Questions people ask

A memory book written by the people around the person it’s about. You set it up and share one link. People add messages, written or spoken, and photographs, and each keeps their name. You arrange the pages; you see every page, and nothing is printed until you approve the book. Then it’s printed as a hardcover and posted.

Three. A Memorial Board, for someone who has died: an online board the people who knew them add to, and a printed book when the family is ready. A Birthday Book, for a birthday from the 10th to the 100th. And a Leaving Book, for a colleague retiring or moving on, written by the team.

No. Nobody makes an account, and there’s nothing to install. The link opens in any browser, on a phone or a computer. You come back to your book through your own link, or by asking for a sign-in link to the email you set it up with.

A written message or a spoken one, and photographs, up to 30 at a time. A spoken message is typed up, and it’s the written words that go in the book. Not video.

It depends on the book. On a Leaving Book, everyone with the link reads every message and sees every photograph; that’s how colleagues see what the team has said. On a Memorial Board, anyone with the link can read the board, unless you make it private. A Birthday Book is private unless you open it, so only you read what arrives.

A private board still takes messages. You stop new messages with a switch of their own. Nobody is ever shown who hasn’t written.

A Leaving Book is made as one: the invitation asks colleagues to keep it from the person leaving, and the link is the secret. A Birthday Book is private unless you open it, so only you, and anyone you ask to help, see what arrives; whether it stays a surprise is up to the people you ask, and your invitation can ask them to keep it quiet.

We ask search engines not to list boards, and we never sell what is on them.

Only where someone chooses it. On the writing page there’s help with wording that does nothing unless the person writing asks for it, and they choose which version is sent. Spoken messages are typed up by a speech-to-text service. The services we use are named on our privacy page.

A card gives everyone a line. Here each person chooses a quick message or a longer one, adds their photographs, and puts their name to it, and it’s arranged into chapters and printed as a hardcover. The person leaving gets a book to keep on the shelf. You see every page, and nothing is printed until you approve the book.

Our board is where messages and photographs gather, and the book is the point of it. It starts with chapters to build on, gives each person’s words their name and their photographs beside them, and you can move, cut and rearrange anything before you approve it. It’s printed square, in 21 cm or 29 cm, on 200gsm silk paper.

A guest book is signed by whoever is in the room, on the day. This is open to all their people, from wherever they are, with photographs, and with room for more than a line.

A photo book is usually made by one person from their own pictures. This one is written by many people: they send their words and photographs through one link, and we give it chapters, prompts and a design, so you’re arranging rather than starting from a blank page.

This book is written by the people around them, not by the person it’s about. So it can be a surprise, it asks nothing of them, and it can be made for someone who has died.

A Memorial Board is an online page where the people who knew them add memories and photographs. When the family is ready, it becomes a printed book to hold, and the board doesn’t close when you make it.

A letter is one person’s voice. The book holds many, and a long letter still gets the room it needs.

Structure, design, guidance, prompts: that’s our job. Knowing the person: that’s yours. The book has its chapters from the moment you set it up. If you sort people into groups, each group gets its own link and its own prompts. Before you order, a checklist shows what’s still missing. You decide what goes in; you see every page, and nothing is printed until you approve the book.

A few minutes. You say who it’s for and choose the chapters, and you can change any of it later.

Yes. Share the link with anyone, at any point, and there’s no limit on how many people add to it. If you want, you can keep a list of the people you’re inviting and email them the invitation from your book.

No, we don’t send reminders, and we don’t tell anyone who hasn’t written. You can send the link again whenever you like: in an email, a team chat, or a word in the right ear.

Yes, on every book. If someone would rather tell you than type it, or can’t open the link, you can add it for them, with their name on it.

Some work networks block links they don’t recognise. The same link opens on a phone, away from the office network. Failing that, you can add what they want to say for them.

Not on a Memorial Board or a Birthday Book. Nothing closes on a date. When you want to stop new messages, you switch them off, and you can switch them back on. Order the book whenever enough has gathered.

A Leaving Book is different: its board is open for 60 days from the day you set it up, which is the time to gather messages and order the book.

No photograph is turned away for being small. When you crop one, the editor stops where it would start to look soft and tells you so. You can go further if you choose.

What we don’t do is flag photographs at upload. Most photographs are smaller than a printer would ideally like, so most of them would be flagged, which helps nobody.

You can edit any text, move anything, and hide or remove anything from the book. Each message keeps the name of the person who wrote it.

Yes. You see every page, and nothing is printed until you approve the book. The pages look exactly as they’ll print, you can keep editing until you’re happy, and only you can see the book before it’s printed. If you change anything after approving, the book tells you and asks you to look again.

A square hardcover, 21 cm or 29 cm, printed on 200gsm silk paper, one at a time when you order it. The shortest is 40 pages.

To addresses in the UK, Ireland, the US, Australia, Singapore, Canada, the UAE and Hong Kong. It usually takes about 4 days to print, then 3 to 5 working days for the UK and Ireland, 5 to 7 for the US and Australia, and 7 to 10 for Singapore, Canada, the UAE and Hong Kong. Delivery is tracked, and you see the cost and an estimate for the address before you confirm.

The book is priced by how many pages it has and which of the two sizes you choose, and you see the price before you order. A Memorial Board also has a board fee when you set it up. A Birthday Book or a Leaving Book has nothing to pay until you order the book. The people you invite never pay.

No. The book and the board are separate, and ordering the book doesn’t close the board.

A Memorial Board or a Birthday Book stays online for 10 years.

A Leaving Book’s board is open for 60 days from the day you set it up. That’s time to gather messages and order the book. After that, the board and everything on it is deleted.

No, there’s no download. Everything on the board is there for you to read while it’s online, and the printed book is yours to keep.