---
title: Important Settings
description: "After activating Heirloom Gallery, review these two settings before adding or sharing photos. Go to **Gallery Manager → Settings → Admin Control**: ### Gallery Visibility Choose whether your gallery is **Private** or **Public**. - **Private** — Recommended for personal or…"
url: "https://wpheirloom.com/heirloom-gallery/docs/important-settings/"
updated: "2026-10-06"
category: Getting Started
---

# Important Settings

After activating Heirloom Gallery, review these two settings before adding or sharing photos.

Go to **Gallery Manager → Settings → Admin Control**:

### Gallery Visibility

Choose whether your gallery is **Private** or **Public**.

- **Private** — Recommended for personal or family galleries. Only authorized users can access the gallery.
- **Public** — Makes the gallery accessible to website visitors.

If your gallery is intended to be private, **leave this set to Private**. Only choose Public if you specifically want your gallery to be publicly accessible.

### Enable Sharing

When enabled, users with the appropriate sharing capabilities can generate unique URLs for individual images or albums.

Anyone who has a generated sharing URL can access the shared content, so **only enable sharing if you want users to be able to share gallery content this way**.