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Help / FAQ / General Flickr Questions

What is Flickr?

Flickr is the best way to store, sort, search and share your photos online. Flickr helps you organize that huge mass of photos you have and offers a way for you and your friends and family to tell stories about them.

The best way to learn about Flickr is to upload some photos, explore the site, join some groups and make some friends. You can find more info about Flickr in the Magical Feature Tour.

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What are the rules for using Flickr?

Please read our Community Guidelines to find out everything you need to know about being a model Flickr citizen.

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Will Flickr always be free?

Yes, there will always be a free version of Flickr. It will be limited in some ways, and you get more with a paid subscription, but it's still fun!

You can always upgrade to a Flickr Pro account, for just $24.95 (U.S.) per year. You can also buy a Pro account for a friend if you feel generous.

To find out more, visit the Upgrade page.

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I'd like to use a photo I found on Flickr. How do I do that?

Our members share an incredible amount of amazing work on Flickr. We don't act as matchmakers and if you’d like to use a photo elsewhere, you’ll need to contact them directly to both secure permission to use the photo and also assure yourself that they have all the necessary rights to grant you permission to use that photo.

As a member of Flickr, you can move your mouse over someone's buddy icon and click the little arrow to open the "person menu." Then select "Send FlickrMail" and compose your message.

When you contact a photographer, it's best to include as much info as possible about the photo, yourself, and how you want to use the photo.

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Why the new look and feel for the homepage?

We've remodeled the home page a little to give you more windows to peek through and see what's happening around Flickr.

Recent activity, content from your groups, photos from your contacts, as well as rotating Explore goodness pop up as soon as you login. You can even make a it a little homier by choosing what you want to see.

So get settled in and welcome back!

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What does the new "Recent activity" show?

Recent activity A has been updated to show more of what is happening around your account.

In addition to views for Activity on your photos and Replies to your comments, you can also view your Messages, see it all together, or make a custom view.

Save C makes that view your default so it will be the first thing you see in Recent activity and on the homepage.

Muting

In response to member feedback we have also added the ability to mute B items that you don't want to see new activity on.

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What if I don't want to see activity on a photo?

If there is an image that you commented on a while ago but don't want to see new activity on, you can now mute it B. (you can do this on anything in recent activity)

To un-mute something, just go to your muted items view D and un-mute it.

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Where did "Everyone's Photos" go?

On the homepage, rather than show you just the latest photos from other Flickr users, we thought we'd make things more interesting.

The Explore section on the home page now revolves to show what is happening in different areas of the site. You might see recent uploads, a glimpse of groups, a piece of places, or something new you wouldn't have stumbled across otherwise. There is a lot happening on Flickr every day and we hope this lets you see a little more of it.

Note: If you don't want to see this Explore content, you can minimize the module at anytime by clicking on the arrow just to the left of the first photo.

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Or, return to the main help page.