Thumbnails

Thumbnails: Extracted vs Generated

An Extracted Thumbnail is one that already exists in the source file. If “Extract Thumbnail” is enabled (Catalog > Cataloging Options > Add or Update tab), Portfolio will look for and extract Thumbnails from various file types, such as:

• Photoshop files

• EPS files

• Adobe Illustrator files

• Any Macintosh file with a thumbnail in the "pnot" resource

If the source file does not contain a thumbnail, Portfolio will attempt to generate one.

A Generated Thumbnail is one that is created by Portfolio by reading the source file with an appropriate translator. If “Extract Thumbnail” is disabled, Portfolio will always attempt to generate a thumbnail, even if a thumbnail exists in the source file. Depen-ding on the type of embedded thumbnail, Portfolio may be able to render a better thumbnail than that supplied in the source file.

Note: Extracting thumbnails is faster than generating them.

Option	Choices	Description
When Adding	Extract Keywords	Looks for and extracts any keywords saved with the source file.
	Extract Description	Looks for and extracts any description saved with the source file.
	Extract Thumbnail	Looks for and extracts any preview image saved with the source file. Note: If you are adding QuickTime movies, we recommend that you do not use this option. You will get a larger thumbnail for the movie if you let Portfolio create it, rather than having it extracted.
	Skip Files without Thumbnails	Does not catalog the file if a thumbnail cannot be extracted or generated.
When Updating	Regenerate	If disabled (not checked), the Thumbnail in the catalog record will not be changed. If enabled (checked), the thumbnail will be updated if the source file has changed, or if Update Unconditionally is selected.
	Thumbnail	Extract Thumbnail: Controls whether Portfolio looks for an embedded Thumbnail or creates its own. This option is ignored if Regenerate is disabled.
	Extract Description	Replace: Replaces the existing description with the new one.
		Append: Adds the new description to the end of the old one.
	Extract Keywords	Replace: Replaces existing keywords with the new ones.
		Append: Adds the new keywords to the existing keywords.

Thumbnail Size

Portfolio allows you to store thumbnails at either of two different sizes: 112 x 112 pixels, or 256 x 256 pixels.

The advantage in having the larger size thumbnails is as you might expect—improved resolution when viewed at the larger size. The disadvantage is that the larger thumbnails occupy about four times as much catalog space (typically 20K vs 5K).

Thumbnails that are embedded in the source file typically range in size from 80 x 80 pixels to 128 x 128 pixels. Portfolio will scale these extracted thumbnails to the closest size, typically 112 x 112 pixels. So if you elect to save thumbnails at 256 x 256, you will probably want to also disable extracting thumbnails and allow Portfolio to generate the larger thumbnails.