Optional, but worth it

Connecting pCloud to Traces

Traces keeps everything on your device, and that is its strength. pCloud adds the safety net: every photo also goes to your own cloud, filed on its own, by child, by grade and by subject. If the device disappears, the photos stay.

What it does, concretely

As soon as a trace has a child and a subject, its photo goes to your pCloud account, into folders laid out in advance that you never have to touch:

No network when you capture? The photo waits in the queue and leaves when the connection comes back. Nothing is lost, nothing waits on you.

And if one day the browser is wiped or the device lost, Traces can pull the photos back from pCloud to rebuild your feed. That is the difference between « I lost everything » and « I got everything back ».

Why pCloud

Because we actually use it. Our family photos and our important documents have lived at pCloud for years: it is a solid Swiss host, with no compulsory subscription, and Traces can file the photos there directly, from your device to your account, with no server in between. Your account, your cloud, your photos.

Is the free account enough?

For most families, yes. The free account starts at 2 GB, and pCloud raises it up to 10 GB through small steps that take a few minutes each: confirming your email, uploading a first file, installing the desktop app and the phone app, turning on automatic upload, about 1 GB each, then 1 GB per invited friend who opens an account.

To give an idea: Traces saves photos scaled down, around 0.4 to 0.8 MB each. So 2 GB is about 3,000 photos, and 10 GB about 15,000. A family of three children who documents a lot produces a few hundred photos a year: you have years ahead of you, and pCloud shows you the space left well before the limit.

Connecting your account to Traces

Once only. Five minutes of work, but spread over a day or two: pCloud has to approve your application before it can be used. Traces needs an « application ID » of its own for your account: that is what allows the filing, without ever giving your password to the app.

1. Open docs.pcloud.com/my_apps and sign in with your pCloud account.
2. Create an application Any name will do, « Traces » for instance. The other options can stay as they are.
3. Wait for pCloud to approve it A new application is not usable right away: pCloud has to approve it. Count on 24 to 48 hours. You get an email when it is done, and that is when you pick up the following steps. Nothing to watch in the meantime, and nothing is lost if you close everything.
4. Enter the redirect address In that application's settings, add as the « Redirect URI »: https://traces.outillee.com/app/ Character for character, trailing slash included. This is the most common cause of failure: the pCloud card in the Traces settings shows the exact address to copy, do not retype it from memory.
5. Copy the « Client ID » Paste it into Traces, under Settings, pCloud card, then tap « Sign in to pCloud ». Your password is asked for by pCloud, on its own site: it never goes through Traces.
6. Test the connection The « Test the connection » button makes a full round trip on your real account: reading, creating the folders, dropping a test file, reading it back, then cleaning up. Five green checks, and everything is in place.

And then?

Nothing. That is the beauty of it: you document as before, and the filing happens on its own. The pCloud card in the settings shows « Up to date » when everything has gone out, or the count of waiting photos when the network is missing.

The same pCloud account also works as a bridge the other way, for the photos sitting on your computer: the guide for bringing them into Traces.

Open Traces