Floating License Server for ACDSee Photo Manager
Copyright 2006 ACD Systems Ltd. All rights reserved. Product specifications, technical support and information specifications refer to the North American version only. All specifications, claims, features, representations and/or comparisons provided are correct to the best knowledge of ACD Systems Ltd. as of the date of publication of this documentation. Information contained herein is subject to change without notice; no warranty, representation or condition, expressed or implied, written or oral, arising by statute, operation of law or otherwise, as to the operation or fitness for a particular purpose provided herein. ACDSee, ImageFox, ImageShark, PicaView, PhotoSee, FotoCanvas, FotoAngelo, FotoVac, mPower Tools, Express Messaging Server, and Express Communicator are registered trademarks or trademarks of ACD Systems Ltd. All other product, font and company names are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective corporations. Windows NT 4.0 / 2000 / 2003 Server / XP and their components are registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporations.
Publication date: April 2006

Table of Contents

ACD Systems at the Hub of Digital Imaging...3 Market Segment Overview..3 Executive Summary...3 Floating License Server Features.... 3 Client Features.... 4 Cost Benefits.... 4 The Floating License Process...4 Technical Specifications...5 Minimum System Requirements... 5 Installation.... 5 Required Protocols.... 5 Network Services.... 5 Network Bandwidth Requirements... 6 Contacting ACD Systems...6

www.acdsee.com

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ACD Systems at the Hub of Digital Imaging
Based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, ACD Systems designs, develops, and markets digital imaging and corporate communications software that meets the needs of home and professional users. Millions of consumers and more than 33,000 corporate clients use our flagship product ACDSee. To serve our global customers well, our Web content is available in 12 languages along with many of our products for PC and Macintosh. ACD Systems continues to capitalize on the explosive growth in the use of digital images via cameras, scanners, PDAs and the Internet. We have strong strategic alliances with value added resellers (VARs), original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), retailers, software publishers and distributors throughout North America and worldwide. Plus, our unique platform model and Software Development Kit (SDK) lets third parties offer their own imaging solutions through our software. ACD Systems Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ACD Systems International Inc., a public company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol ASA.

Market Segment Overview

With a license sharing model, companies can share software licenses to reduce costs and still supply needed applications to their employees. You can purchase a specific number of licenses and a server application shares the licenses with client applications through a network. For example, a company of 100 people can purchase 20 licenses, install the software on every users computer, and at any time, 20 people can use the software. Therefore, it is not necessary to purchase a copy of the program for every user. License sharing provides a flexible and cost effective software solution to companies of any size. With the ACD Floating License Server, businesses can share licenses for ACDSee. This paper provides you with an overview of the technical specifications and requirements, program implementation, and functions of the ACD Floating License Server.

Executive Summary

ACD Systems is a world leader in the delivery of digital image management software to users in business, government, and educational settings. Our products offer many ways for users to manage, view, and enhance images that they have acquired from peripheral devices, such as scanners and digital cameras, or that they have imported from other programs. The ACD Floating License Server works in conjunction with ACDSee client software. It is easy to install and simple to administer. The Floating License Server contains an interface for a system administrator to manage ACDSee client licenses, and a service, the Product Communication Server (PCS), to provide the license sharing functionality. A statistical display provides administrators with real-time updates of license use. ACDSee is the award winning digital imaging software used by more than 24 million people and 33,000 corporate users worldwide. With ACDSee you get the fastest and most powerful image viewer available for Windows. It has an easy-touse interface so you can pick up a mouse and start viewing images. The program easily handles thousands of images at a time and supports over 50 file formats.
Floating License Server Features
Display dynamic lists of current license holders and queued user requests Configure license options for keep alive messages and locked licenses Generate reports for license requests and queue status Perform remote silent installation of client software

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Revoke client licenses Track user license status Broadcast messages to all clients Order new client licenses

Client Features

Enter queue for available licenses automatically Display current license status Lock a license for extended use Configure network connection settings Initiate keep alive messages

Cost Benefits

The ACD Floating License Server can manage a minimum of ten floating licenses, however purchasing more licenses increases your savings. For example, purchasing 20 floating licenses for a system of 100 computers saves you approximately 65% over purchasing a copy for each computer. Further cost benefits are seen over time with installation and administration; installation time and maintenance are minimal.
The Floating License Process
The Floating License Server can be installed on any computer running Windows NT 4.0 Server or Windows 2000/2003 Server. ACDSee can be installed by a system administrator on client computers using a silent installation batch file. The batch file is included in the Floating License Server subfolder in the installation directory. After installing, FLS actively manages ACDSee licenses. When a client submits a request for a license, a RequestHandler uses an XML object to parse the message and extract the necessary data to send to the LicenseManager. The LicenseManager checks the availability and state of licenses and issues a response back to the RequestHandler, which creates a message for the client using the XML object. Once the client has a license, it sends keep alive messages to the LicenseManager at intervals set by the system administrator. The LicenseManager sends a return message to maintain or revoke the license. Keep alive messages generated by one client are not sent at exactly the same time as those generated by another client. This ensures that networks are not impacted by simultaneous messaging. As more clients request licenses, FLS tracks and displays a status of each license. When there are more license requests than there are licenses available, a queue is created. Once a user with a license stops using ACDSee, the license is automatically issued to the first person in the queue. The system administrator retains control over licenses and can limit the length of time a user can lock a license, revoke a license, or set a license time-out period.

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Technical Specifications
Minimum System Requirements
The ACD Floating License Server and ACDSee client systems must meet or exceed the following requirements:

Client

Hardware Intel Pentium III / AMD Athlon processor or equivalent (Intel Pentium 4 / AMD Athlon XP or equivalent recommended) 256 MB RAM (512 MB RAM recommended) 100 MB free hard drive space (1 GB recommended) High Color display adapter at 1024 x 768 resolution (1600 x 1200 recommended) CD/DVD Burner - for creating CDs and DVDs Software Windows 2000 or Windows XP (Windows XP recommended) Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0.0 (6.0.0 recommended) TiVo Desktop Software - to publish images to your TiVo Microsoft DirectX 9.0 - for Microsoft DirectX file format support, and to create slide shows and screen savers Ghostscript 8.0 - for PDF support Windows Media Player 9.0 or later

Server

Hardware Software 5 MB free hard disk drive space Windows NT 4.0 Server, 2000/2003 Server Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0.0

Installation

You may need to reboot the server to completely install or uninstall the ACD Floating License Server application.

Required Protocols

TCP/IP

Network Services

The Product Communication Server (PCS) service is installed and provides the license sharing functionality of the ACD Floating License Server.

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Network Bandwidth Requirements
A keep alive message generated by a client creates a token of approximately 200 bytes in size prior to TCP/IP packaging. An equal sized response message is returned from the server. Keep alive messages generated by one client are not sent at exactly the same time as those generated by another client. Broadcast messages sent from the server generate a token of 400 - 500 bytes in size. Broadcast messages are sent to all clients simultaneously.

Contacting ACD Systems

Contact us by mail at: ACD Systems Ltd. 2261-C Keating Cross Rd. Victoria, BC V8M 2A5 Canada
If you have any technical related questions or general feedback, please visit our Web site at: www.acdsee.com/support Telephone us for technical support at (250) 544-6701. Our office hours are Monday to Friday, 7am to 5pm PST. During U.S. and Canadian statutory holidays, our hours of support are 8am to 4pm PST. Telephone calls for Technical Support are subject to international rates if calling from outside of Canada, and/or long distance charges if calling from within Canada.

Feedback

Your feedback is important to us. Many features and portions of the interface continue to be influenced by comments from users. So if you have a grand idea for a new feature, or a better way of doing something, please drop us a note. E-mail: ideas@acdsystems.com * Telephone: (250) 544-6700
* This e-mail address is not intended for technical support questions; technical related questions will not receive a reply.

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Photo Manager 2009
The easy way to organize and share your photos.

Getting Started Guide

ACD Systems International 2008 All rights reserved.
Notice of Liability The information in this document is distributed on an As Is basis, without any representation or warranty of any kind whether express or implied, including any implied warranty of merchantability, title or fitness for a particular purpose or use. While every precaution was taken in the preparation of this document, neither the author nor ACD Systems shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly in connection with the use or inability to use the instructions contained in this document. ACD Systems reserves the right to make changes to this document without notice. Copyright and Trademark Notices ACDSee Photo Manager Software and documentation was designed, programmed and is Copyright 1994-2008 ACD Systems International Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Unauthorized duplication strictly prohibited. ACD, ACDSee and ACDSee logo are trademarks of ACD Systems International Inc. or its subsidiaries and may be registered in Canada, the United States, European Union, Japan or certain other jurisdictions. Adobe, Acrobat, Photoshop, PostScript and XMP are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Apple, Macintosh and QuickTime are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Paint Shop Pro is a trademark or registered trademark of Corel Corporation and/or its subsidiaries in Canada, the United States and/or other countries. DirectX, Internet Explorer Microsoft, Windows, Windows logo, Windows Media, Windows Vista and Windows Vista Start button are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other marks, products and company names are the property of their respective owners. Third Party Software Licenses This Software also contains software of ACD Systems suppliers which is used in accordance with the notices reproduced below. This product includes DNG technology under license by Adobe Systems Incorporated. More information may be found at: http://www.adobe.com/products/dng/main.html. All rights reserved. Xalan and Xerces libraries are licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the License) You may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0. Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an AS IS BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License. This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group. TIFF support based on LibTIFF, Copyright 1988-1997 Sam Leffler, Copyright 1991-1997 Silicon Graphics, Inc. This notice must appear in all copies of the Software and related documentation. The names of Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics may not be used in any advertising or publicity relating to the software without the specific, prior written permission of Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED AS-IS AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL SAM LEFFLER OR SILICON GRAPHICS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER OR NOT ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGE, AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE. MPEG 1 Codec is copyright MainConcept 2008. The MainConcept logo and the Codec By logo are registered trademarks and MainConcept is a trademark of MainConcept AG or any of its subsidiaries. Portions utilize Microsoft Windows Media Technologies. Copyright 1999-2002 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. CD/DVD recording software developed under license from Padus, Inc. http://www.padus.com Copyright 1996-2007 Padus, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This software contains portions of imaging code owned and copyrighted by Pegasus Imaging Corp., Tampa FL, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Kit Designers: Year in Revue design template is provided courtesy of Lie Fhung copyright 2005-2007 Lie Fhung of Ztampf! at http://www.ztampf.com. Days with Dad design template is provided courtesy of Misty Cato copyright 2005-2007 Misty Cato of Misty Cato Designs at http://mistycatodesigns.blogspot.com Brush design is provided courtesy of Genevieve Sass copyright 2007 Genevieve Sass of Sweet Genevieve Designs at http://www.sweetgenevievedesigns.com ACD Systems Technical Writing Department 2008

2 | ACDSee 2009 Getting Started Guide

About this guide

The ACDSee 2009 Getting Started Guide, gives you an introduction and overview of ACDSee Photo Manager 2009. The Getting Started Guide uses real-life situations and step-by-step tutorials to show you how to get the most out of ACDSee. The guide is not comprehensive and does not cover every one of ACDSees many tools. You will find complete instructions and steps for using each feature in the ACDSee Help file. This guide aims to get you using ACDSee by showing you how to use the tools you are most likely to need right away.

Document conventions

The Getting Started Guide uses these conventions:

Menu choices:

In cases where you need to select an option from within a menu, a pipe ( | ) indicates an option within that menu or submenu. For example, you might find this sentence: Click Edit | Rename. In this case, you would click the Edit menu, and then click the Rename option. All of the technical documentation for ACDSee uses this convention.
All through the Getting Started Guide you will find tips to help you improve your workflow and get the most out of ACDSee. These tips are in boxes with blue/green borders, and a Tip icon. You may find these tips helpful if you are uncertain of the best way to organize, fix, or manage your photos.

Notes:

In some cases the information is more important and you should make a note to do something in a particular way, or in a particular order to get the best results. In these cases, you will see a box with blue/green borders but with the Note icon.

Warnings:

Some actions can cause you to lose data or permanently damage a file. In this case we give you a warning. Warnings are in boxes with orange borders, and marked with the Warning icon. Follow these instructions closely to avoid any problems with your data and important photos.

Definitions:

These boxes give you definitions of terms that are specific to ACDSee, or related to digital photo software, but which may be unfamiliar to you. Definitions are contained in boxes with a taupe border.

Contacting ACD Systems

When you buy ACDSee Photo Manager 2009, you are automatically eligible for ongoing service by our technical support team. If you have any technical or product-related questions, or just general feedback you would like to share, please visit our Web site at: www.acdsee.com/support

Quick overview

ACDSee consists of three main components: the Browser, the Viewer, and Edit Mode. The Browser is the main sorting, viewing, and managing part of ACDSee. When you launch ACDSee using the desktop shortcut, the Browser is what you see. It looks a little bit like Windows Explorer, and at first glance, works much the same way. You can click on the name of a folder in the Folders Pane on the left to see thumbnails of all those files in the File list, which is the central part of the window. Around this central area there are several other panes packed with tools to help you sort, manage, and organize your photo or file collection. Even better, you can change the Browser completely as the panes can be hidden, moved, stacked, docked, floated, and repositioned to suit you and the way that you work. Welcome to ACDSee 2009 | 5
The Viewer displays your photos and plays your video and audio files. It also has icons that give you quick access to Edit Mode. You can view your photos at any magnification you choose, scan through the contents of a folder, and view photo properties or detailed color information. To open the Viewer, double-click any photo or media file in the Browser. You can also use the Viewer to assign database information like keywords, captions, and author. The ACDSee Quick View is a faster and more streamlined viewer that you can use without opening ACDSee. It will open if you double-click a photo or image file in Windows Explorer. To quickly open ACDSee from Quick View, click Photo Manager to open the Browser or Full Viewer to open the main Viewer.
ACDSees Edit Mode has all the tools you need to fix or enhance your photos. The tools are listed on the Edit Panel, which you can hide or close when you arent using it. Clicking the name of a tool opens it in a panel, where you can adjust the settings to edit your image. To open an image in Edit Mode, click Edit Image on the toolbar in the Browser or the Viewer. To open an editing tool in Edit Mode, click any of the tools on the Edit Panel: Main Menu on the left side of the window. The Getting Started Guide goes into more detail about the Browser, Viewer, and Edit Mode in later chapters.

Using the Help system

There are two kinds of Help in ACDSee: The main Help file that contains detailed information and instructions on every aspect of the application. Context-sensitive help that gives you instructions about specific dialogs when you click on the Help button.

Create and name a new folder or multiple folders. Create a duplicate set of folders and photos as a backup copy. Rename each file using a renaming template. Automatically rotate the files if your camera provides the necessary information. Add files to multiple categories. Add author, notes, and keywords as well as EXIF and IPTC data, including copyright information. Separate RAW and JPEG files if your camera takes both and place one set in a newly named subfolder.
You can save all these import settings and use them repeatedly or save different sets of import settings for different tasks. In this chapter we use a digital camera as the example of how to import, but the process is essentially the same for any removable device. You could also use the From Disk option, and browse to the camera in the Folder structure.
About the Device Detector
The Device Detector is a small, separate application outside of ACDSee that runs in the background whenever you start your computer. It automatically detects whenever you connect any device containing images or media files to your computer, or even when you insert a CD with images into your CD-ROM drive. The Device Detector displays an icon in the Taskbar Notification area (the bottom right corner) of your Windows tool bar. When you connect a camera, the icon changes color, and displays a window asking you what you want to do with your photos.
ACDSee Device Detector icon - inactive ACDSee Device Detector icon - camera connected

Importing photos

To import photos using the Import From window: 1. Start by connecting the camera to the computer and making sure the cable is secure. When you turn the camera on, the Device Detector notices the camera, and prompts you to either: 10 | ACDSee 2009 Getting Started Guide
Import files with ACDSee (If you select this option at this stage, you launch the Import From window immediately.) Do nothing 2. For now, select Do nothing, and then click OK to close the Device Detector window. 3. In ACDSee, launch the Import From window by clicking File | Import. | From Device. To select photos to import: 1. When the Import From window opens, select how you want to view the photos on the device, by Date or File Type. If you view photos by date, the Import From window displays a list of the dates you took the photos. If you view photos by file type, it lists them by file types, such as JPEG., RAW, or TIF. 2. If you want to select specific files, deselect all the photos, by clicking the All Dates or All File types check box, in the View by section. 3. Now you can select or clear the check boxes in the left pane by date, or file type. For example, if you want to view just the photos you took last weekend, select the check boxes for those dates so that only those photos appear in the preview pane. 4. You can also select the photos you want to import individually or in groups in the preview pane. Select or clear the check boxes by clicking the small square in the top right corner of each thumbnail. 5. To select groups of photo in the preview pane, place your cursor in a blank area, drag a box around the photos to highlight them and then click the square in one photo. All the highlighted photos are now selected. 6. To view just the ones you have selected click the View selected radio button.

4. Click Import when you are ready. A progress window shows you that ACDSee is importing the photos. 5. When the Import complete dialog appears, click Yes to view your photos in the Browser.
If you add new categories in ACDSee, the next time you import photos using the Import From window, you will see your new categories listed. See the Using Categories section to learn how to add new categories.

Import Photos | 13

Moving and copying photos
You may just want to copy and paste the photos from your camera into ACDSee using the Folders pane. You can also drag photos from one folder to another.
To copy and paste photos using the Folders pane:
1. With your camera connected and switched on, use the Folders pane to navigate to your camera or the folder, in the folder tree. 2. Click on the camera or folder name, or click the easy-select box on the left to display the photos in the file list. 3. If you want to copy the photos from more than one folder, click the easy-select box beside those folders and their photos are added to the file list for you to select. 4. Select the photos you want in any of the following ways: Click inside the file list and press Ctrl + A to select ALL the photos currently in the file list. Drag a box over the photos you want to select. Ctrl + click individual photos to select them. Click the first photo you want to select, scroll to the last one you want to include, then Shift + click it. All the photos in between the first and last photos are selected. 5. With your photos selected, you can do any of the following: Click Edit | Copy (or press Ctrl + C) to copy the photos to the clipboard, then Edit | Paste (or press Ctrl +V) to paste them into the new folder.
The information in ACDSees database is created, stored, and used by ACDSee. If you copy, move or rename your files and photos using other programs, such as Windows Explorer, ACDSee cannot track these changes and the connection to the database is broken. This can mean that you lose data. To prevent this, always work within ACDSee to move, copy, or rename your photos and media files.
Drag the photos over the name of the destination folder in the Folders pane, then release the mouse. You can drag and drop photos from your camera into ACDSee using Microsoft Windows Explorer. If you have both windows visible, you can simply select and drag photos from Windows into the file list in ACDSee. This works well for the first time you are importing from your camera, or if you do not want to keep any database information from ACDSee.

If your photo is larger that the Viewer window, or you are zoomed in at high magnification, you can move the photo around within the window to see different areas. The cursor changes to a hand and you can drag the photo into a new position.
Magnifying areas of a photo
Two tools in the Viewer make it possible to examine a small area of an image in great detail while maintaining a sense of where you are in the whole. The Magnifying Glass behaves just like its real namesake. When you click View | Magnifying Glass, a re-sizable window opens to show a magnified area of the photo. The magnified area changes as you move your cursor, to show the area directly under your cursor, just as if you were holding a real magnifying glass. The Navigator works in the opposite way. When you are zoomed in at high magnification, it is easy to lose a sense of exactly what you are looking at in the photo. If you click View | Navigator, a re-sizable window opens that shows you an overview of the photo with a small square representing the area you have visible in the Viewer.

Browse and View | 19

Quick View
If you double-click an image file in Windows Explorer, or in an e-mail, a sleeker, faster version of the Viewer opens so that you can view photos without opening ACDSee. Quick View is a light version of the Viewer that has most of the same viewing shortcut keys. You can click Full Viewer to open the ACDSee Viewer, or click the Photo Manager icon to open the Browser.

Showroom

ACDSee Showroom is a widget that lets you showcase your collection of photos or images by displaying a small slide show on your desktop as you work. You can run up to 16 different slide shows on your computer at once, even if ACDSee isnt open. To create a desktop slide show with ACDSee Showroom: 1. In ACDSee, navigate to a folder containing images that you want to add to the desktop slide show. 2. Do one of the following: Click Create | Create ACDSee Showroom. Click Start | Programs | ACD Systems | ACDSee Showroom. The slide show starts immediately.
Viewing photos by date/month
You can browse through your photos by month and date using the Photo Calendar. Other options for viewing include the Events view, year, month, or day view. The Photo Calendar shows thumbnails per day within a month. The total number of photos belonging to that month is in the top right corner of the calendar. To open the Photo Calendar: 1. On the menu bar, click View | Calendar. The Photo Calendar opens above the File list, which moves down so that you can only see a single row of thumbnails. If there are no photos on a particular day, its blank.

Your images will not display in any of the Calendar panes until you have either browsed to the folder containing the images, or used the Catalog Files Wizard to catalog your images so they are in the ACDSee database.
2. Hover your mouse over one of the thumbnails to see the first four photos on that date. 3. You can use various parts of the Photo Calendar, to view photos in the File list. Do any of the following: Click the name of the month between the green arrows to display all the photos for that month in the File list (at the bottom of the window). Click on a thumbnail to see all the pictures for a particular day. Drag across all the days in a row to select and view all the photos for a week. Click the name of the day (Mon, Tue,) to display all the photos for all the Mondays, or Tuesdays in that month.
20 | ACDSee 2009 Getting Started Guide
4. Drag the title bar of the Calendar pane to float it, or to drag it onto another monitor. You can also drag a corner of the floating pane to resize it and make the thumbnails bigger or smaller. 5. To change the photo calendar to the Day View, Month, Year, or Events View, click the arrow of the drop-down list at the top of the pane. 6. You can click the icon in the top right corner of the pane to change the type of date used to display photos, or to change the Calendar pane options.

Browse and View | 21

22 | ACDSee 2009 Getting Started Guide
ACDSees powerful database, and its organizing, and search tools, make it easy for you to manage thousands of files, or to find a single image. The more information you add to the ACDSee database, like author, keywords, or categories, the more options you have for browsing, viewing, and finding your files.

Organizing

In addition to being able to browse and view your photos and images, you can also use ACDSees integrated tools to organize and manage your collection. These tools include batch tools that work on multiple files, categorizing and rating systems, and a powerful database to hold all of your important image information.
The information in the database is created, stored, and used by ACDSee. If you copy, move or rename your files and images using other programs, such as Windows Explorer, ACDSee cannot track these changes and the connection to the database is broken. This can mean that you lose data you have added like keywords or categories. To prevent this, always use ACDSee to move, copy, or rename your images and media files.
About the ACDSee database
The ACDSee database consists of several files that ACDSee creates and stores on your hard drive. In these files, ACDSee arranges and saves all of the information about your photos, images, and media files, such as keywords, categories, ratings, dates, and authors. ACDSee also stores thumbnail previews of all of your images, which increases the browsing speed when you view your folders and files. ACDSee automatically adds file information and thumbnails to the database as you browse. This process is called cataloging. The first time you run ACDSee, it automatically catalogs the contents of your My Pictures folder. The database makes it easier to organize and find your images. Searching the database is also more accurate than searching through folders or looking for a file name. The more information you add to the database, the easier it will be for you to manage your image collection. You can also share the information in your database with other ACDSee users, or convert the information from previous versions of ACDSee.

24 | ACDSee 2009 Getting Started Guide

Organizing tools

ACDSee has a variety of tools to help you organize and control your image collection. Each tool provides a different way of grouping, organizing, and finding your files. None of the tools limits you to using a set structure, but allows you to name and organize in your own way. Two of the most popular and useful tools are categories and keywords. You can use these two tools to quickly find a group of images with a similar theme, or specific subject matter.

Using categories

Categories can organize and group your images without you needing to create extra copies, or move files into different folders. Categories also make it possible to find images with similar subject matter with a single click. A single image can belong to many categories. How you decide to arrange your categories depends on your preferences, but here are a few possible strategies to help you get started: Create top-level categories of themes, such as Family, Vacations, Work, or School. Then create sub-categories below that. For example, under Family, create sub-categories such as Parents, Kids, Cousins, and Grandparents, or use actual names. Images of family reunions might fit more than one category or sub-category (Events, Family, Vacations). Unlike a folder system, you dont make extra copies of an image, you just assign it to multiple categories, and then click any of the categories it belongs to and there it is. Use categories to create a workflow system to identify images that are ready to print or others that still need editing. You could also create categories to indicate what type of editing needs to be done. For example, you could create a category called Edit, with subcategories for Exposure, Color Cast, and Sharpen. You can then assign images that require any of those tasks to one or more of the categories. When youve completed the editing, just remove the image from the category. Digital scrap bookers have thousands of images created in kits by hundreds of designers they need to remember, to say nothing of all the fonts they collect, photos, or their own designs. ACDSee is ideal for bringing order to multiple levels of complexity. Kits can be grouped by designer names, color and subject. Images in the kit can be assigned to a color, style or shape, designer, or kit. Then combined searches can find all the blue ribbons designed by a particular designer.

26 | ACDSee 2009 Getting Started Guide
5. Now when you open Author under Auto Categories, you will see all the authors you entered in a list. When you click on an author, all their images show in the file list. You can use this in combination with your Categories to find images by category and author.

Using keywords

You can assign keywords to your images that describe where they were taken, the people in them, the special event at which they were taken, or any other word or phrase that helps identify the image, its subject and its place in your collection. Then, when you search for specific keywords, you can quickly find all of the images in your collection with a certain feature or subject matter. When you enter keywords, they are automatically added to the keywords auto category. So you can find all the images with a particular keyword by clicking the keyword. If you added author and categories, you can refine your search by clicking an author name, keyword and category. ACDSee uses a master keyword list to prevent duplication and misspellings, and improve search results because you can edit the list. Also, if you change a keyword in the master list, ACDSee automatically updates all of the images you assigned it to. To add keywords to an image: 1. In the Browser, select an image in the file list, and then click View | Properties to open the Properties pane. You can use the Properties pane in ACDSee to add or edit database information for any image or media file. If you select more than one image in the file list, any information you add to the Properties pane is added to all the files. 2. In the Properties pane, type a word into the Keywords field. The word is added to the Keywords master list as you type. You cant use punctuation in keywords, but you can add more than one keyword by separating them with a space or a comma. 3. To add the same keyword to another image, select the image in the file list, and then click the Keyword Picker button beside the Keywords field on the Properties pane.

Organize and Find | 27

4. In the Keyword Picker window, select the keyword you want to assign from the Available values list, and then click Assign. The words you choose appear on the Assigned Values box. 5. To add new keywords while in this window, click the Edit List button, which opens the Keyword List Editor where you can edit, remove, and add keywords to the master list. 6. Click OK twice to close the windows and return to the Browser.

Fixing red-eye

As with many editing tools, ACDSee has simplified the task so you can fix redeye with a few clicks. To fix red-eye: 1. Select the photo you want to edit in the file list. 2. On the tool bar, click Edit Image | Edit Mode. The photo opens in the Edit Panel, with the editing tools to the left.
32 ACDSee 2009 | Getting Started Guide
3. On the Edit Panel: Main Menu, click Red-Eye Reduction to open the Red-Eye Reduction tool. Just above the photo, below the main tool bar, are three buttons and a slider to quickly zoom in or out. 4. Drag the Zoom slider to the right to zoom in on the photo, and then click and drag the photo to center one of the subjects eyes in the window. Zooming in tight on the eye makes it much easier to see what you are doing and which part of the eye you need to fix. 5. Drag a marquee over the whole eye. If the red-eye does not completely disappear, adjust the Reduction intensity. Drag the Reduction intensity slider to the right to increase the amount of color applied each time you drag over the eye. If the red color is bleeding over the eyelid or iris, you can change the color applied by selecting a new or custom color from the Fill color dropdown list. 6. You can also click inside the red part of eye. Click again on any red areas that remain. 7. If you are unhappy with the effect, click Undo, adjust the settings, and try again.
To achieve a natural look with the Red Eye tool, drag over the eye only as many times as you need to cover the worst of the redness. Leaving a little redness around the edge is often more effective as it looks more natural. Use the slider to zoom out often and see if the eye looks natural at the normal magnification.
To make fine adjustments to any of the sliders in Edit Mode, hover your cursor over the slider and move the mouse wheel one click forward or back.
8. Click Done to return to the Edit Panel. 9. Click Finished Editing, and then Save as to save the file under a new name. 10. Type in a name for the new file, and then click Save to return to the Browser.
Fixing shadows and highlights
Taking photos on sunny days often results in pictures that have some areas that are too bright and others that are too dark. The result is often an invisible silhouette against bright light. Most exposure tools can only make the whole photo brighter, or darker, so you are forced to fix only the dark or light area and sacrifice the rest. The Shadows/Highlights tool can rescue photos you never thought you could. It simultaneously darkens areas that are too light (like a bright sky or sea) and lightens areas that are too dark (like a persons face, or foliage.) Fix and Enhance | 33
You can make an image look unnatural if you add too much light to shadows or too many shadows to highlights. You need to leave some natural shadows in a face for example, or it will look flattened. If you click the Exposure Warning button, it helps you see this by turning overexposed pixels red and underexposed pixels green.

You can use the Feathering tool to blur the edge of your selection into the background. This makes it unnecessary to be precise when you create a selection. The feathering makes a soft transition between the selected area and the rest of the image.

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When you edit an image in Edit Mode, you are actually working with two images, the original and the edited image. The Opacity and Blend Mode controls give you creative control over both images and how to combine the two to create a new image.
To apply special effects to a selection: 1. Once you have made your selection, click Effects. The Effects panel opens. 2. Double-click on any icon to apply that effect. In some cases (like Sepia and Negative) the effect is applied immediately. In other cases, where there are options to adjust, a separate window opens. When an effect opens in a window, other effects in that category, open as tabs at the top of the panel, so you can try out several effects without closing the window. To see the effects categories, click the Select a category drop-down list on the Effects panel. 3. You can hide the marching ants around your selection. This allows you to see the effect on your image without their interference. Click the Show Selection icon to hide the selection. Click the icon again to show the selection. 4. To soften the edge between your selection and the other parts of the image, drag the Feathering slider to the right. 5. If you want see how the effect would look applied to the whole image, click the Use Selection button. 6. You can change the strength of the effect by dragging the Opacity slider to the right or left. What you are actually doing is increasing the transparency of the edited image to allow more of the original image to show through. You can also use Blend Modes for even more creative effects. To the left of the Opacity slider, is the Blend Mode drop-down list. Each blend mode combines the original and edited image in different ways. (See the Help file for details about blend modes.) 7. Click Done to apply your changes and close the tool. 8. Click Finished Editing and then Save as, to save the file under a new name. 9.Type in a name for the new file, then Save to return to the Browser.
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Print and Share

ACDSee includes a variety of tools that you can use to share your photos with friends and family. Whether you want to display your photos on a Web site, print a full-sized photograph on a desktop printer, or watch a slide show on your television, ACDSee can help you do it.

Printing

ACDSees printing tool has advanced settings for printing from full-sized, to contact sheets with multiple thumbnails to use as an index of your collection. You can add descriptive text to each page or individual image and instantly see the effect in the Preview, which is in the same window as the settings. The Layout options make it easy to choose the best option to fit your paper size, but you can fine-tune print settings yourself using either the Full page, or Contact sheet options. You can print photos or images on any size paper, in any orientation, and at any resolution your printer can support. If your photos dont match one of the standard print sizes, such as 5x7 or 8x10, you can create custom print size formats and save them to use at another time. If you print a lot of contact sheets, and have taken a while to create complicated settings, you can also save them as a preset, to use again and again.

If your computer's graphics card does not support DirectX 9.0, some slide show features, such as the Variations and some of the transitions, may not be available. Transition: The special effect used in a slide show to transform one photo to the next.
The same text displays above, or on top of, each photo, centered in the middle of the screen. 8. Click OK to launch the slide show. While the slide show is running, you can use the controls to switch slides, pause, or exit the slide show and return to the Viewer.
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In ACDSee, its really easy to back up your files to CDs or DVDs, or to make presentation-quality CD slide shows to share with friends and family. The Photo Disc feature makes it possible to browse files that are no longer even on your computer but stored on CDs or DVDs or removable drives, so you never lose or forget an image.

Storing

ACDSee uses XMP to embed information in each file. Only some file formats can use XMP including GIF, JPG, DNG, PNG, and TIF. If you are working with these formats, you can move and rename a file, and still retrieve the database information. In the case of other formats like RAW, PSD, PDF, etc., the data is embedded in a small sidecar file, which could get separated from its associated file. These other formats should not be moved or renamed outside ACDSee or their data could be lost.
When you add any information about a file to the ACDSee database, as you close, the application ACDSee offers to embed the information inside in the files themselves. Saying Yes to this option, saves the information inside each file, making it easier to relocate files or retrieve the data should you need to. If you want to back up photos, images, and other media files to CD/DVD, ACDSee makes it extremely easy by having its own built-in Burn Basket, so you dont even have to leave the application. ACDSee not only burns the files but can also store all the database information that goes with them. Whats more, ACDSees Photo Disc feature makes it possible for you to continue working with the thumbnails of those files even when they are no longer on your computer or in the CD/DVD drive, including cataloging them and seeing them in the Preview pane!
Burning photos and information to a CD or DVD
You can use the Burn Basket to create folders on the disc as you burn it, or to include an automatic slide show. In addition, you can choose to create a Photo disc at the same time so that you can browse through the CD contents in ACDSee even when the disc isnt in your drive.
You can reposition the Burn Basket at the top of the Browser, or float it anywhere on your screen, but you cant stack the Burn Basket with other panes, or dock it against the sides of the Browser.
To burn your photos to a CD: 1. Start by opening the Burn Basket. In the Browser, click Create | Create CD or DVD (or View | Burn Basket). 2. To add the files you want to burn to the Burn Basket, drag the files or their folders from the Folders pane or file list into the Burn Basket. Folders are automatically added to the left side of the Burn Basket. You can also create new folders for the disc by clicking the New Folder button on the Burn Basket tool bar. 3. To include the database information for all of the photos on the disc, click the Format Options button on the Burn Basket tool bar. 4. When you are ready, click the Burn button to start burning your disc. 5. On the Select burn options page of the Burn Basket Wizard, in the Volume label field, type in the name you want to give this disc. Remember to write this exact name on the actual disc so that you can identify it in future when you want to retrieve the files.

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The default setting is to display a reminder every 2 months, but if you have a large image collection and a comprehensive database, you should set the interval to at least once a week or at the outside, once a month. 3. Click OK to apply the backup reminder and return to ACDSee. To back up your database: 1. Click Database | Back Up Database in the Browser to open the ACDSee Database Backup Wizard. 2. On the Welcome page, confirm that you want to create a new backup, and then click Next. 3. On the New Backup page, select the Include thumbnails for offline files. By backing up the thumbnails for your ACDSee Photo Discs, you can avoid having to add each Photo Disc to the database again if your system crashes. This option uses a little more space than not including any thumbnails at all, but significantly less space than including all of them. 4. Select the Back up files of type check box, and confirm that the Image check box is selected. This options backs up all of your photos, as well as all of the information in your database. While this creates a significantly larger backup file, it preserves your photos if you have a hard-drive failure. 5. Under the Location of source files, select the files you want included in the backup. 6. Click Next to go to the Backup Location page, where you can see where on your hard drive ACDSee will store the backup. You can select a location that is easier to find by browsing to, or creating a new folder for your backup. 7. Click Next again to go to the Backup Summary page. 8. Review your choices, and then click Next to begin backing up your database and files. 9. When the Database Backup Wizard is complete, click Finish to return to ACDSee. Consider burning a copy of the backup file to CD or DVD just in case you ever have a hard-drive failure.
If you add or remove images from a disc that you have already added to ACDSee as a Photo Disc, you can update the information stored in the database. Insert the disc in your CD/ DVD drive, right-click the name of the disc in the Folders pane and select Update Photo Disc.
For more information about backing up the database, and some helpful hints about backup creation strategies, click the Help button in the Database Backup Wizard to go to the Backing up your database topic in the Help file. Scroll down to the bottom of the page in the Help file, and click the Database backup tips and strategies link.

Retrieving

Retrieving stored information is very easy in ACDSee. If you have older backup CDs, DVDs or removable drives containing image files, you can still create a Photo Disc and then be able to browse them using ACDSee. This makes managing a large collection of files much easier, even when the actual files are in many different places.