What happens when storage fills up

Running out of room is undramatic. The album keeps working for everyone; only new uploads wait until there's space again.

At the limit

Guests who try to add a photo see This album is full right now. The host needs to free up space. Your own uploads get Storage is full for your plan. Free up space or upgrade. Everything already in the album stays exactly as it is: viewing, the reel, downloads, sharing, all unaffected. The bell on your dashboard flags it, and the storage meter turns amber.

Two ways out, both instant:

• Make room. What you remove waits in Deleted and still counts, so room comes back when it leaves: Empty Deleted in the storage meter, or Delete for good on what you pick from the list of what's using space. With Make room from Deleted on, as it is unless you turned it off, a new upload takes its room from the oldest of Deleted by itself, so a full Deleted never stops a guest's photo. Hidden photos still count, so hiding isn't enough.
• Upgrade. Open the storage meter on your dashboard and press Need more? (on Pro, Change plan lists every Pro size), or press Upgrade on your account page; uploads resume as soon as the payment goes through. See upgrade, downgrade, or cancel.

Restoring something you removed always fits: it was counted all along while it waited in Deleted.

The uploads allowance

Separately from storage, each plan allows a set amount of uploading: 300 MB a month on Free, 50 GB over its year on each Event Pass, and 100 GB, 200 GB, or 500 GB a month on Pro. It counts everything you and your guests add, deletions included, and it's sized so a real event doesn't meet it. If one did, guests would see This album has hit its upload limit for now. It clears when the month turns on Free and Pro; on a pass, another pass adds its own, and Pro allows more.

When Pro ends or a pass lapses

A plan you buy or switch to has to hold what you store (Partyreel asks you to make room before a smaller size), so choosing a plan doesn't put you over. A plan ending can. If you cancel Pro, or an Event Pass ends, and your albums hold more than the plan you're left on allows, nothing is deleted on the spot. You get 45 days of full access, with an email at the start and a reminder near the end, to make room or move back up. Only if that window passes with nothing changed does Partyreel make room: what waits in Deleted leaves first, then the largest files move into Deleted, where they wait the usual 30 days and can still be restored once there's room. Uploads are paused throughout, since you're over the limit.