Storypark export: what you get, and how to keep every photo

Storypark is where a lot of early childhood centres share the story of your child's day: a photo of the sandpit, a video of the first wobbly steps, a note about what they learned. Over a couple of years that adds up to hundreds of moments.

At some point most parents want those moments somewhere they control. There are two ways to get them out of Storypark, and they're good at different things.

Storypark's own export

Storypark can send family members an export of their child's stories by email. It's built around the stories themselves, so it's a good way to keep the learning notes alongside the pictures.

A few things to know:

• It comes by email. You request it, then wait for the link to arrive.
• Not every family member can request it. It depends on the access you've been given.
• Download links don't last for ever, so save the files when the email arrives.

Saving the photos and videos directly

If what you mainly want is the photos and videos, organised so you can actually find them, a direct download is simpler.

NurseryDownloader is a Chrome extension that works with the Storypark account you're already signed in to. One click saves every photo and video from your child's stories to your computer:

• One folder per child, then one per month.
• The story's date at the start of every filename, so everything sorts in order.
• Original files first. It asks Storypark for the original of every photo and video, and only falls back to the version Storypark does make available if the original is refused.
• Run it again any time. It only fetches stories added since your last download.

You can do both, of course: keep Storypark's export for the written stories, and use NurseryDownloader for a complete, tidy set of photos and videos.

The best time to do it

While your child is still enrolled and your login works. Once the files are on your own computer, back them up somewhere else too, and they're safe whatever happens to the account.

Read the step-by-step guide to downloading your Storypark photos.