How can CatDV help me organise my digital photos?

You can use CatDV to catalog and present digital photos and other image files stored on your computer:

• If the images are stored on your digital camera first copy the files to your pictures folder on your hard drive (using the Apple Finder or Windows Explorer, or your digital camera software).
• In CatDV Preferences make sure that the Include sub-directories Import option is set.
• Open a new or existing catalog and use Import Directory to choose your pictures folder and import all the pictures (and other media files) within that folder.
• If you are have added files to an existing directory and want to update your existing catalog use the Scan for new files command. Alternatively, you can use Import Directory and select the root picture folder again. Any files that are already in the catalog won't be added a second time.
• View the catalog with a grid view so you can see thumbnails for the images you have imported.
• If any images have the wrong orientation select them and use the Rotate Left or Rotate Right command. This rotates the thumbnail and sets a rotation flag but does not lose any image quality by recompressing or overwriting the original image file.
• Use the regular features of CatDV (grouping and sorting, details dialog, bulk edit command, user-defined fields, etc.) to enter keywords or names as required to identify the files.
• If you type in a new value for the clip Name you will have the option of renaming the file on disk as well.
• If you group on the Path property you can see which folder on disk the images are in. Drag and drop clips onto another path name to move the files to another folder.
• If you want to suppress a particular image from a catalog without deleting it permanently bring up the clip details for that image and tick the Hide checkbox.
• To delete an image file permanently use the Delete media files command (or button) and confirm the file deletion.
• To present a full screen slide show of selected images use the Run slide show command. You can control the speed of the show with the keys 1-9, press Escape or double click to stop the slide show, and use various other keyboard shortcuts to control the presentation.
• If you import and include an MP3 file in the selection to be played then CatDV will play background music during the slide show.
• Use the Randomize clip order button, if desired, to temporarily shuffle the clips prior to starting the slide show.
• Some digital cameras will also record short MPEG video clips. CatDV will play these as well, and will automatically double the size during playback if the image size is small.
• To share pictures with friends use the Export as still(s) command to export selected pictures scaled down to a small enough size to email efficiently as an attachment. For convenience you can bundle up a set of images to send as a single ZIP archive.
• CatDV will display any Exif or Flashpix information it finds in the image in the Meta data column. (Many digital cameras record details such as the date, or whether flash was used.)