Add and organize vehicle photos
Upload vehicle photos, say what they are for, and let the app sort them by angle; set the cover, reorder, rotate, tag, and keep private shots off the site.
Last updated
Good photos sell cars. The photo manager lets you upload, tag, reorder, rotate, and pick the cover shot, and it reads each new photo to work out its angle and put the set in listing order. Everything you publish flows straight to your storefront and marketplace feeds.
The Photos panel lives on a vehicle's detail page, not on a separate screen. Open Inventory, click the vehicle, and scroll to the Photos card.
Upload photos
- Open Inventory and click the vehicle you want.
- Scroll to the Photos card and click Add photos (or drag image files onto the grid, or paste an image from your clipboard).
- Pick one or more image files. Each one uploads with its own progress bar.
- Wait for every file to read Done. The new photos appear in the grid, private for now, and the card asks what they are for.
Three ways to upload: the Add photos button, drag-and-drop images onto the grid, or paste (Ctrl+V / Cmd+V) an image copied from anywhere. Photos go straight to our image CDN, so large files are fine. iPhone HEIC photos copied to your computer work too.
The first photo on a vehicle with no photos yet becomes the primary (cover) photo for now. Once the photos are sorted, the front corner shot takes over as the listing photo. You can change it any time; see Set the listing (primary) photo below.
Tell us what new photos are for
New photos start private. Right after an upload, the card asks What are these photos for? with four answers:
| Answer | Tag | Who sees them |
|---|---|---|
| Auction | Auction | Private: only your team |
| Transport | Transport | Private: only your team |
| Recon | Recon | Private: only your team |
| Ready to publish | Complete | Your website and feeds |
- While the photos are being read you'll see Reading the photos…. You can answer straight away, without waiting.
- When the read is done, the card preselects its guess and says why (for example "12 of 14 look like an auction lane"). Change it if the guess is wrong.
- Click Save, or Publish these photos for ready to publish.
Nothing goes on your website until you pick Ready to publish. Some photos stay private whatever you choose, and the card lists them under Held back: anything that looks like paperwork (a title, a driver's license, a bill of sale) and any photo showing a different car's VIN (the card then warns that these may be another car's photos). A paperwork photo there has a Move to Documents button: it files an upright copy on the car's documents (a title as a title, a driver's license as a license copy, anything else as a document you can rename in Files) and takes the photo off the Photos card. When you publish, the card may also suggest keeping a few private, such as a shot with a person in it; those start ticked and you can untick them.
Once you publish, the card says what happened: how many photos are on your website and whether they were sorted, which photo leads the listing, and the 360. It says either that the 360 is being built, or which angles it still needs. With Build the 360 on its own off, it offers Build 360 instead. Remove background… opens Prepare your photos on the batch's outside photos, and Dismiss closes the summary.
Reading new photos uses your AI allowance, on every plan. If the AI is off or the allowance is used up, the question is still asked, just without a guess (the card says why, for example "No guess: this month's AI allowance is used up"), and the photos are not sorted by angle. Click Classify later to read them.
Photos in listing order
Once the photos are answered, the card puts them in listing order: the listing photo first (a front corner, driver side unless you change it in settings), then around the car, then the inside and the details. Private photos go last.
- Standard listing order (above the grid) sorts the whole set again at any time.
- If you drag photos into your own order, or click Make primary, the car is marked as ordered by hand: new photos get added at the end and your order is left alone. After you answer what new photos are for on such a car, the card offers Sort all (or Keep my order). Standard listing order also goes back to automatic sorting at any time.
- The listing photo is never a rear view or an inside shot.
Check or fix a photo's angle
- Switch the card to By angle (top-left toggle). Photos are grouped into Outside, Inside, Details, Other and Damage, in listing order.
- Each photo shows its angle on a small chip. If one is wrong, open the photo's Angle menu and pick the right one (or Clear angle).
- Click Standard listing order to re-sort with your correction. An angle you set by hand is never overwritten by the AI.
The app also uses the order you took the photos in. A photo taken between the two passenger-side corners is the passenger side, even if it first looked like the driver side. So upload the photos in the order you shot them (your phone keeps that order), and a mix-up like that sorts itself out. If the 360 still says it needs an angle you did shoot, find that photo, set its angle, and the 360 builds by itself right after.
Photos added before this feature, or while the AI was off, sit under Not read yet. Click Classify (it shows how many are left) to read their angles, up to 24 per click. Classify never changes whether a photo is public; if any look like paperwork it tells you, so you can make them private.
Photo defaults (Settings, Photos)
Owners and managers can change what happens when your team adds photos. The Photo defaults link on the Photos card goes straight there.
- Ask what new photos are for (on by default). Turn it off if your team only adds finished photos on the Photos card: new photos then go public on their own once they are read and sorted. Paperwork still stays private, and a batch with another car's VIN in it waits for your answer.
- Sort by angle (on by default). Puts new photos in listing order. A car someone ordered by hand keeps its order.
- Build the 360 on its own (on by default). When a car's public photos hold all eight outside angles, its 360 view is built and shown on your website. Each build uses a little of your AI allowance. A 360 you remove stays removed.
- Listing photo: driver side front corner (the default) or passenger side front corner.
- Listing look: where Prepare your photos starts: the backdrop (Soft light, the default, a soft light studio with no line between the wall and the floor; Soft gray room, Soft graphite, Soft taupe and Soft gallery, a light gray room, a dark graphite panel wall, a warm taupe panel wall or a white wall over a concrete floor, out of focus behind the car; Blurred showroom, a bright showroom out of focus; Dark studio, a dark studio with a pool of light under the car and a faint reflection; Seamless studio, a light gray studio with no lines on the floor, right from any angle; Warm studio, a warm cream studio with no lines on the floor; Natural, where the photo was taken, softly blurred and brightened, so the car stays on its own ground; Open sky, open sky over plain ground, the horizon at your camera's height; White; Light gray; Your website color; or Your picture, a photo you upload: see Use your own backdrop), a shadow under the car (on), and the crop (4:3, or 16:9).
- Scans: straighten and lift contrast on new scans (on by default). A photo of a paper uploaded to Documents or your dealership files gets a straightened, clearer copy for viewing and printing; the original stays the record. See Straightened scans.
View a photo full size
Click any photo to open it full size, with zoom, full screen and the other photos as thumbnails. On a phone or tablet, tap it; the photo's buttons (View, Make primary, Rotate, Make private, Tag, Angle) show on each photo there without hovering. In the reorder view, a click still opens the photo; press and move to drag it instead.
Set the listing (primary) photo
The primary photo is the cover image. It leads on your storefront, marketplace feeds, and the inventory list, and it's marked with a star and a Primary badge. Sorting picks it for you; to choose your own:
- Hover over the photo you want as the cover.
- Click Make primary (this button only appears on photos that aren't already primary).
- You'll see "Primary photo updated." The star moves to that photo.
The starred primary photo always leads, no matter how you drag the rest. To move the cover, use Make primary; dragging won't change it.
Reorder photos by hand
- In the Photos card, switch to the All view (top-left toggle).
- Drag any thumbnail to a new spot. This is the order shoppers see on the public listing.
- The new order saves automatically, and the car is marked as ordered by hand.
Rotate a sideways photo
- Hover over the crooked photo.
- Click Rotate. Each click turns it 90° clockwise.
- Click again until it's upright.
The fix is applied to the delivery image, so it shows correctly everywhere, with no re-upload needed.
Tag photos by workflow stage
Tags group photos into stages so you can review a car as it moves from acquisition to lot-ready. The stages are Auction, Transport, Recon, and Complete. Answering What are these photos for? tags the batch for you; you can also tag by hand.
- Stay in the By tag view (the default, top-left toggle).
- To tag one photo: hover it, open its Tag dropdown, and pick a stage. Pick the same stage again to remove it.
- To tag many at once: select photos with the corner checkbox (or Select all), then choose a stage from + Tag as….
A photo can carry more than one tag; it then appears under every stage it's tagged with. Untagged photos collect in an Untagged section. Tags are internal organization only; they never show on your public site.
Hide a photo from the public (public vs. private)
Photos you add on the Photos card start private until you answer what they are for. Mark any other internal shots (recon damage, paperwork, the back of the lot) as private so they stay off your storefront and feeds.
- Hover the photo and click Make private (or Make public to show it). Private photos get a Private badge.
- To do several at once, select them, then click Make public or Make private.
- In the By tag view, use the All / Public / Private filter to see only public or only private photos.
Delete photos
- Click the corner checkbox on each photo to remove (or Select all).
- Click Delete selected.
- Confirm the prompt: "Delete … ? This can't be undone."
Deleting removes the photo for good; there's no undo in the app. If you only want to keep a photo off the storefront, use Make private instead of deleting it.
Prepare your photos (listing look)
Put a car's outside photos on a studio backdrop, or your own picture, from Prepare on its Photos card, or style up to 50 cars at once from the Inventory list. The original is always kept. How it works: The photo studio and your listing look.
Build a 360 view
The 360 view card under Photos turns the car's own outside photos, one for each of the 8 outside angles, into a 360 shoppers drag around on your website. It builds itself once all eight are there. How it works: Build a 360 view.
What happens when you change photos
Every photo change (upload, answer, sort, reorder, primary, rotate, tag, angle, public/private, delete) triggers three things automatically. It's written to your activity log, it refreshes your public storefront, and it re-syncs the photo set to your Facebook catalog (only if your Facebook channel is connected and enabled). You don't need to re-publish.
Aim for 8 or more photos. The panel nudges you with "Add more: listings with 8+ photos get more engagement" when a car has fewer than six.
Ask the assistant
In the AI chat, attach photos to your message and say what they are for, for example "add these to A100, they're ready to publish". If you don't say, the assistant asks: auction, transport, recon or ready to publish. It then prepares one card that:
- shows the photos as small thumbnails in listing order, the listing photo first (a photo of paperwork or an ID shows no preview; click any photo to open it full size),
- takes the tags and who sees them from your answer (ready to publish goes on the website once you approve; auction, transport and recon stay private),
- holds back anything that looks like paperwork, or a photo showing another car's VIN, and
- suggests keeping a photo with a person in it, or a cut-off car, private.
You can change the answer and the keep-private picks on the card before you approve. Approving is the same as uploading here and answering the question, and it can be undone.
Adding a new car from its photos works the same way, and the photos must be of one car: if they show two VINs, the assistant asks which photos belong to which car.
"Sort A100's photos" prepares a card that puts them in listing order; Undo puts the old order back as long as no photo was added or removed since. "Make the private photos on A100 public" prepares a card listing the photos it would publish; because a public photo goes to the website and Facebook and cannot be recalled once syndicated, it always asks. "Show me the photos of A100" lists each photo with whether it is public.
FAQ
Who can manage photos?
Owners, admin managers and sales. Accounting can see a car's photos but cannot add or change them. There's no plan limit on photos. Only owners and admin managers can change the photo defaults in Settings, Photos.
Why are my new photos private?
Every photo added on the Photos card waits for your answer to What are these photos for? Pick Ready to publish to put them on your website. If your team only ever adds finished photos, an owner or manager can turn the question off in Settings, Photos.
Does reading the photos cost extra?
No separate fee. It uses the AI allowance that comes with your plan, and every plan gets it. When the allowance is used up, the question is still asked, just without a guess.
The AI got a photo's angle wrong.
Open the photo's Angle menu and pick the right one, then click Standard listing order. Your choice sticks; the AI never overwrites an angle you set.
My photo is showing sideways on the website.
Open the vehicle, hover the photo, and click Rotate until it's upright. The corrected orientation appears everywhere, including the public page and feeds.
How do I keep a photo off my website without deleting it?
Hover it and click Make private. Private photos stay in your account (you still see them) but are hidden from your storefront and marketplace feeds.
Dragging photos doesn't move my cover image. Why?
The primary (starred) photo always leads regardless of drag order. Use Make primary on the photo you want as the cover.
Why don't my tags show on the public listing?
Tags (Auction / Transport / Recon / Complete) are internal organization for your team. They never appear to shoppers. To control what shoppers see, use public/private and the photo order.
Can I upload a whole batch at once?
Yes. Select multiple files in Add photos, or drag several images onto the grid. Each file uploads with its own progress bar, and the whole batch gets one What are these photos for? question.