How to use Clever Albums
Clever Albums is a photo-album designer that runs entirely in your browser. Here is everything worth knowing — from the first photo to a print-ready file.
The basics
- Create an album — pick a page size and export quality. Both can be changed at any time later.
- Add photos — connect a folder from your disk. Originals never leave your device.
- Press Auto-Build — every spread is laid out for you in seconds, grouped by photo orientation.
- Fine-tune — swap templates with one click, drag photos between slots, zoom, rotate, adjust gaps, margins and background.
- Export — a print-ready PDF or JPEG spreads at up to 300 DPI.
Where projects are stored
Every project is saved automatically to your browser’s storage, on your device. There is no account and no cloud — nothing is uploaded anywhere.
Whenever possible the album keeps only references to your photos: the pixels stay in the folder on your disk. Photos picked through the plain browser dialog are stored inside the project instead.
Browser storage belongs to this computer and this browser: clearing site data deletes the projects with it. For a backup — or to move an album to another computer — save it as a file.
Project files
Save (⌘S / Ctrl+S) downloads the whole album as a single .caproject file. Photos imported through the browser are packed into it, so the file is fully portable.
Open Project on the Projects page loads a .caproject back — on any computer.
Photos referenced from a folder are not embedded in the file. After opening it on another machine, the app simply asks you to locate that folder again.
Inside, a .caproject is an ordinary ZIP archive: your photos live in it as regular files. Rename it to .zip and any archiver will extract them — your backup never depends on Clever Albums.
A project file can hold up to 2 GB. Photos connected as a folder or through the Helper don’t count — they stay on your disk — so even huge albums fit; the app will suggest exactly that if you run into the limit.
The Helper
The Helper is a tiny optional app that runs on your computer and gives cleveralbums.com desktop powers. The site works fully without it — the Helper just removes the browser’s limits.
With the Helper
- Native folder dialogs, and photos referenced straight from your disk — no copies; edits to the files are picked up automatically.
- One-click “Edit externally”: the original opens in Photoshop (or your editor of choice), and the album refreshes when you come back.
- Projects stay small — only layout and file paths are stored, never pixels.
Without the Helper
- In Chrome and Edge, folders connect through the browser’s file access: photos are still referenced in place, but the browser asks you to re-allow access after a reload.
- In other browsers, photos are copied into the project and live in browser storage.
- “Edit externally” is unavailable — the browser cannot launch desktop apps.
Installing the Helper
- Download helper.zip and unzip it anywhere.
- Double-click start-helper (Node.js must be installed).
- Reload cleveralbums.com — the site connects automatically and shows “Helper connected”.
Shortcuts
All shortcuts work inside the editor. The list will keep growing with updates.
