Transfer artworks

Transfers let you send a full artwork record to someone else’s Artopia account using only their email address. The record travels with its image, details, provenance notes and any documents you choose to include. The recipient gets an email invitation, opens a secure link and adds the piece straight into their own collection. Use a transfer when a work changes hands, whether through a sale, a gift or a move between family members, and you want the receiving collector to inherit the full documentation rather than build it again from scratch.

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Sending an artwork

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Tracking what you have sent

Open Activity and go to Sent to see every transfer you have started. Each entry shows the artwork, the recipient’s email and the date it went out, along with where it has got to:

• Transfer sent, the invitation has been delivered and you are waiting on the recipient
• Claimed, they accepted and added the work to their collection
• Declined, they turned it down
• Expired, the invitation was not claimed in time
• Cancelled, you cancelled before they accepted

While a transfer is still pending you can cancel it. Once it has been claimed, declined, expired or cancelled you can clear it from the list. Clearing only hides it from your own view and does not affect the recipient’s copy.

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Receiving an artwork

When someone sends you a work, you get an email with a link to claim it. The page shows a preview of the piece, with its image, title, artist, dimensions and medium, alongside any note from the sender. From there you can either open it in Artopia to accept, or decline the transfer. If you are not signed in, the link takes you to sign up or log in with the right email already filled in. A transfer is tied to the address it was sent to, so if you are signed in as a different account you will not be able to accept or decline until you switch.

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Accepting from Activity

Pending invitations also appear under Activity, in Received. Opening one lets you decide how the piece lands in your collection: which collection it joins, what status it arrives with and, if you use locations, where it is kept. Choose Add to collection to accept, or Decline to turn it down. When you accept, the artwork and every included file is copied into your collection and the sender is notified.

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Emails along the way

Artopia emails both sides as a transfer progresses.

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Privacy and security

Claim links only work while a transfer is pending, and each one is tied to the recipient’s email address, so an invitation cannot be claimed from another account. The link also clears itself from the browser address bar once the page has loaded, so it cannot be passed on by accident afterwards. Documents travel with a transfer only if you include them when sending.