MobileMe: Protecting movies, images in your Gallery with a password

How to password-protect movies or images already published to your Gallery 

iMovie

If you have already published the movie without a password, you can easily password-protect it in iMovie '08.

1. Open iMovie '08.
2. Select the movie project that you want to add a password to.
3. Choose "Re-publish to MobileMe Gallery" from the Share menu.
4. A Publish window will appear. From the "Viewable by" pop-up menu, choose "Edit Names and Passwords", or choose an existing name/password choice (in which case you're finished).
5. Click the Add (+) button to create an entry in the popup menu.
6. Enter a user name and a desired password in the Name and Password fields. Click OK.
7. Change the other settings as desired and then click Update.

iPhoto

If you have already published the album without a password, you can easily add password protection to it in iPhoto '08.

1. Open iPhoto '08.
2. Select the album you want to add a password to.
3. Click the Settings icon.
4. A confirmation sheet appears asking if you would like to publish to your Gallery. From the "Album Viewable by" pop-up menu within the sheet, choose "Edit names and passwords", or choose an existing name/password choice (in which case you're finished).
5. Click the Add (+) button to create an entry in the popup menu.
6. Enter a user name and a desired password in the Name and Password fields. Click OK.
7. Change the other settings as desired and then click Publish.

Any changes you make to the album are automatically published to your gallery. 
 

How to add a new password-protected movie or album to your Gallery

iMovie

To publish a movie directly from iMovie '08:

1. Open iMovie '08.
2. Select a project that you wish to publish from the Project Library.
3. Choose MobileMe Gallery from the Share menu.
4. In the Publish window, enter a title and description for your movie.
5. Select one or more movie sizes to publish. The dimensions of the finished movies are shown on the right side of the table.
6. From the "Viewable by" pop-up menu within the sheet, choose "Edit names and passwords".
7. Click the Add (+) button to create an entry in the popup menu.
8. Enter a user name and a desired password in the Name and Password fields. Click OK.
9. Change the other settings as desired and then click Publish.

iPhoto

To publish an album in iPhoto '08:

1. Open iPhoto '08.
2. Drag the photos or movies that you'd like to publish to an existing album in the iPhoto Source list or create a new album for your content by clicking the Add (+) button at the bottom left of the iPhoto application window, naming the album, and clicking Create. 
3. Select the album you'd like to publish (with a password).
4. From the Share menu, choose MobileMe.
   
   Alternatively, you can click the Add (+) button in the bottom-left corner of the iPhoto application, then click the MobileMe icon in the dialog window. This method allows you to name the album you're going to publish differently than the name you've given your album, if you like. 
    
5. The confirmation sheet provides options that you can select to control access to your album in your Gallery. From the "Album Viewable by" pop-up menu within the sheet, choose "Edit names and passwords".
6. Click the Add (+) button to create an entry in the popup menu.
7. Enter a user name and a desired password in the Name and Password fields. 
8. Select other publishing options. 
   
   
   • "Show photo titles": Select this checkbox to make your photo titles visible in your published album.
   • "Allow visitors to download photos": Select this checkbox to allow viewers to download photos from your published album.
   • "Allow visitors to upload photos": Select this checkbox to allow visitors to your Gallery Album to upload photos to it. Photos that others upload are synced back to your computer and iPhoto '08.
   • "Allow photo uploading by email": Select this checkbox to create an email address that you can use to send photos to your published album from a mobile phone, iPhone, or other mobile device.
   • "Show email address to visitors": Select this checkbox to make your email address visible on your published album. This also allows viewers to use the address to send their photos to your published album from their mobile phone, iPhone, or other mobile device.
         
9. Click Publish. The album appears in your Source list under Gallery. After the album is uploaded, the Gallery icon appears next to it.

Note: If your album contains a large number of photos, movies, or a movie that has a large file size, it may take several minutes to publish (upload), depending on the upload speed of your Internet connection.
 

Confirming you have password protected your movie or album in your Gallery

1. In iPhoto '08, select your published album in the Source list (under Gallery); the URL appears under the title. In iMovie '08, select your movie project from the Project Library; the Project area will display "Published to MobileMe"
2. Click the arrow (to the right of the title in iPhoto and in top right of the Project area in iMovie) to go to the Gallery on the Internet.
3. You will be prompted to log in to area "idisk.me.com" on gallery.me.com.

Alternatively, go to the movie or album via a web browser such as Safari--you should be prompted for a user name and password to access the content. (If you don't know the URL to a photo album, open iPhoto '08 and select the album. In iPhoto '08, you should see a URL to the album website under the title, even if the album isn't completely uploaded.) If you are able to access the album or movie without being prompted for a user name and password, check its settings in iPhoto '08 or iMovie '08. If you are trying to log in to a different password-protected album or movie, quit and re-open your Web browser first.
 

Tips

Importing movies and images into iPhoto '08

If you would like your movies and photos to appear together in the same album, you can import your movies into iPhoto and add them to your photo albums. You can either drag the files from the Finder into the Source list on the left-hand side of iPhoto '08's application window, or follow these steps:

1. Open iPhoto '08.
2. Choose Import to Library from the iPhoto File menu.
3. Select movies or images in the Import Photos pane.
4. Click Import.
5. If you imported a movie, a dialog sheet appears asking if you'd like to import a duplicate photo. Click import if you'd like a photo of your movie to represent the movie when it's not playing.

Note: If a movie is not in a supported format, an "Unreadable Files. The following file could not be imported." alert message will appear. You may be able to open the movie in a different application and convert it to a supported format, such as QuickTime.

Choosing a name and password for your album or movie

Consider the following when creating a name and password for your Gallery albums or movies:

• The name and password can be up to 20 characters long each.
• For the user name, you can use numerals 0-9 and lowercase letters, as well as un underscore and a single period, but you can not use a period at the end of the user name.
• For your password, you can use any combination of numerals, capital or lowercase letters, or common keyboard symbols. It's a good idea to keep your user name and password in a safe place for future reference.
• For advice on choosing a good password, see this article.

Once you add a user name and password to any movie or photo album, the user name choice will appear in the "(Album) Viewable by" pop-up menu in the future (so you don't have to keep typing the information for each album you want to protect).