Welcome to the SympathyTree.com Help Center
This help page provides answers to many common questions about the SympathyTree.com website and the services we offer. We would request that you please check here for answers before posting a question on our Contact Us page.
Creating an Online Memorial
- How do I Create a Memorial?
- What is a Story?
- What are Titles and Subtitles?
- What is a Memorial Address?
- What are Privacy Settings?
- How should I write my Memorial?
- How do I add photos?
- What is a Memorial Photo Gallery?
- What is a design?
- What is Theme Imagery?
- What is an Event?
- How do I add, edit or delete an event?
- How do I invite family and friends to a Memorial?
- How do I add, edit or delete contacts?
- Why can't my family and friends find the Memorial I created?
- What is a gift?
- What does "Share Memorial" mean?
- What is a CVV2 or 3-digit code?
- Can I change my Memorial?
Visit a Memorial
- What does "Visit a Memorial" mean?
- Why should I Visit my memorials?
- How do I visit and contribute to a Memorial?
Grieving Resources and Partners
How do I Create a Memorial?
Creating an online memorial is easy. Just create an account or login using an existing account. Once you’ve logged in, there are 5 simple steps to sharing your online memorial before it can be publicly or privately accessed on the internet.
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What is a Story?
A "Story" is a short story about your loved one. A story can be a favorite memory, highlighting a significant accomplishment or a quote that reminds you of the person memorialized.
What are Titles and Subtitles?
A "title" is the main title or headline for the memorial. The "subtitle" is the second headline for the memorial and it will appear below the title.
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What is a Memorial Address?
A "Memorial Address" is the web address that friends and family can use to view the online memorial. The Memorial Address will always begin with "www.sympathytree.com/" and then is immediately proceeded with a customized name (i.e. www.sympathytree.com/johndoe).
What are Privacy Settings?
You have the control to set privacy settings on your memorial.
Private
Your memorial will be displayed on the SympathyTree website, allowing all website visitors to view your memorial listing in the website search results. Everybody will be able to view your memorial homepage.
Your memorial calendar, stories, gallery, charities and gifts and search will not be visible to a user who is not invited to the memorial. Only those you invite will be able to view the full memorial content, share and add stories, make comments and search within the memorial.
Public
The larger community is able to view and participate in the memorial without your invitation or permission. A free SympathyTree account is needed to contribute content (stories, comments, photos).
You can still invite friends and family to a public memorial.
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How should I write my Memorial?
After organizing the facts, stories and notable highlights a common way to start your memorial is to chronologically or in a life history manner describe the person's life.
How do I add photos?
Adding photos to your memorial is easy. Once you’ve logged in, select your memorial and go to the "Add Content" step. From this page you can add up to 20 photos to your memorial.
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What is a Memorial Photo Gallery?
A "Memorial Photo Gallery" is a collection of photos with captions that contribute to the Memorial.
What is a design?
SympathyTree has provided several pre-designed web templates so you can select the visual design and layout of your online Memorial.
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What is Theme Imagery?
Once you've selected a design for your online memorial you can enhance the look of it with several pre-selected images or you can add your own themed imagery.
What is an Event?
An Event is any occasion that you would like to communicate to Friends and Family. You can provide the name, date, description and location of as many events as you’d like.
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How do I add, edit or delete an event?
To add, edit or delete an event, log in, begin or select your Memorial and select the "Add Event" step. The "Add Event" page allows you to manage your events.
How do I invite family and friends to a Memorial?
To invite family and friends to a Memorial, log in, begin or select your Memorial and select the "Add Contacts" step. You can add multiple contacts from a web email account (Yahoo or Gmail), from an email contacts file (Microsoft Outlook .csv, Apple vCards or Thunderbird .csv) on your computer or manually add the contacts.
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How do I add, edit or delete contacts?
To add, edit or delete contacts from a Memorial, log in, select your Memorial and select the "Add Contacts" step. On this page you can manage the contacts associated with the Memorial.
Why can’t my family and friends find the Memorial I created?
Your friends and family should be able to search and find the memorial that you have created. Learn more by reading about "Privacy Settings". Please feel free to guide your friends and family directly to your memorial by sending invitations via the onsite invitations or from your personal email. For details, see "How do I invite family and friends to a Memorial?"
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What is a gift?
When you’re creating a Memorial, you can provide services and charities (i.e. Flowers, gifts etc) from a list of trusted partners or provide a service or charity of your choice. These services and charities will then be available on your Memorial.
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What does “ShareMemorial” mean?
"Sharing a Memorial" allows the public or selected friends and family to view your Memorial. Sharing a memorial does require a monthly or annual fee.
What is a CVV2 or 3-digit code?
The CVV2 or 3-digit code helps ensure that your credit card number is in the right hands. It is located on the back of your credit card, inside the signature area. Typically the signature area will have a series of numbers, but only the last three digits make up the CVV2 code.
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Can I change my Memorial?
Yes, you can change your memorial at anytime and it’s easy. To update any content, contacts or settings for your Memorial, log in, select your memorial and select any of the steps to update your memorial.
What does “Visit a Memorial” mean?
Visiting a Memorial allows you to contribute content (Stories, comments, etc) to a memorial that you’ve been invited to.
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Why should I Visit my memorials?
It's important to visit or manage your memorial because memorial information may become inaccurate or new information (i.e. Events, Photos, Contacts, Stories etc) may need to be communicated to family and friends.
How do I visit and contribute to a Memorial?
Visiting a memorial is easy. To tend or contribute to your memorial, log in, select your memorial and select any of the easy steps to update your memorial.
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Where do I go to find flowers, a mortuary, clergy etc?
SympathyTree has several trusted partners that offer a wide variety of grieving services. To learn more visit our Grieving Resources section and guide.
How do I become a partner with SympathyTree?
To become a trusted partner with Sympathy Tree, please visit our sections: Clergy, Funeral Services, or Gifts & Flowers. You may also contact us.
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