About ContactSheet and PrintContactSheet
Welcome to ContactSheet and PrintContactSheet

Welcome to ContactSheet and PrintContactSheet plug-ins for ACDSee v3.1.

ContactSheet allows highly customizable image contact sheets, and HTML image maps to be created, while PrintContactSheet was specifically designed for printing contact sheets.

Both ContactSheet and PrintContactSheet use the ACDSee plug-ins for decoding images.  Thus, they can use any images that work with ACDSee.


Getting started
Selecting Files and Invoking the Plug-in

Whether using the ContactSheet plug-in or the PrintContactSheet plug-in you will need to first select one or more images from the Browser File list.

To select a more than one image:

Click a file with the primary mouse button to select it, or move the focus to the item using the arrow keys.  To select additional files, hold down <Ctrl> and click a file.  Alternatively, with <Ctrl> held down, move the focus to a file using the arrow keys and press <Space> to select or deselect it.

To select a range of files, choose the first item in the range with your mouse; then select the last item in the range while holding down <Shift>.  To select all files, use the [Edit | Select all] files menu command.

To create contact sheets, follow the following steps:

1.	Select the images you would like to appear as described above.

Select [Create a contact sheet] or [Create and print a contact sheet] from the Plug-ins menu or the corresponding toolbar buttons.	or

2.	A dialog box like the one shown will be displayed.  Make necessary configurations.

3.	Be sure to specify the output path of where you would like the contact sheet to be saved (or, for Print Contact Sheet, the destination printer), and

4.	Press OK.


ContactSheet Main Window
ContactSheet: Main Window

An overview of the ContactSheet main window:

1.	Page tab: This tab contains various settings that customize your contact sheet.

2.	Preview window: This window shows a preview of what your contact sheet will look like to scale.

3.	Current page: This edit box lets you change which page is displayed in the preview window.

4.	Output path: This combo box allows you to specify a path and file name for your contact sheet. You can drop the combo box down to see a list of file names of previous contact sheets you’ve made. If you choose not to specify an extension, then ContactSheet will add one for you when you click the OK button.

5.	Output path browse button: This button allows you to browse for a path and file name to use for your contact sheet.

6.	OK button: This button allows you to create your contact sheet and then close ContactSheet.

7.	Cancel button: This button closes ContactSheet without saving any changes regardless of whether the Save settings check box is checked under the Output Tab.

8.	Help button: This button displays ContactSheet and PrintContactSheet’s help file.


Page Options Tab
ContactSheet: Page Tab

The Page tab allows you to set options related to layout:

1.	Page size: These edit boxes allow you to specify the image dimensions in pixels.

2.	Margins: These edit box allow you to specify the size of the page margins in pixels.

3.	Thumbnail size: These slider bar controls allow you to specify the number of thumbnails in each column and row.

4.	Thumbnail spacing: These edit boxes allow you to specify how far each thumbnail should be spaced horizontally and vertically, in pixels.

5.   Background options radio buttons:

a)	Choose [Use a solid fill color] to fill the background of your contact sheet with the color specified by item number

b)	Choose [Use a tiled image] to tile an image across the background of your contact sheet. You will need to select an image using item number 7 in order for this option to do anything.

6.	Background color button: This button allows you to specify a color to paint the background of your contact sheet.

7.	Background browse button: This button allows you to specify an image to tile across the background of your contact sheet.


Thumbnails Options Tab
ContactSheet: Thumbnail Options Tab

The Thumbnails Options Tab allows you to set thumbnail specific options:

1.	Thumbnail frame check box: This option surrounds each thumbnail in a frame whose color is specified by item 4.

2.	Thumbnail frame width and height: These two edit boxes all you to specify the width and height of the thumbnail frame in pixels.

3.	Thumbnail background radio buttons:

a)    Choose [Solid color] to use a solid background color for your thumbnail frames. This color is specified using item 4.

b)    Choose [Tiled image] to tile an image across the background of each thumbnail frame. You have to specify an image using item 5 in order for this option to work.

4.	Frame color button: This button allows you to specify a color to paint the background of your thumbnail frames.

5.	Frame browse button: This button allows you to specify an image to tile across the background of your thumbnail frames.

6.	Colored drop shadow check box: This options places a drop shadow effect to the right and bottom of each thumbnail using the color specified by item 7.

7.	Drop shadow color button: This button allows you to specify a color to use for the colored drop shadow.

8.	Bevel edges check box: This option places a bevel effect around each thumbnail.

9.	Colored edge fade check box: This option places an edge fade effect around each thumbnail using the color specified by item 10.

10.	Edge fade color button: This button allows you to specify a color to use for the colored edge fade.

11.	Colored matte check box: This option fills any part of the thumbnail area that isn’t covered by the actual thumbnail using the color specified by item 12.

12.	Matte color button: This button allows you to specify a color to use for the colored matte.


Labels Options Tab
ContactSheet: Labels Options Tab

The Labels Options Tab allows you to add labels to your contact sheet:

1.	Use header check box: This option places a header of your choice at the top of each page of your contact sheet.

2.	Edit header text button: This button allows you to specify what text you’d like to use for your header. For special formatting options please refer to Inserting Page Numbers

3.	Header placement combo box: You can use this combo box to justify your header to the right, left or center.

4.	Header font button: This button allows you to specify the color, size, and typeface of the font used for the header.

5.	Use footer check box: This option places a footer of your choice at the bottom of each page of your contact sheet.

6.	Edit footer text button: This button allows you to specify what text you’d like to use for your footer. For special formatting options please refer to Inserting Page Numbers

7.	Footer placement combo box: You can use this combo box to justify your footer to the right, left or center.

8.	Footer font button: This button allows you to specify the color, size, and typeface of the font used for the footer.

9.	Use footer check box: This option places a footer of your choice at the bottom of each page of your contact sheet.

10.	Edit caption text button: This button allows you to specify what text you’d like to use for your thumbnails captions. For special formatting options please refer to:

Inserting Image Information Into Thumbnail the Captions

11.	Horizontal caption placement combo box: You can use this combo box to justify each thumbnail caption to the right, left or center.

12.	Vertical caption placement combo box: You can use this combo box to place each caption at the top or bottom of the thumbnail it accompanies.

13.	Caption font button: This button allows you to specify the color, size, and typeface of the font used for the each thumbnail caption.


Output Options Tab
ContactSheet: Output Options Tab

The Output Options Tab allows you to specify output options for your contact sheet:

1.	Output HTML image map check box: This option lets ContactSheet know that you’d like an HTML image map, corresponding to your contact sheet created. Use item 2 to specify the path where you’d like the HTML file to be placed after creation.

2.	Image map path edit box: This edit box allows you to specify the path where you’d like an HTML image map, corresponding to your contact sheet created.

3.	Image map browse button: This button allows you to browse for a path to save an HTML image map file.

4.	Output format combo box: You can use this combo box to specify an image format to use, to write your contact sheet.

5.	Output format settings button: If this button is not grayed out, then you can click on it to specify what settings you’d like to use with the currently chosen output format.

6.	Save settings check box: If this option is selected when you click OK to create your contact sheet, the currently chosen settings will be used the next time you run ContactSheet.

7.	Reset to defaults button: This button resets all settings to their factory defaults.


PrintContactSheet Main Window
PrintContactSheet: Main Window

A main overview of the PrintContactSheet main window:

1.	Page tab: This tab contains various settings that customize your contact sheet.

2.	Preview window: This window shows a preview of what your contact sheet will look like to scale.

3.	Measurement units combo box: This combo box allows you to specify whether you want all measurements in inches or centimeters.

4.	Current page: This edit box lets you change which page is displayed in the preview window.

5.	Currently selected printer: This item specifies the name of the currently selected printer. When you first start PrintContactSheet, it will use the default windows printer. You can change the currently selected printer by clicking on item 6.

6.	Printer settings button: This button allows you to select which printer to use to print your contact  sheet as well as set printer settings such as dots per inch.

7.	OK button: This button allows you to print your contact sheet and then close PrintContactSheet.

8.	Cancel button: This button closes PrintContactSheet without saving any changes regardless of whether the Save settings check box is checked under the Output Tab.

9.	Help button: This button brings up the help file.


Page Options Tab
PrintContactSheet: Page Options Tab

The Page Options Tab allows you to set layout specific options:

1.	Margins: These edit box allow you to specify the size of the page margins in inches or centimeters.

2.	Thumbnail size: These slider bar controls allow you to specify the number of thumbnails in each column and row.

3.	Thumbnail spacing: These edit boxes allow you to specify how far each thumbnail should be spaced horizontally and vertically, in inches or centimeters.

4.	Background options radio buttons:

a)    Choose [Use a solid fill color] to fill the background of your contact sheet with the color specified by item number

b)    Choose [Use a tiled image] to tile an image across the background of your contact sheet. You will need to select an image using item number 7 in order for this option to do anything.

5.	Background color button: This button allows you to specify a color to paint the background of your contact sheet.

6.	Background browse button: This button allows you to specify an image to tile across the background of your contact sheet.


Thumbnails Options Tab
PrintContactSheet: Thumbnail Options Tab

The Thumbnails Options Tab allows you to set thumbnail specific options:

1.	Thumbnail frame check box: This option surrounds each thumbnail in a frame whose color is specified by item 4.

2.	Thumbnail frame width and height: These two edit boxes all you to specify the width and height of the thumbnail frame in inches or centimeters.

3.	Thumbnail background radio buttons:

a)    Choose [Solid color] to use a solid background color for your thumbnail frames. This color is specified using item 4.

b)    Choose [Tiled image] to tile an image across the background of each thumbnail frame. You have to specify an image using item 5 in order for this option to work.

4.	Frame color button: This button allows you to specify a color to paint the background of your thumbnail frames.

5.	Frame browse button: This button allows you to specify an image to tile across the background of your thumbnail frames.

6.	Colored drop shadow check box: This options places a drop shadow effect to the right and bottom of each thumbnail using the color specified by item 7.

7.	Drop shadow color button: This button allows you to specify a color to use for the colored drop shadow.

8.	Bevel edges check box: This option places a bevel effect around each thumbnail.

9.	Colored edge fade check box: This option places an edge fade effect around each thumbnail using the color specified by item 10.

10.	Edge fade color button: This button allows you to specify a color to use for the colored edge fade.

11.	Colored matte check box: This option fills any part of the thumbnail area that isn’t covered by the actual thumbnail using the color specified by item 12.

12.	Matte color button: This button allows you to specify a color to use for the colored matte.


Labels Options Tab
PrintContactSheet: Labels Options Tab

The Labels Options Tab allows you to add labels to your contact sheet:

1.	Use header check box: This option places a header of your choice at the top of each page of your contact sheet.

2.	Edit header text button: This button allows you to specify what text you’d like to use for your header. For special formatting options please refer to Inserting Page Numbers

3.	Header placement combo box: You can use this combo box to justify your header to the right, left or center.

4.	Header font button: This button allows you to specify the color, size, and typeface of the font used for the header.

5.	Use footer check box: This option places a footer of your choice at the bottom of each page of your contact sheet.

6.	Edit footer text button: This button allows you to specify what text you’d like to use for your footer. For special formatting options please refer to Inserting Page Numbers

7.	Footer placement combo box: You can use this combo box to justify your footer to the right, left or center.

8.	Footer font button: This button allows you to specify the color, size, and typeface of the font used for the footer.

9.	Use footer check box: This option places a footer of your choice at the bottom of each page of your contact sheet.

10.	Edit caption text button: This button allows you to specify what text you’d like to use for your thumbnails captions. For special formatting options please refer to:

Inserting Image Information Into Thumbnail the Captions

11.	Horizontal caption placement combo box: You can use this combo box to justify each thumbnail caption to the right, left or center.

12.	Vertical caption placement combo box: You can use this combo box to place each caption at the top or bottom of the thumbnail it accompanies.

13.	Caption font button: This button allows you to specify the color, size, and typeface of the font used for the each thumbnail caption.


Output Options Tab
PrintContactSheet: Output Options Tab

The Output Options Tab allows you to specify output options for your contact sheet:

1.	Save settings check box: If this option is selected when you click OK to print your contact sheet, the currently chosen settings will be used the next time you run PrintContactSheet.

2.	Reset to defaults button: This button resets all settings to their factory defaults.


Insert Page Numbers
Inserting Page Numbers

Inserting page numbers at the top or bottom of each page is easy with both ContactSheet and PrintContactSheet.

As an example, suppose you want to insert the text: “Picture Set - XXXX” (where XXXX is the page number, at the top of each page).

Simply:

1.	Click on the Labels tab.

2.	Check the [Use header] check box.

3.	Enter the text: “Picture Set - %p”, into the [Page header options] edit box.

Note: If you wanted the text to appear at the bottom of each page, you would follow the same steps but would do everything in the [Page footer options] control box.

You can optionally choose the font used by clicking on the [Choose font…] button.

You can also set the justification of the page header by changing the values in the [Page header options] combo boxes.


Insert Image Information Into Thumbnail Captions
Inserting Image Information Into the Thumbnail Captions

Inserting image information at the top or bottom of each page is easy with both ContactSheet and PrintContactSheet.

As an example, suppose you want to insert the text: “Jill’s vacation picture - XXXX” (where XXXX is image information that is listed in the table below).

Simply:

1.	Click on the Labels tab.

2.	Check the [Use caption] check box.

3.	Enter the text: “Jill’s vacation picture - %XXXX”, into the Thumbnail caption options edit box, where XXXX is an escape character listed below.

The following escape characters will insert information into a thumbnail caption:

•	%n	- Thumbnail number

•	%f 	- Filename (without extension)

•	%e 	- Filename (with extension)

•	%x 	- Image horizontal resolution

•	%y 	- Image vertical resolution

•	%p 	- Number of pages in the image

•	%c 	- Number of  colors in the image

Note: You can add extended data by alternate mouse clicking on an image in ACDSee Browser (in the File list) or in the Viewer and selecting Properties.

Image files that include extended data only support the following escape characters:

•	%d	- Date of creation of the image

•	%t	- Time of the image

•	%q	- Caption (description)

•	%a	- Author

•	%o	- Notes

•	%k	- Keywords


Troubleshooting

The first thing you should do, if you encounter problems with either ContactSheet or PrintContactSheet  is to use the context sensitive help.  To do this, simply click on the question mark in the top right hand corner of the dialog box, and then clicking on the option you want to know more about.

If problems persist, reset all values to their defaults.  To do this simply:

1.	Click on the Output tab.

2.	Click the [Reset to defaults] button.

If the problem is still occurring:

See: Getting Technical Support and Contributing Feedback


Getting Technical Support and Contributing Feedback

Technical Support

Registered users are entitled to technical support, should the need arise.  Please contact us by email at acdtech@acdsystems.com.  If you do not have e-mail access, you may telephone us at 1 (250) 544-6701.  Our office hours are Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM PST.

Feedback

If you have any comments or concerns about the Sample plug-in please direct them to acdshare@acdsystems.com.  Your feedback is important to us in order to get an idea of how to make Sample plug-in a better product for you.  Many ACD System software features have been heavily 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.


Specifies the contact sheet’s filename.


Browse for a filename.


Create the contact sheet.


Print the contact sheet.


Close the dialog box without doing anything.


Use this combo box to specify the units to use in all measurements.


Preview any page of the contact sheet.


Preview any page of the contact sheet.


Shows a preview of the contact sheet.


Specifies the contact sheet width.


Specifies the contact sheet width.


Specifies the contact sheet height.


Specifies the contact sheet height.


Specifies the left and right margin sizes.


Specifies the left and right margin sizes.


Specifies the top and bottom margin sizes.


Specifies the top and bottom margin sizes.


Specifies the number of thumbnail columns.


Specifies the number of thumbnail rows.


Specifies the number of horizontal spaces between thumbnails.


Specifies the number of horizontal spaces between thumbnails.


Specifies the number of vertical spaces between thumbnails.


Specifies the number of vertical spaces between thumbnails.


Use a solid background color, which can be selected with the choose-color button.


Use a tiled background image.


Select a color for the background.


Browse for an image to use for the background.


Clicking this button will toggle the measurement units between centimeters and inches.


This box displays the name of the currently selected printer.


Click on this button to change the currently selected printer settings, or change the currently selected printer.


Surround the thumbnails in a frame.


The width of the thumbnail frame.


The width of the thumbnail frame.


The height of the thumbnail frame.


The height of the thumbnail frame.


Color the thumbnail frame with a solid color.


Use a tiled image to color the thumbnail frame.


Choose a solid color to fill the thumbnail frame with.


Browse for an image to color the thumbnail frame with.


Use a drop shadow effect to give the thumbnails depth.


Choose a color for the drop shadow.


Use a bevel effect on the thumbnails, making them look slightly raised.


Use an edge fade effect on the thumbnails, blending them with the background.


Choose a color for the edge fade.


Use a thumbnail matte, so that if any thumbnail does not fill the specified space completely, the matte will be shown underneath.


Choose a color for the thumbnail matte.


Use a header for each page of the contact sheet.


Opens a dialog box that will allow you to enter a header for your contact sheet.


Specifies the justification of the header.


Choose the font size, type, and color of the header.


Use a footer for each page of the contact sheet.


Opens a dialog box that will allow you to enter a footer for your contact sheet.


Specifies the justification of the footer.


Choose the font size, type, and color of the footer.


Insert a caption for each thumbnail in the contact sheet.


Opens a dialog box that will allow you to enter thumbnail captions.


The horizontal justification of the thumbnail caption.


The vertical justification of the thumbnail caption.


Choose the font size, type, and color of the thumbnail captions.


Output an HTML image map to the specified directory.


Specifies the path and file name of the HTML image map.


Browse for an image map filename.


Specifies the output image format of the contact sheet.


Change the settings for a particular output image format.

*Note: Some formats do not have adjustable settings.


Saves the current settings of every dialog box, for the next time the plug-in is run.


Reset all settings to the factory defaults.