Working with Catalogs

An ImageViewer catalog is a list of elements, each of which, is a collection of attributes associated with a file (e.g. file name, preview, comments, and keywords). Catalogs enable you to store and retrieve these attributes without requiring the files themselves to be present. Further, catalogs allow you to maintain a custom ordering for displaying a group of files. Once a catalog is created, it is much faster at displaying the file attributes (particularly previews), as looking at each file's contents is not required. However, displaying full images or playing movies requires accessing the actual file, so no time savings occur.

Wether you have saved a file list to a catalog file or not, ImageViewer displays the list in the same manner. The differance being, that storing and retrieving attribtes affects the actual file in one case, and the catalog file in the other. Some of the actions you can perform with a catalog include:

 

Creating a Catalog File

Any list of image or multi-media files can be converted into a catalog file using the Save List As option. Use the Open dialog to establish a file list(choose a folder, folders, or files). You can then save this list as a single catalog file, to which, you can add additional files or edit comments and keywords.

To Create a Catalog File:

  1. Open a list of files.
  2. Choose Save List As > Catalog from the File menu.
  3. Enter a catalog name.
  4. Click Save.

NOTE: Catalog files are automatically saved at every add or delete of a file(reference) from the catalog.

 

Opening Catalog Files

You can open catalog files exactly as you do with other types of files. The difference is that the data stored in the catalog file is displayed in list views(e.g. previews), rather than extracted from the actual files. If you display a full image, the true image file is used to display it.

To Open a Catalog File:

  1. Select Open from the File menu.
  2. Choose a catalog file.
  3. Click Open. 

 

Adding Files to a Catalog

You can add files to a catalog using the List > Add option.

To Add a File to a Catalog:

  1. Select Add from the List menu.
  2. Choose image or multi-media files.
  3. Click Choose.

TIP: You can also use drag-and-drop to add files to a catalog.

 

Removing Files from a Catalog

You can remove files from a catalog that are no longer required.

To Remove a File from a Catalog:

  1. Select files in the catalog.
  2. Select Remove from the List menu.
  3. Click Remove to delete the file from the catalog.

TIP: You can also use drag-and-drop to remove files from a catalog.

NOTE: Click Remove and Don't Ask Again to disable this confirmation alert for this session only.

 

Changing the Catalog Display

When displaying catalog file contents, the same viewing options are available as when displaying a list of files, which are not part of a catalog. See Viewing for further details.

 

Creating Catalog Sublists

You can create new lists from the files in the current catalog, which are known as sub-lists. By selecting one or more files, you can create a new file list consisting of these selected files. if you choose, you can then convert this new list into a custom catalog file.

To Create a Catalog Sub-list:

  1. Select one or more images in the catalog list (use Shift-click to select multiple images).
  2. Select Build Sub-List from the List menu. A new list will be formed and opened in a new window.

    To Save this new list as a catalog file:

  3. Choose Save List As > Catalog from the File menu.
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