/wordpress-gallery-plugin/pro-masonry-gallery/" target="_blank">Pro Masonry Gallery</a><br>
*<a href="https://www.imagely.com/wordpress-gallery-plugin/pro-tiled-gallery/" target="_blank">Pro Tile Gallery</a><br>
*<a href="https://www.imagely.com/wordpress-gallery-plugin/pro-filmstrip-gallery/" target="_blank">Pro Filmstrip Gallery</a><br>
*<a href="https://www.imagely.com/wordpress-gallery-plugin/pro-lightbox-demo/" target="_blank">Pro Lightbox</a><br>

= About Imagely =

NextGEN Gallery is a WordPress gallery plugin maintained by Imagely. We're the WordPress photography experts. In addition to NextGEN Gallery, NextGEN Plus, and NextGEN Pro, we also make WordPress themes for photographers, providing beautiful turnkey websites for photographers.


Learn more or connect with us:<br>
*<a href="https://www.imagely.com?utm_source=wprepo&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=liteversion" target="_blank">Imagely Website</a><br>
*<a href="https://www.imagely.com/wordpress-photography-themes?utm_source=wprepo&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=liteversion" target="_blank">WordPress Themes for Photographers</a><br>
*<a href="https://www.imagely.com/sites?utm_source=wprepo&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=liteversion" target="_blank">Turnkey Photography Sites</a><br>
*<a href="https://www.imagely.com/docs/nextgen-gallery?utm_source=wprepo&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=liteversion" target="_blank">NextGEN Gallery Documentation</a><br>

== Credits ==

Copyright: Imagely 2016-2024

== Installation ==

INSTALLATION: The easiest way to start uploading your photos is to login to you WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New, search for NextGEN Gallery, and click to install the plugin. You can also download the plugin zip file from this page and upload it from the Plugins > Add New > Upload page.

HOW TO USE: Just go to a page or post and add a NextGEN Gallery block. Within the block, click the Add Gallery button to open our Insert Gallery Window, where you can create, manage, customize, and display your WordPress photo galleries. You can also manage your photo galleries and gallery settings from the central options area under the "Gallery" tab on your dashboard menu.

DOCUMENTATION: See <a href="https://www.imagely.com/docs/nextgen-gallery/" target="_blank">NextGEN Gallery Documentation</a>.

That's it ... have fun! For more information, feel free to visit the official website for the NextGEN Gallery <a href="https://www.imagely.com/wordpress-gallery-plugin" target="_blank">WordPress Gallery Plugin</a>.

== Screenshots ==

1. Thumbnail Gallery
2. Slideshow Gallery
3. Imagebrowser Gallery
4. Manage Gallery Page
5. Insert Gallery Window
6. Gallery Settings Page

== Shortcodes ==

NextGEN Gallery offers an easy-to-use Insert Gallery Window, which means you never need to work with shortcodes again when inserting and manageing galleries - if you would prefer not too.

If you do want to work with shortcodes, there is a powerful shortcode system as you'd expect of a popular WordPress gallery plugin. <a href="https://www.imagely.com/docs/nextgen-gallery-shortcodes/">Learn About NextGEN Gallery Shortcodes</a>.

For more information, feel free to visit the official website for the NextGEN Gallery <a href="https://www.imagely.com/wordpress-gallery-plugin/" target="_blank">WordPress Gallery Plugin</a>.

== Frequently Asked Questions ==


= Why are my photo galleries not opening up in a lightbox after I move my site? =

This is often due to the URL paths to the CSS and JavaScript files used by the Lightbox Effects not being changed to relevant addresses based on the new site. This article will help sort out this issue if that is the case: <a href="https://www.imagely.com/docs/galleries-opening-lightbox/" target="_blank">Why are my galleries not opening up in a lightbox?</a>.


= Do you have documentation or tutorials? =

Yes. See <a href="https://www.imagely.com/docs/" target="_blank">NextGEN Gallery Documentation</a>.

= Will this gallery plugin work with my theme? =

Yup, NextGEN is a popular and well-established WordPress gallery plugin, and has been for a long time. It will work well with most other themes and plugins in the WordPress ecosystem.


= Are the photo galleries flash based? =

Nope, we do not use flash elements.


= Are the galleries mobile friendly? =

Yes, we've put a lot of work into this and, NextGEN Galleries are compatible with phones and tablets, inluding Android and iOS operating systems. All photo galleries are also responsive, so galleries look good on diverse screen sizes. NextGEN Pro also includes a fullscreen, responsive Pro Lightbox with mobile gesture support. It's great for viewing photos on mobile devices.


= What is the difference between a gallery and an album? =

In simple terms, Albums are collections of galleries. So Galleries contain your photos and Albums contain your Galleries. Albums act as links and placeholders to quickly and easily navigate your galleries. Galleries will actually display your images.


= Can I upload multiple images at once? =

Yes, you can batch upload entire photo galleries at one time or even include zip folders.


= Can I password protect galleries? =

Yes, WordPress allows you to password protect pages by default - which includes all photo galleries and content for the entire page. Password protection pages can be turned on and off at any time, with just a few clicks.


= Can I add a watermark to the my photos? =

Yes, you can add text or image watermarks to your gallery images.


= Can I crop photo thumbnails? =

Yes, each thumbnail image can be individually adjusted to suit your needs.


= Is there pagination for photo galleries? =

Yes, you can use pagination when displaying thumbnail galleries. You can adjust the amount of photos to be shown on a page at any time.


= Can I customize the lightbox? =

Yes, the lightbox can be configured with multiple options directly from the Dashboard, and there are multiple CSS styles, which can be applied and modified as well. If you want even more options, consider upgrading to NextGEN Pro and using the NextGEN Pro lightbox.


= Can I add HTML to photo captions? =

Yes, caption areas are fully HMTL capable.


= Can I add an external links to galleries? =

Since the captions are fully HTML capable, you can add external links and any other type of markup you wish.


= Is NextGEN Gallery available in foreign languages? =

Yes, our WordPress gallery plugin has been translated into dozens of languages - <a href="https://www.imagely.com/languages/" target="_blank">click here to find out more.</a>


= More Information =

For more information, feel free to visit the official website for the NextGEN Gallery <a href="https://www.imagely.com/wordpress-gallery-plugin" target="_blank">WordPress Gallery Plugin</a>.


== Changelog ==

= 4.2.2 - 05.27.2026 =
* Added: Google Photos integration — import images directly from your Google Photos account into NextGEN galleries.
* Added: Dropbox integration — import images from Dropbox into NextGEN galleries.

= 4.2.1 - 05.15.2026 =
* Fixed: Security hardening across the plugin to better protect site data and reinforce permission checks. We recommend updating.
* Fixed: Edit Image crop tool now uses the correct aspect ratio from your gallery's thumbnail settings and no longer briefly flickers when opening crop mode.
* Fixed: Additional PHP 8.2+ deprecation notices on admin screens.

= 4.2.0 - 04.23.2026 =
* Fixed: Publishing galleries and albums from the Imagely Lightroom plugin could fail with a generic processing error after a recent update
* Fixed: Albums created by Imagely Lightroom could appear empty on the front end with missing thumbnails and broken links
* Fixed: Newly created galleries and albums sometimes did not appear in the admin list until cached data expired
* Fixed: Upload error messages from the Imagely Lightroom plugin now include the underlying reason when a publish fails
* Fixed: Edited images now refresh immediately in the admin without needing a manual page reload
* Fixed: PHP warnings and notices no longer appear on the Albums edit screen related to display types
* Fixed: PHP 8.2+ deprecation notices on admin pages and when gallery models are loaded

= 4.1.3 - 04.03.2026 =
* Fixed: Imagely admin no longer hammered the REST API with repeated settings requests when browsing Galleries and Albums (column visibility auto-save).

= 4.1.2 - 04.02.2026 =
* Added: Duplicate pricelists individually or in bulk from the Ecommerce tab with confirmation modal
* Added: Column visibility on "Manage Galleries" and "Manage Albums" tables is now saved and restored when returning to the page
* Added: Automatic EXIF-based JPEG rotation using ImageMagick/Imagick when available to keep uploads correctly oriented
* Fixed: Multisite — subsite site administrators see Path to galleries as read-only in Imagely so uploads are not pointed at another site’s directory; the main site and network super administrators can still edit the path.
* Fixed: Multisite — network Enable import function correctly turns off Import Folder for subsites (Imagely UI and REST).
* Fixed: Gallery image counts now display correctly in the Albums edit page
* Fixed: Image list in "Add Media > NextGEN Gallery" modal now displays with consistent row heights instead of overflowing thumbnails
* Fixed: Block editor no longer reverts the preview to the saved gallery when choosing a different gallery with "Change" before inserting
* Fixed: Block editor validation errors when Bluehost’s WonderBlocks feature is enabled
* Fixed: Pro Masonry "Maximum image width" and "Image padding" settings now save and apply correctly
* Fixed: Display type settings in the Customize tab could appear stuck or out of sync after changing layout or saving settings
* Fixed: Shutter Reloaded lightbox showing double the image count on Mosaic/Masonry and in the admin live preview
* Fixed: PHP 8.4 deprecation notices for implicit nullable parameters and dynamic properties
* Fixed: Image slug not regenerating when alt text is updated in the manage gallery screen
* Fixed: Rapid price edits in pricelists sometimes not saving
* Fixed: "Display link to license terms?" and "Allow free downloads from cart sidebar" checkboxes reverting after save
* Fixed: Pricelist name and item fields sometimes not showing on load
* Fixed: Order links in the eCommerce Orders admin view now point to the configured thank-you page instead of always using /thanks/
* Fixed: Album pages crashing on PHP 8.x when a sub-album has no images
* Fixed: Cases where JPEG uploads with EXIF rotation could appear as failed even though files were created successfully
* Fixed: Multi-word tag search now works correctly by preserving full phrases before sanitization
* Improved: Gallery path validation is shared between REST and classic Image Options (safer relative paths).
* Improved: JPEG upload handling to be more memory-aware on hosts with older GD libraries

= 4.1.1 - 03.13.2025 =
* Fixed: PNG and WEBP watermarks no longer lose transparency when applied to images
* Fixed: Fatal error when using NextGen Gallery with older Pro add-on versions that reference the legacy C_NextGen_Settings class
* Fixed: SinglePicture display no longer crashes when width/height settings are not configured
* Fixed: Imagebrowser now opens to the correct image when viewing images within albums (Thumbnails display type)

= 4.1.0 - 03.11.2026
* Added: Features page for discovering and managing available integrations
* Added: CDN menu item in the admin sidebar
* Added: Gallery deletion functionality from the Image Uploader
* Added: Dynamic image size options in gallery settings
* Added: Caching for gallery and album queries for improved performance
* Added: Batch gallery fetching for better admin performance
* Fixed: Gallery images now display correctly in ImageBrowser and Slideshow layouts
* Fixed: REST gallery response cache is now invalidated on image changes
* Fixed: Settings page data saving issue
* Fixed: Basic layout fatal error
* Fixed: Media file import issue
* Fixed: Server error messages are now shown instead of generic fallback messages
* Fixed: Thickbox style issue
* Fixed: Undefined array key notice
* Fixed: Gallery image count now refreshes correctly after preview loads
* Fixed: EXIF rotation guard restored — images with non-rotation orientations no longer trigger unnecessary re-processing
* Fixed: Metadata methods (get_IPTC, get_XMP) now correctly return the full array when called without arguments
* Fixed: Gallery list cache is now per-user, preventing incorrect permission display across different user roles
* Improved: Upgrade links now include utm_content tracking for analytics
* Improved: Extensive PHPCS code quality fixes across the entire codebase (security, sanitization, escaping, naming * conventions)
* Improved: Image uploader UI styling and layout
* Improved: Error handling for gallery deletion and image operations

= 4.0.5 - 02.12.2026 =
* Fixed: Unresolved template.
* Added: Convert WordPress galleries to Imagely — convert a single gallery from the block editor ("Convert to Imagely Gallery" in the sidebar) or bulk convert from Imagely → Settings → Convert Galleries; supports classic [gallery] shortcodes and Gutenberg Gallery blocks; preserves image metadata and backs up original content before conversion.
* Fixed: Legacy Template dropdown no longer shows internal template files; only valid legacy templates appear in the list.
* Fixed: Imagely Widget displays correctly again after legacy template dropdown improvements.
* Improved: PHP 8.1+ compatibility; resolved deprecation warnings when previewing galleries or using legacy templates with empty image or gallery descriptions.

= v4.0.3 - 12.18.2025 =
• Added: REST endpoint to scan a gallery folder and import newly added images, and a client hook to trigger it.
• Added: legacy template selector and exposed available legacy templates to the admin app.
• Added: shared Pagination component and applied it across admin list screens (galleries, albums, tags, orders).
• Added: Image ID field to the image metadata modal.
• Added: Digital Downloads section in order details with a direct download link.
• Fixed: 403 rate-limiting issues by debouncing display/settings saves (longer debounce) in gallery/album customize flows.
• Fixed: legacy template loading security by blocking traversal attempts and only allowing templates from approved directories
• Fixed: Upgrade menu item and related admin styles/targeting to show only for Lite installs.
• Fixed: duplicate-column errors when adding DB columns by checking column existence directly
• Fixed: order resubmission-to-lab flow (improved success/error handling) and improved order item file details display.
• Fixed: missing UTM parameters in upgrade links.

= V4.0.2 - 12.15.2025 =
* Fixed: Missing thumbnails on the gallery edit page for some users
* Fixed: Creating galleries from server subfolders
* Fixed: User and capabilities page showing for all users

= V4.0.1 - 12.10.2025 =
* Fixed: Edit gallery user permissions

= V4.0.0 - 12.09.2025 =
* Improved: Admin area user interface

= V3.59.12 - 04.23.2025 =
* Fixed: Lightbox allowed html discrepancy

= V3.59.11 - 04.17.2025 =
* Fixed: SQL formatting error on plugin activation
* Fixed: Translation warning in some admin pages

= V3.59.10 - 01.28.2025 =
* Fixed: Frontend search not working in some cases

= V3.59.9 - 01.16.2025 =
* Fixed: Title and caption allowed html tags.

= V3.59.8 - 01.06.2025 =
* Fixed: Apostrophes not being added to image title
* Improved: Fields sanitization

= V3.59.7 - 12.05.2024 =
* Fixed: Links and styles on about page
* Fixed: Readme update

= V3.59.6 - 11.05.2024 =
* Fixed: Title and captions escaping
* Added: Onboarding wizard
* Added: Optional usage tracking
* Fixed: Blurry images on cropping

= V3.59.5 - 09.24.2024 =
* Fixed: Improved security

= V3.59.4 - 07.18.2024 =
* Fixed: Warning on WP import file
* Added: Create gallery nudge
* Added: Notifications count to the navbar menu
* Fixed: Duplicated gallery name  in the Gutenberg block
* Fixed: Gutenberg block not working when adding into the page template
* Added: Link on the header section logo and make it clickable
* Fixed: Duplicate thumbnail in basic thumbnails carousel

= V3.59.3 - 05.29.2024 =
* Fixed: Improved transient registration.
* Fixed: Rendering shortcodes on rest endpoints.
* Fixed: Album name sanitization.
* Removed: Deprecated admin notices.
* Fixed: PHP 8.2 warnings

= V3.59.2 - 04.10.2024 =
* Fixed: Various bugs and improved UI/UX in various places.

= V3.59.1 - 04.03.2024 =
* Fixed: Warning when saving settings.
* Fixed: Show ordered filenames on order details page.

= V3.59  - 03.14.2024 =
* Fixed: URI too long prevents "Sort or exclude images" from loading images.
* Fixed: Correcting Lightroom clients being unable to sync image .
* Fixed: Prevent PHP warning / error when watermarking.
* Fixed: Sorting images from a Classic Editor launched IGW.
* Fixed: Shutter lightbox randomly failing to load the captions.
* Fixed: PHP notices and warnings.
* Fixed: Addressed a bug reported by Dmitrii Ignatyev of Cleantalk.

= V3.58  - 02.08.2024 =
* Fixed:   A potential fatal DivisionByZeroError caused by image files being deleted outside of NextGEN.
* Fixed:   A potential fatal error in the XML-RPC controller.
* Fixed:   An issue with classic (non-block) themes could break Pro's "Open album children in the Pro Lightbox" feature.
* Fixed:   Assorted potential PHP notices and warnings.
* Fixed:   Manage Galleries' "Images per Page" feature was not working.
* Fixed:   Passing 'gallery_width="auto"' to a Slideshow shortcode could result in a fatal error.

= V3.57  - 01.10.2024 =
* Fixed:   Albums were generating an incorrect URL to their child galleries.
* Fixed:   Albums could generate a fatal error when viewing a sub-album.
* Fixed:   Do not call opcache_reset() if it does not exist.

= V3.56  - 01.09.2024 =
* Fixed:   "Open album children in Pro Lightbox" feature was only working with block based themes.
* Fixed:   Adding more than one Pro display to one page caused galleries after the first to be unstyled.
* Fixed:   Albums with very a large number of children may have broken gallery displays if it relies on the dynamic-css feature.
* Fixed:   Continued fixing recently introduced incompatibilies with 3rd party extensions.
* Fixed:   Creating a new gallery from the Manage Galleries page was just reloading the page.
* Fixed:   Display Type settings could be forced back to their default settings when upgrading.
* Fixed:   IIS servers may generate a fatal error searching for an absolute path to template files.
* Fixed:   Inserting NextGEN singlepic from the Add Media popup was creating an <img> without a src attribute.
* Fixed:   Possible PHP notices, warnings.
* Fixed:   Restored the NGG_DISABLE_SHORTCODE_MANAGER constant.
* Fixed:   Router->fix_page_parameter() generated a warning if the global $post is not an object.
* Fixed:   The button 'Scan folder for new images' was re-importing existing images.
* Fixed:   Updating tags via the Manage Tags page did not flush the displayed gallery rendering cache.
