How can we help you?

Need some help with Kinzin?

1. First, check the Frequently Asked Questions below. Chances are, someone else has been wondering about the exact same question that you have.
2. Next, try our magazine, “The Zin”. We post a number of articles over there as well as some how-to’s and other idea generators.
3. Finally, if you haven’t found the answer you’re looking for please contact us. We’ll do our best to answer your questions in a timely manner.

Frequently Asked Questions

Getting Started

What kind of things can I use Kinzin for?
Kinzin is for keeping in touch, sharing photos, recipes, memories, events, milestones and more. Family and friends might be spread out all over the world, but now you can drop in and see what everyone is up to, whenever you want.

I just created a Kinzin account, what should I do first?
First, invite your friends and family; it’s more fun when the whole clan gets together. Then, start sharing! Write about what’s new in your own life in your journal. Create a new photo album with the pictures from your latest vacation.

Is there a limit to the number of families I can have?
Yes, the limit is five families. Use these families for all of your families: your spouse’s family, your mom’s family, your dad’s family, your nuclear family and anything else that you consider to be family. There are no limits to the amount of members each family can have. Every member can belong to up to five different families.

How do I create a new family?
You can create a new family from anywhere on the site. Simply click the “Create a family” button in the top right corner, give your family a name, invite members and you’re done.

How do I invite my family and friends to Kinzin?
Click on ‘invite new members’ from almost anywhere on the site (it’s a button on the left side of the screen). Fill in their address and which family(ies) you’d like to invite them to. They’ll be emailed an invite with a link to join Kinzin.

Why do you have the word “beta” attached to your logo?
Although it does add a bit more color to our logo, we’ve added it for another reason. It signifies that Kinzin is currently in beta phase of development. A beta version is the first version available to the general public for the purpose of evaluation and testing. As a result, you might experience a few kinks and hiccups. However, thanks to feedback from community members like you, we’re resolving these issues on a daily basis. If there is anything we can do to make your experience a little better, please let us know.

My Page

What is “My Home”?
“My Home” is all about you. It’s the virtual face you present to your Kinzin world, the view of you that your family and friends will see. It’s the place where you start, add photos or write stories…..it’s your own special spot.

What are messages for?
Messages are for communication within the family - you can only send messages in Kinzin to other members of your family. You will also get occasional general site notifications in your message center. Also, if you’re a site administrator, you will receive administrative notices (like requests to join the family) in your message center.

How can I change my profile image?
From your home page, click “Change profile portrait” under your current photo. You can then upload a new photo to replace the old one.

Privacy

Who can see my photos, journal or recipes?
You control who sees your content. You can choose to share your content with any, all or none of the family groups you belong to on Kinzin. Only members of the family that you chose to share with will be able to see your content. And you can change your permissions at any time. However, once you share a photo or a story with a family, it becomes part of the family asset pool, so even if you delete it in your personal space, it will still live in the family space. You’ll have to contact the family administrator to have it permanently deleted.

Will Kinzin use my photos or stories for publicity or promotions?
We would like to feature the amazing work that Kinzin members create. But we will never re-use anything without your approval and consent.

What do you do with my personal information?
If you purchase something using Kinzin, we may use it for billing information (to charge your credit card, for example, we need your address). Kinzin will never sell or re-use your personal information. We won’t send you up Spam Creek without a paddle…..we promise!

What kind of content can I upload to Kinzin?
Data uploaded to Kinzin is the sole responsibility of the person from whom the content originated (that’s you). Make sure you read the “Terms and Conditions” of the site to make sure that the content you’re putting on Kinzin fits within our boundaries of acceptable content. Kinzin will not tolerate illegal content.

Administrative

How do I change my password?
To change your password, sign in, and go to “Account Settings” from your home page and click ‘Reset password’. We’ll send you a link to the email addresses registered to your account. Follow it back to Kinzin and choose a new password.

I forgot my password and need to get back in.
From the sign-in page, click on “Forgot password”. After you enter your email address, we’ll send you a link by email. After you follow it back into Kinzin, you’ll be prompted to enter a new password.

How do I change my email address?
To change the email address you use with Kinzin, sign in, and click on ‘edit’ beside your profile on your home page. You can change your email address or even add multiple addresses.

Can I block a particular family member?
If you’re the family administrator, you can remove family members from your family group. If you’re not the family administrator, you can send a message to your family’s administrator through Messages.

How can I cancel my account with Kinzin?
We’ll certainly be sorry to see you go. When you’re signed in, go to ‘account settings’ from your home page and find the link to send an email to Kinzin. You’ll need to specify in your email that you would like to have your account permanently deleted. Please be aware that this means that all of the content you uploaded may be deleted. if you shared content with your families, they keep copies of those shared items. And remember, you can always just leave a family; you don’t have to leave Kinzin altogether.

How do I change my displayed name on Kinzin?
To change your displayed Kinzin name, go to your own profile page, and edit your profile. From your own home page, click on Edit next to your profile or personal details. Change the name to what you’d like displayed and save.

If I remove a family member from my group, will their Kinzin profile all their content be deleted?
If you are the administrator of a family, you have control over who belongs and who doesn’t belong to your family. If you remove a person from your family, they will be notified by email. Even if they are removed from a family, they still have access to their personal space on Kinzin, other families that they may belong to, and all of the content that they have uploaded or contributed.

What can I do if someone has offensive material or is harassing other members?
Start with your family administrator; perhaps there was just a misunderstanding. If your family administrator can’t resolve the situation and you believe someone is abusing their Kinzin account, contact Kinzin customer service, and we’ll investigate.

How are families administered?
There is only one administrator per family. The person who sets up the family becomes the administrator. They are notified when new members are invited to the family and can remove members from their family group.

Journal

What is the “Journal” page?
The ‘Journal’ is the same as a diary or blog, a place to record present and past events, stories, news……or a place you can rant and rave, and take comfort in knowing your readers are those who love you the most.

How do I add stories to my journal?
To add a new journal entry, click on ‘write a story or news’ from almost anywhere.Then you just give your entry a title, description, date and save it, and share it.

Who can view my journal entries?
Your journal entries visible to any family member when they view your profile. You can choose to publish one or more of your journal entries into the any of the families to which you belong.

How do I change a journal entry I wrote?
To change a journal entry, click on ‘Edit’, make your changes, click ‘Save’ and it’s updated.

How do I delete my journal entries?
If you’ve shared your journal entries with a family and they’ve been re-used to make a photo album or recipe collection, you can’t really delete your journal entries. Kinda like if you gave a letter to your Uncle Jim, you’re not going to get it back either. However, if you shared your journal entries with a family and they weren’t re-used, you will be able to delete them.

How do I add photos to my journal stories?
In the text editor, you can add photos by clicking on the photo icon on the far right (hint: it’s a tree). Pick from photos you’ve already uploaded, or add a new one to the system. We’ll automatically resize and add in the photo with your text flowing around it.

How do I remove images from my journal?
To remove images from your journal entries, click on the photo and delete it from the entry. Don’t worry, when you remove photos from a journal entry, they’re not deleted from the system. They’ll still appear in your photo album.

Can I add videos to my journal stories?
No, not in this version of Kinzin. Video support is on our development schedule.

Can I upload audio files?
No, not in this version of Kinzin. Audio support is on our development schedule.

Family Pages

What are “Family” pages?
‘Family’ pages are a hub, a central place where everyone’s latest photos and news is brought together. This is the place to go when you want to see what’s new, keep up to date, check in with the family and see what everyone is sharing.

Can I customize my “Family” pages?
Right now, the family administrator has the ability to choose the color of the family’s tab which changes the color for the whole family page. Look for more customization options in the future.

How do I join an existing Kinzin family?
There are two ways to join an existing Kinzin family. First, someone in that family can send you an invitation. You’ll get an email with a link that you can click to be added to the family. The other way is to search for the family in the “Family Directory”. If you find a family that you’d like to join, you can send an email to the Administrator of that family and request an invitation.

How do I join an existing Kinzin family through the “Family Directory”?
You’re only 6 steps away:
1. Create a Kinzin account
2. Click “Add a new family” in the menu bar
3. Click “Find families” in the menu bar
4. Using the alphabet lineup or the search option, find your family.
5. Click on the desired family name.
6. Click “Request to join”

Why would I want more than one family group?
Well, there are a lot of reasons for having more than one family. Some people use family groups to organize the different sides of their family (e.g. your spouse’s family, your dad’s family). Some people use multiple family groups to share content with a book club or mommy group, rather than their relatives. There are all kinds of uses for multiple family groups. You get up to 5, so try them out - we’re sure you’ll find a creative use for them!

Photos & Photo Album

What is the “Photo Album” page?
The ‘Photo Album’ page is where you can see your latest photos as well as th photo sets your family members have shared.

How do I upload an image? Or multiple images?
To upload an image, you can click ‘Upload a photo’ from anywhere on the site, . From there you can upload one photo or multiple photos at the same time.

Who can see my photos?
The only people who will be able to see your photo are the members of your family or families.

How do I share my photos with friends?
Invite them to Kinzin and when they set up a free account, you’ll be sharing photos in no time!

Why do I want to say who’s in a photo?
Every Kinzin member (you) will get a photo strip of other peoples photos that feature them (you). Neat, eh? So you’ll have your photos (the photos you’ve added), photos you’re in (other people will be in these photos with you), and photos of you (just you in these).

How did you figure out the date I took my photo when I uploaded it?
Your digital camera automatically adds the date to your photo in the file information. So if you scan a photo to upload it, the scanner makes the date the date of the scan - not the photo. If you’re scanning old photos, you’ll probably want to change the date to when the photo was taken, or at least guess at when it was taken.

What file format do my images need to be?
The files need to be JPG, GIF or PNG.

Why can’t I upload my RAW files from my camera to Kinzin?
To see images on the Internet, they need to be JPG, GIF or PNG. Your digital camera probably came with software to convert your RAW files into one (or all) of these formats.

What size should i upload my photos?
Computer magic resizes your photos for you, so upload away!

Is there a limit to how many photos I can upload?
There is currently no limit to the amount of photos that you can upload to Kinzin!

How do I reorder photos in albums?
In the photo strip for the album, you can re-order photos by dragging them into a new position. Click on ‘Add photos’ and re-order the photos from the set in the pop-up window.

How do I delete my photos?
If you’ve shared your photos with a family and they’ve been re-used to make a photo album or recipe collection, you can’t really delete your photos. Kinda like if you gave a print of your photo to your Uncle Jim, you’re not going to get it back either. However, if you shared your journal entries with a family and they weren’t re-used, you will be able to delete them.

Calendar

What is the different between “Event” and “Milestone”?
An event is something that happens in the future, and will perhaps be something that you invite people to. A milestone is something that happened in the past, like your child’s first step, or your high school graduation. Don’t worry, both of them show up in the calendar.

Comments

Why do I want to leave a comment?
Commenting is just another great way to communicate, like letting someone know you like their photo or adding something to a journal entry. Comments are just a different sort of family conversation.

Who can see the comments I leave?
The comments can be seen by any member of a family. Only invited family members can view the content you put onto the site. Sometimes, you (or someone you know) will belong to many families. So, if someone you know shares a story with a family you’re in and a family you’re not in, Kinzin members you may not know will see it.

Can anyone leave a comment?
Only members of the family(ies) that you chose to share your content with can leave comments.

Recipes

How do I see other members’ recipes?
To see recipes that are shared by a family, go to the family and click on ‘Recipes’. If you want to see just one person’s recipes, go to their profile and you’ll be able to see only their recipes.

How do I attach photos to a recipe?
In the text editor, when you’re editing your recipe, you can add photos by clicking on the photo icon on the far right of your screen (hint: it’s a tree). You can pick from photos you’ve already uploaded, or you can add a new one to the system. We’ll automatically resize and add in the photo with your text flowing around it, making your recipe look all the more appetizing.