A provider's guide to bulk photo upload
Upload a whole gallery of before-and-after sets at once, instead of one at a time. This guide walks you through selecting photos, checking that RealSelf paired them correctly, reviewing what our AI drafted for each set, and submitting the batch for review.
Find it at: Provider Admin → Photos → Add photos in bulk
Desktop only — bulk upload isn't supported on mobile. · Max size 20MB per photo. · File types jpg, jpeg, png, gif. · Up to 300 photos per batch.
Before You Start
- You'll need written consent to publish every photo in the batch — RealSelf can't accept photos without it.
- Photos should show comparable views from the same angle, before and after treatment.
- If your before-and-after files are named to match — for example patient12_before.jpg and patient12_after.jpg — RealSelf pairs them automatically once they're uploaded. It's worth a minute to rename files this way before you start; it saves you from pairing sets by hand later.
The Four Steps
1. Select Your Photos
From the Photos tab, choose Add photos in bulk. Before you drop in your files, decide whether you want AI autofill turned on — it's on by default.
What AI autofill does: Once your photos upload, it reads every set and drafts the procedure, tags, title, and details for you. Nothing publishes on its own — you'll see and can edit every suggestion before you submit. Treat every draft as a starting point, not a final answer; accuracy varies by procedure.
Then drag your before-and-after photos into the upload area, or use Select photos / Import from folder. Only adding one set? There's a one-at-a-time form for that — no need to use bulk upload for a single pair.
2. Upload & Check the Pairing
Keep the tab open while your photos upload — you'll see a running count and a progress bar. Once uploading finishes, RealSelf shows you how it paired your before-and-after photos into sets: a count of photos uploaded, sets paired automatically, and anything left unpaired.
If a photo has no match — say you uploaded one more "before" than "after" — you can pair it manually or skip it and keep going with the rest of the batch.
Once every set looks right, select Run AI autofill (if it's turned on) or Continue to review grid (if it's off).
3. Review the Grid
This is the heart of bulk upload: one row per photo set, with a column for every field you'd normally fill in one at a time — procedure, age, gender, post-op time, title, details, and orientation.
Fields marked with an asterisk — Procedure, Title, Details, Orientation — are required before a set can be submitted.
Rose-tinted cells: Any field shaded rose is an AI draft you haven't touched yet. Edit a cell and it turns white — that's how you can tell at a glance what still needs your eyes on it.
Editing many rows at once: check the boxes next to the sets you want to change, pick a field from the "Apply to selected" menu, type the value, and select Apply to rows. Made a mistake? Undo reverts the last bulk change.
Use the filter chips above the grid to jump straight to AI drafts you haven't reviewed, or sets that need info.
Each row shows one of four statuses:
- Ready — complete, will submit
- Needs info — a required field is blank
- Rejected — fix the reason shown, then resubmit
- Skipped — excluded from this batch
Before you submit, check the consent box confirming you have written consent for every photo in the batch and accept RealSelf's Photo Gallery Guidelines, Community Guidelines, Terms of Service, and Privacy Policy.
4. Submit the Batch
The submit button always tells you how many sets are going out — for example, Submit 12 sets for review. If a few sets still need info, that's fine: submitting sends the ready sets now, and the rest stay saved so you can finish them later. Nothing you've entered is lost.
After you submit: RealSelf's review team checks every photo before it goes live — usually within two business days. You'll get an email per set, including the reason if one is rejected. From the confirmation screen you can jump straight to Fix held sets or start Uploading another batch.
Common Questions
My before-and-afters didn't pair automatically.
Pairing works off matching file names. Rename your files so each pair shares a name — like patient12_before.jpg and patient12_after.jpg — or use Pair manually on the pairing screen to match them by hand.
A set is stuck on "Needs info."
One of the required fields — Procedure, Title, Details, or Orientation — is still blank. Fill it in, or leave it for now; it just won't go out with this submission, and you can finish it anytime.
A set says "Rejected."
The review team found an issue — the reason is shown right on that row, for example a mismatched angle between before and after. Fix the issue and resubmit that set.
AI autofill guessed something wrong.
That's expected sometimes — it's a draft, not a final answer. Just edit the cell like you would any other field; your change replaces the AI's suggestion.
Can I turn AI autofill off?
Yes — flip the toggle before you upload. You'll go straight to the review grid with empty fields to fill in yourself, the same way the one-at-a-time form works today.
Questions about bulk upload? Reach the RealSelf team anytime at expert@realself.com or 206-624-9357.