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Q: What is the photo greeting card? Are envelopes included?
A: It is a 5" × 7" folded card made of heavy cardstock. Your own picture is printed on the front of the card with your choice of matte or glossy finish and your personal greetings and messages are printed inside. The back of the card has a logo and is not customizable. And yes, envelopes are included!

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Q: What types of greeting cards can I create?
A: You can create a variety of sophisticated cards with fun colors, designs, and shapes. By adding your own pictures, you can enhance your cards and impress your friends and family. Greeting card categories include: birthdays, holidays, invitations, announcements, and any occasion (customize yourself).

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Q: What resolution should my images be? What does it mean if the image for my Greeting Card is "not recommended"?
A: We recommend a minimum resolution of 1152x864 for our Greeting Cards. If you receive a "not recommended" warning, then the resolution of your image is too low for the card.

(Please note that our recommendations are based ONLY on the overall resolution of your picture, and not on the overall quality or clarity of the original picture. We are not and cannot be responsible for the original picture being blurry or out-of-focus, even if there is sufficient resolution to be 'recommended'.)

Pictures that fall below our recommended resolution guidelines may look okay when viewed online, but will appear blurry and pixelated -- that is, the image will appear blocky, with jagged rather than straight edges -- when enlarged and printed.

To check the resolution of your pictures once you have transferred them to Shutterfly, go to the View page and click on the thumbnail image; you will then see a larger version of the picture, with recommended print sizes. Above these, hold your cursor over the lowercase 'i'. Among the information displayed you will find the resolution.

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Q: Can I send cards and gifts to other people, or do I have to have them shipped to me?
A: You can have cards and gifts sent directly to your family and friends. They do not need to be shipped to you. This is done through the normal ordering process. Of course, we can also ship them to you if you like.

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Q: Can I have a personal message printed inside? How?
A: Yes, during the card ordering process, the 'Personal Message' option is presented. On this page, you can create your own salutation and personal message and select a font family, size, and color for your message. You can preview the message and experiment with fonts and colors.

This personal message is printed on the inside left (or inside top) of a greeting card and should not be confused with the Greeting that appears on the inside right (or inside bottom) of your card.

For Directly Mailed cards, your list of Recipients can be used to personalize the Salutation, as in the following example:

This will result in each recipient's card begining with an individualized Salutation supplied from your Address Book.

For Directly Mailed cards, further modifications can be made to the Message page of each recipient.

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Q: How much text can I have printed inside a card?
A: You can enter up to 500 characters in the "Greeting" area plus 160 characters in the "Family Name" area at the bottom of the same page, the inside bottom (or right) of your card. The Message page allows up to 1500 characters and may be different for each recipient! Any excess letters or words will be truncated; when this is the case, you will receive a warning in a pop-up window. Please adjust your text if you receive this warning, as Shutterfly is not liable for cards that you are not satisfied with due to this truncation.

Remember that although you can choose the font size, it will be automatically reduced (in order to fit) if you add a lot of text. For best results, don't add excessive text, and be sure to preview the card carefully, as that is how it will turn out.

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Q: Can I get my card printed with glossy or matte finish?
A: When you create your card(s), you can select glossy or matte finish. (The glossy finish adds a UV protective coating.) If you are ordering a box of cards, your choice of glossy or matte will be applied to the entire set of cards. You can, however, have sets of cards with different finishes in the same order.

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Q: What are the shipping options for greeting cards? How do they differ?
A: Mailing options for greeting cards are:

Directly Mailed: you can have cards sent directly to recipients you select with a greeting and personalized message on each card. These cards are sent in a white envelope via USPS Regular Mail.

Boxed Cards: you can have cards sent to you boxed (with blank envelopes included) so that you can use them anytime and send them anywhere. A greeting and "personal message" may be included on each card but, since no list of recipients is used with this mailing option, the personal message will be the same on all cards.

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