Quick Start Guide

From your dashboard, you have two ways to start a new timeline: + New timeline lets you build it by hand, one event at a time. ✨ Create with qChat builds a first draft for you from a batch of photos (see section 4).

When you start a blank timeline, you'll fill in:

• Timeline name and an optional description.
• Timeline type— "Dated (normal)" if events have real dates, or "Non-dated (sequenced)" if you just want them in an order (like chapters), with no dates required.
• Show dates as— full date & time, just the date, month & year, year only, or hidden entirely. Pick Month & yearwhen you know the month but not the day, so the timeline doesn't have to invent one.
• Optional keywords, to help you find it later with search.
• An optional banner image— once you've picked one, you can click and drag the photo to choose which part shows.

When all is set, click Create Timeline at the bottom.

To add an event, open the timeline and click + Add event. You'll fill in:

• Title of the event.
• Description. This is where you write the details of the event. Here you can format your text and insert an image (see section 3) at the beginning, at the end, or in between paragraphs.
• Start Date and an optional End Date.
• The Show date asoption lets you select if you want to show the Full date and time (if known), Date only, Month & year (when you know the month but not the day), Year only (if the exact date is not known), or make the date Hidden. Leave it on Use timeline default to follow whatever the timeline itself is set to.
• Photos and attachments. You can add photos, and upload audio and video files (up to 50MB in size). Attachments are displayed at the bottom of the event.
• Scanned documents. If you scan a letter or a certificate, your scanner most likely saves it as a PDF. Just add it the same way you would a photo — TLCp turns each page into a photograph automatically, so the pages appear in the event and can be read in place, in the right order, with nothing to download or open separately.
• For a non-dated, sequenced timeline, you'll give it a Label(like "Chapter 1" or "Section 1") and a Place in sequence number.

Click Add event to save.

In the Description panel when adding an event, you'll find the Image button along with formatting tools like Bold, Heading, List, and Link. It is important to determine first where you want the image placed — it could be at the beginning, end, or in between paragraphs.

• Click the Image button.
• In the window that opens, find and select the image, then click Open.
• An optional Caption window will open. Leave it blank for no caption, then click OK.
• To add or edit a caption after inserting the image, click the image and then click Caption in the toolbar. Add or edit the caption, then click OK.
• Click Add event or Save changes.

qChat is TLCp's built-in AI (artificial intelligence) feature — think of it as a helpful assistant that looks at your photos for you. Give it a batch of photos and it writes a suggested title and description for each one, the way a friend might describe your photos back to you. It only uses what it can actually see in the photo (and, when a photo carries it, hidden details like when or roughly where it was taken) — it never makes anything up. There are two ways to use it:

• ✨ Create with qChat on the dashboard starts a brand new timeline in five easy steps: name it, choose a banner, add up to 20 photos, choose a caption style (point of view, tone, and length), then review — each item has a Change button so you can adjust anything before generating.
• Add event with qChat on an existing timeline is a quicker one-screen version — just photos and a caption style, then Generate.

Either way, qChat only creates a draft. You'll see every suggested caption on a review screen, where you can edit or remove anything — nothing is saved until you press Save.

Every timeline can be viewed three ways — Horizontal, Vertical, and Carousel — using the tabs at the top. Switching is instant; nothing reloads and you never lose your place. On a phone, timelines always open in Vertical (the easiest to scroll with a finger); on a computer, it remembers whichever view you used last.

• Vertical — a simple scrolling list, with a search box to find an event by keyword and an Oldest first / Newest first toggle.
• Horizontal— a left-to-right timeline with First / Previous / Next / Last buttons, zoom in/out, a Fit button, and quick jump buttons (Day / Week / Month / Year / Decade) for dated timelines. On a phone, you'll see a tip suggesting you turn the phone sideways for a wider view — it's just a suggestion and easy to dismiss.
• Carousel— one event at a time, with arrows (or Previous/Next buttons on a phone) and a counter like "3 of 12" so you always know where you are.

Open a timeline and click Share. There are two ways to share it:

• A secret link— tick "Share this timeline", then optionally tick "Share only selected events" to choose exactly which events show (with Select all / Select none to help), and optionally add a password or a "stop sharing after" date. Click Save sharing settingsto get a link with a Copy button. If you ever want the old link to stop working, use "Replace the link".
• Invite by email— give one specific family member (who already has a TLCp account) ongoing access. It will show up on their own dashboard under "Shared with me".

To view a timeline someone else has shared with you, look for the Shared with me section on your dashboard and click View. If someone opens your secret link, they'll see a clear "read-only" banner — they can look but not change anything — and, if they're logged in, they can ask for ongoing access with a "Request continued access" button.

• Deleting a timeline or event always asks you to confirm first, so it's hard to do by accident.
• The bell icon shows notifications for share requests and invites.
• There's a search box on the dashboard to find a timeline, and another inside each timeline (in Vertical view) to find an event.
• On a phone, turning it sideways gives you more room to work with in the Horizontal view.