Copyright: Copyright (c) 1997-98, Firehand Technologies Corporation, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.


Ember 2000 Standard vs. Ember 2000 Express

There are two versions of Ember 2000: Ember 2000 Standard, and Ember 2000 Express.

Ember 2000 Express is identical to Ember 2000 Standard in all respects except that it lacks the Standard edition’s image editing, touch-up, and conversion capabilities.  In other words, where the Standard edition is a full image processing and editing system, as well as an image viewer, the Express edition is exclusively an image viewer.  Both editions feature exactly the same thumbnail generator, drag/drop file management capabilities, folder maintenance functions, full-screen browser, slideshow, screensaver, wallpaper auto-changer, contact sheet generator, and so forth.  Moreover, both editions are compatible with and may be extended by the Firehand Media Xtension Add-In.

Ember 2000 Express is made available, at a somewhat lower price than Ember 2000 Standard, for those users who wish to take advantage of Ember 2000’s image display capabilities but who do not need to modify graphic files, or who use a separate, third-party image editor for image touch-up and editing tasks.


How to Purchase, Updates, and Support

How to Purchase

Purchasing a full, registered copy of Firehand Ember 2000, or Firehand Ember 2000 Express, is quick and easy.  Registered users of the latest Ember release are entitled to prompt, free technical support via Email, and free minor updates (major product revisions are offered to registered Ember users for a small update fee).

A number of purchase options are available to you:

Purchasing via Email

To purchase Ember 2000 or Ember 2000 Express via Email, send a message to sales@firehand.com.  Be sure to entitle your message “Ember 2000 Purchase,” and include the following information in the message:

1. Whether you wish to purchase Ember 2000 or Ember 2000 Express.

2. Your Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express number.

3. Your credit card's expiration date.

4. Your name, as it appears on the credit card.

5. Your billing address where the statement for your credit card is mailed (for verification purposes only).

6. Your telephone number.

7. Whether you wish to receive the printed Ember 2000 User’s Guide and a copy of Ember 2000 or Ember 2000 Express on diskette (for an additional $15 US -- $20 US for non-US residents).

Your credit card will be charged $64.95 US for Ember 2000, or $39.95 for Ember 2000 Express (plus the additional charge described above if you elect to receive the Ember 2000 User’s Guide and a copy of the product on diskette), and your registration key will be sent to you by return Email within a few hours, along with instructions for downloading the latest full, registered product edition from our members-only website.

Note that Email orders are processed continuously between 8:00 AM and 10:00 PM Central Time every day (including Saturday, Sunday, and legal US holidays).

Purchasing on the Web

To purchase a full, registered edition of Ember 2000 or Ember 2000 Express on the World Wide Web, proceed to http://www.firehand.com/register and click the “secure registration page” link.  Then, fill out and submit the secure order form.

Your credit card will be charged $64.95 US for Ember 2000, or $39.95 for Ember 2000 Express, and your registration key will be sent to you via Email within a few hours, along with instructions for downloading the latest full, registered product edition from our members-only website.

Note that Web orders are processed continuously between 8:00 AM and 10:00 PM Central Time every day (including Saturday, Sunday, and legal US holidays).

Purchasing by Phone

To purchase a full, registered version of Ember 2000 or Ember 2000 Express by telephone, simply dial (800) 277-3064 (or (918) 488-0588 if calling from outside the United States).  Customer service representatives are standing by between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM, US Central Time, Monday through Friday.

Your credit card will be charged $64.95 US for Ember 2000, or $39.95 US for Ember 2000 Express, and your registration key will be provided to you immediately, along with instructions for downloading the latest full, registered product edition from our members-only website.

Purchasing  by FAX

To purchase a full, registered edition of Firehand Ember 2000 or Firehand Ember 2000 Express by FAX, FAX a cover sheet to (918) 488-8030 in the US.  Please include the following information in your FAX:

1. Whether you wish to purchase Ember 2000 or Ember 2000 Express.

2. Your Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express number.

3. Your credit card's expiration date.

4. Your name, as it appears on the credit card.

5. Your billing address where the statement for your credit card is mailed (for verification purposes only).

6. Your telephone and FAX numbers.

7. Your Email address.

8. Whether you wish to receive the printed Ember 2000 User’s Guide and a copy of Ember 2000 or Ember 2000 Express on diskette (for an additional $15 US -- $20 US for non-US residents).

Your credit card will be charged $64.95 US for Ember 2000, or $39.95 for Ember 2000 Express, (plus the additional charge described above if you elect to receive the Ember 2000 User’s Guide and a copy of the product on diskette), and your registration key will be sent to you via Email within a few hours, along with instructions for downloading the full, registered product edition from our members-only website.

Note that FAX orders are processed continuously between 8:00 AM and 10:00 PM Central Time every day (including Saturday, Sunday, and legal US holidays).

Purchasing by Mail

To purchase a full, registered Edition of Firehand Ember 2000 or Ember 2000 Express by regular mail, send a money order or check (drawn on a US bank) to:

Firehand Technologies Corporation

Attn: Software Purchase

7757 S. Jamestown Ave.

Tulsa, OK  74136

USA

Note that the price of Ember 2000 is $64.95 US, while Ember 2000 Express is $39.95.

If you would like to receive your registration key via Email (along with instructions for downloading the latest full, registered product version from our members-only website), please include your Email address with your order.  Otherwise, the registration key and download instructions will be sent to you by regular mail.

If you would like to receive Ember 2000 on diskette along with the printed Ember 2000 User’s Guide by return mail, please add a note to this effect and include an additional $15.00 US to cover our printing and mailing costs (please include $20.00 US for the printed Ember 2000 User’s Guide and copy of the product on diskette if you reside outside the US).

Note that money order registrations are processed the day they are received.  Check registrations are processed immediately upon your funds reaching our bank (generally 5-7 days after we receive your order).

Confidentiality

We respect your privacy.  We do not share or sell our mailing lists.  All information you submit to us is held in the strictest confidence.

Site Licensing

Deeply discounted site licenses are available for organizations wishing to license multiple copies of Firehand products.  Please Email sales@firehand.com for pricing or consult http://www.firehand.com/register.

Product Support

Technical support is offered free of charge to registered Firehand Ember users via Email sent to member@firehand.com.  At all times during regular business hours – and more often than not after hours and on weekends – one of our engineers is servicing this Email alias.  If you do not receive an immediate answer to your support question, you can expect a response within a few hours.

Contact Information

Inquiries of a non-technical nature should be Emailed to contact@firehand.com.  If you prefer, you can also call our offices during regular business hours at (918) 488-0588, or mail your questions or comments to:

Firehand Technologies Corporation

7757 S. Jamestown Ave.

Tulsa, OK  74136

USA

Technical questions should be submitted via Email to support@firehand.com.


Keyboard Interface Reference

Ember Thumbnail Window

Command	Keystroke
Close Ember	Alt+F4
Close Thumbnail Window	Ctrl+F4
Convert Selected Files	Ctrl+F2
Copy Selected Files	Ctrl+C
Custom Layout Settings	F7
Cut Selected Files	Ctrl+X
Default Layout Settings	F6
Delete  Selected Files	Del
Find Files	Ctrl+F
Full-Screen Browser (Best Stretch Mode)	Shift+Ctrl+Enter
Full-Screen Browser (Default Size Mode)	Ctrl+Enter
Full-Screen Browser (Descale to Fit Mode)	Alt+Ctrl+Enter
Full-Screen Browser (Unconstrained Stretch Mode)	Alt+Shift+Ctrl+Enter
Help	F1
Invert File Selection	Ctrl+I
Move Caret and Select Next File	Right Arrow
Move Caret to Next Selected File	F3
Move Caret and Select Previous File	Left Arrow
Move Caret to Previous Selected File	Shift+F3
Move Selected Files	Ctrl+M
Open All Selected Files	F4
Open Folder (if Folder View Pane is hidden)	Ctrl+O
Paste Files or Data from Clipboard	Ctrl+V
Print Selected Files	Ctrl+P
Properties of Selected Files	Alt+Enter
Refresh	F5
Rename Selected Files	F2
Run File Gallery	F10
Run Slideshow	Ctrl+F10
Select All Files	Ctrl+A
Select and Open Next File	Ctrl+Right Arrow
Select and Open Only File at Caret	Enter
Select and Open Previous File	Ctrl+Left Arrow
Select Only File at Caret	Spacebar
Set Image as Desktop Wallpaper	Ctrl+W
Show Context Menu	Shift+F10
Toggle Selection State of File at Caret	Ctrl+Spacebar
Transfer Focus to Folder View Pane	Tab
Transfer Focus to Next Thumbnail Window	Ctrl+F6
Unselect All Files	Ctrl+U
View Slideshow	Ctrl+F10

Ember Folder View Pane

Delete Selected Folder	Del
Move Selected Folder	Ctrl+M
Open Selected Folder	Ctrl+O
Properties of Selected Folder	Alt+Enter
Refresh Display	F5
Rename Selected Folder	F2
Show Context Menu	Shift+F10
Transfer Focus to Thumbnail Window	Tab

Full-Screen Browser

Command	Keystroke
Default Size Mode	Ctrl+Enter
Best Stretch Mode	Shift+Ctrl+Enter
Descale to Fit Mode	Alt+Ctrl+Enter
Unconstrained Stretch Mode	Alt+Shift+Ctrl+Enter
Close Gallery Window	Esc
Context Menu	Shift+F10
Delete File and Advance	Del
Next File	Right Arrow
Previous File	Left Arrow
Properties	Alt+Enter
Run File Gallery (Auto-Advance Browser)	Spacebar


File Menu: "Open Folder"
File Menu: “Open Folder”

The “Open Folder” command is accessible via Ember’s File menu, as well as the folder view pane context menu.  It is also accessible from the application toolbar whenever the folder view pane is hidden.

The behavior of this command depends on whether the folder view pane is visible or not.  If the folder view pane is visible and has input focus, the Open Folder command causes the folder currently selected in the folder view pane to be opened (if it is not already open) ) and thumbnails to be created from the recognized files in the folder.  If the folder view pane has input focus and a thumbnail window displaying the contents of the selected folder is already open, invoking the Open Folder command causes that thumbnail window to be activated and brought to the foreground (if it is not already in the foreground).

If the folder view pane is not visible, invoking the Open Folder command causes a standard Windows folder selection dialog to appear.  Select the folder you wish to view and click OK to open a thumbnail window of the folder’s contents.


File Menu: "New Sub-Folder"
File Menu: “New Sub-Folder”

The “New Sub-Folder” command is accessible via Ember’s File menu, as well as the folder view pane context menu.  This command is available only when the keyboard input focus is in Ember’s folder view pane and a folder is selected that can contain sub-folders.  Invoking this command causes Ember to construct a new sub-folder (typically named “New Folder” initially) under the currently-selected folder.  The name of the newly created folder is then automatically selected for editing so that you may provide a less generic label.  Striking Enter completes the folder creation operation.


File Menu: "Display"
File Menu: “Display”

The “Display” command is accessible via Ember’s File menu, as well as the thumbnail window context menu.  This command is available only when a thumbnail window has keyboard input focus and at least one thumbnail preview is selected.  Invoking the Display command causes all files associated with selected thumbnail previews to be opened in pop-up windows if the associated files are of supported media types.  If the associated files are of unsupported types (and icons are displayed as their thumbnail previews), invoking the Display command causes the selected files to be opened in the applications registered with the system to handle files of these types (just as though the associated files were double-clicked from Windows Explorer).


File Menu: Display Full-Screen sub-menu

The Display Full-Screen sub-menu is accessible via Ember’s File menu, as well as the thumbnail window context menu.  It features four associated commands: “Default Size,” “Descale to Fit,” “Best Stretch,” and “Unconstrained Stretch.”  The sub-menu and its commands are accessible only when a thumbnail window has keyboard input focus and exactly one thumbnail preview is selected.

Selecting the “Default Size” command from the Display Full-Screen sub-menu open’s a full-screen browsing window and places Ember into “Default Size” display mode: the visual representation of the file associated with the currently-selected thumbnail preview is displayed in the full-screen browsing window in its default dimensions.

Selecting the “Descale to Fit” command from the Display Full-Screen sub-menu open’s a full-screen browsing window and places Ember into “Descale to Fit” display mode: the visual representation of the file associated with the currently-selected thumbnail preview is displayed in the full-screen browsing window in its native dimensions if its actual size is small enough to fit entirely within your computer monitor’s display area.  Otherwise, the visual representation of the file is shrunk to such an extent that it will fit entirely within your monitor’s display area.

Selecting the “Best Stretch” command from the Display Full-Screen sub-menu open’s a full-screen browsing window and places Ember into “Best Stretch” display mode: the visual representation of the file associated with the currently-selected thumbnail preview is displayed in the full-screen browsing window stretched to best fit your computer monitor’s display area while preserving its relative dimensions.

Selecting the “Unconstrained Stretch” command from the Display Full-Screen sub-menu open’s a full-screen browsing window and places Ember into “Unconstrained Stretch” display mode: the visual representation of the file associated with the currently-selected thumbnail preview is displayed in the full-screen browsing window stretched to entirely fit your computer monitor’s display area (without, necessarily, preserving the file’s relative dimensions).


File Menu: "Delete"
File Menu: “Delete”

The “Delete” command is accessible via Ember’s File menu, as well as the application toolbar, and the thumbnail window and folder view pane context menus.  This command can also be invoked using the “Delete” key on the keyboard. The semantics of the Delete command depend on which Ember window has the keyboard input focus (indicated by the location of the selection highlight).

If the folder view pane has the input focus, invoking the Delete command deletes the currently-selected folder and any sub-folders (and all files contained in the folder and its sub-folders).

If a thumbnail window has the input focus, invoking the Delete command deletes the underlying files associated with any selected thumbnail previews.  Subsequently, the thumbnail window will be automatically refreshed and the thumbnail previews themselves will be removed from the display (unless automatic refresh is unavailable on the drive on which the deleted files reside, or Ember’s Keep thumbnail display up-to-date option is disabled).

Note that the Delete command always attempts to delete files residing on local fixed disks to the Recycle Bin, and thus delete operations may be “undone” (by opening the Recycle Bin after a file deletion and selecting Undo Delete from the Edit menu).  To by-pass the Recycle Bin and directly delete the current selection, hold down the Shift key on the keyboard when invoking the Delete command.


File Menu: "Rename"
File Menu: “Rename”

The “Rename” command is accessible via Ember’s File menu, as well as the thumbnail window and folder view pane context menus.  It can also be invoked by striking the “F2” key on the keyboard.  The semantics of the Rename command depend on which Ember window has the keyboard input focus (indicated by the location of the selection highlight).

If the folder view pane has the input focus, invoking the Rename command causes the name of the currently-highlighted folder to be selected for editing.  You may then type in a new name for the folder.  Strike Enter to complete the folder rename operation, or Escape to abort the rename operation.

If a thumbnail window has the keyboard input focus, and only a single thumbnail preview is selected, invoking the Rename command causes a dialog to appear by means of which the name of that one selected file can be changed.

If a thumbnail window has the keyboard input focus and more than one thumbnail preview is selected, invoking the Rename command causes a dialog to appear by means of which all of the selected files can be renamed at once.

The Rename Files dialog features several controls. The Name Root edit control permits you to specify the root name that all resulting renamed files will share.  The File Extensions controls enable you to specify whether the resulting renamed files will maintain their original extensions or whether they will feature some new extension.

For example, if three files – alpha.jpg, beta.jpg, and gamma.bmp -- are selected in the active thumbnail window and you type in “xyz” as the name root for the rename operation, and select the Use Current File Extensions radio button on the Rename Files dialog, the files resulting from the rename operation will be named xyz1.jpg, xyz2.jpg, and xyz3.bmp.  If the Specify New File Extensions radio button is selected and “.aaa” is specified as the new extension, the files resulting from the rename operation will be named xyz1.aaa, xyz2.aaa, xyz3.aaa.

Note: the order in which files are displayed in the active thumbnail window determines the order in which the files are processed during a mass rename operation.

Note: Only the actual file name and extension of a file may be changed by the Rename command.  It is not possible to move a file by specifying a new “relative path” as part of the new file name.  (To move a file, drag its thumbnail preview to a new location and drop it.)  Also, care should be taken when changing the extension of a file by means of the Rename command, since Ember determines the type of a file by examining its extension (unless the Assume file extensions are correct option is disabled).  If you change a file’s extension to that of some other file type, Ember may not display it.


File Menu: "Move"
File Menu: “Move”

The “Move” command is accessible via Ember’s File menu, as well as the application toolbar, and the thumbnail window and folder view pane context menus. The semantics of the Move command depend on which Ember window has the keyboard input focus (indicated by the location of the selection highlight).

If the folder view pane has the input focus, invoking the Move command displays the Folder Move dialog, which allows you to specify the folder under which you wish to move the currently selected folder (and any sub-folders).  Upon clicking OK in this dialog, Ember executes the folder move operation, just as though a folder had been dragged and dropped within the folder view pane.

If a thumbnail window has the input focus and at least one thumbnail preview is visible, invoking the Move command displays the File Move dialog (functionally identical to the Folder Move dialog), which allows you to specify the folder under which you wish to move the underlying files associated with any selected thumbnails.  Upon clicking OK in this dialog, Ember executes the file move operation, just as though the selected thumbnail or thumbnails had been dragged from the thumbnail window and dropped into the selected folder.  Subsequently, the thumbnail window will be automatically refreshed (unless automatic refresh is unavailable on the drive on which the deleted files reside, or Ember’s Keep thumbnail display up-to-date option is disabled).


File Menu: "Set as Wallpaper"
File Menu: “Set as Wallpaper”

The “Set as Wallpaper” command is accessible via Ember’s File menu, as well as the thumbnail window context menu.  This command is accessible whenever the preview of exactly one image is selected in the thumbnail pane.  When invoked, the “Set as Wallpaper” command opens the Set as Wallpaper dialog, allowing you to specify whether you wish your new desktop wallpaper to be centered on your desktop, or tiled.

Check the Match background to image corner color checkbox to cause Ember to update the color of the Windows desktop to match the color of the image’s upper left-hand corner.  This often makes for the most visually “natural” display of the image on your desktop.

Upon clicking OK, a copy of the currently selected image is saved to your personal documents folder.  Ember then registers this image as your desktop wallpaper.


File Menu: "Set as Folder Background"
File Menu: “Set as Folder Background”

The “Set as Folder Background” command is accessible via Ember’s File menu, as well as the thumbnail window context menu.  This command is accessible whenever the preview of exactly one image is selected in the thumbnail pane.

When the Set as Folder Background command is invoked, a dialog appears through which you can specify how you want the image associated with the selected thumbnail preview sized and positioned when it is installed as the custom background image for the current folder.   This image will then be displayed as the background for the current folder whenever it is opened in Ember.

Select the “Center” radio button to cause the image to be drawn in its native dimensions and centered within the thumbnail display window.

Select the “Best Stretch” radio button to cause the image to be stretched to best fit the thumbnail window while preserving its relative dimensions.

Select the “Unconstrained Stretch” radio button to cause the image to be stretched to completely cover the background of the thumbnail window (without, necessarily, preserving the image’s relative dimensions).

Select the “Tile” radio button to cause the image to be drawn repeatedly in its native dimensions in a tiled pattern to completely fill the background of the thumbnail window

Check the “Match background to image corner color” to cause the background color of the active folder to be set to that color found in the upper left-hand corner of the image.

Note: If the active folder already utilizes customized display settings, invoking the Set as Folder Background merely updates those customized settings with a new background image specification, new background image placement settings, and, perhaps, an updated background color.  If the active folder does not utilize customized display settings (if, rather, it simply uses the current default folder settings specified within Ember), invoking the Set as Folder Background command first flags the folder to use customized settings (initialized to match the current default folder settings) and then installs the selected image as the background image of those customized settings.  In either event, note that the Set Folder Background command is essentially a short-cut.  It is functionally equivalent to opening the Customize Active Folder Settings dialog, then selecting the Background tab on the dialog, and then using the provided controls to select and position a custom background image for the active folder.

Note: When you install an image as the customized background of a folder, Ember duplicates the image in the folder, renames it, and makes it a hidden file.   Thus, deleting the source file does not affect the folder background, once installed.


File Menu: "Properties"
File Menu: “Properties”

The “Properties” command is accessible via Ember’s File menu, as well as the application toolbar, and the thumbnail window and folder view pane context menus.  This command can also be invoked by holding down the Alt key and striking Enter on the keyboard. The semantics of the Properties command depend on which Ember window has the keyboard input focus (indicated by the location of the selection highlight).

If the folder view pane has the input focus, invoking the Properties command displays the Folder Properties dialog for the currently-selected folder.  This dialog indicates the location of the folder, the total size of the folder (which includes the sizes of any sub-folders), and the total number of sub-folders and files in the folder.  (The file count includes files contained directly in the selected folder plus any files contained in any descendant folders.)

If a thumbnail window has the input focus and at least one thumbnail is selected, invoking the Properties command displays a properties dialog for the select file or files. The layout of this dialog and the nature of the information it displays depend on the type of files selected.


File Menu: "Page Setup"
File Menu: “Page Setup”

When the “Page Setup” command is invoked from Ember’s File menu, the standard Windows Page Setup dialog is displayed through which you can specify the paper size and source, orientation, and page margins you wish to use when printing images from Ember.


File Menu: "Print"
File Menu: “Print”

The “Print” command is accessible via Ember’s File menu, as well as the application toolbar, and the thumbnail context menu. This command is available when at least one thumbnail preview is selected in the active thumbnail window and only when at least one of the selected thumbnails corresponds to a file type that has a printable representation.

When invoked, the Print command displays Ember’s Print dialog.  Clicking the OK button sends the print job to the selected printer.

The Content section of the Print dialog features two radio buttons, permitting you to select whether you wish to print full-sized versions of the selected images (one per page), or pages containing multiple smaller preview images.

Select the “Print previews” radio button to print pages of preview images.  Note that Ember will automatically adjust its output resolution to ensure that the printed previews are the same size as the source previews displayed on your computer monitor – thus you can adjust the size of the printed preview images by altering the thumbnail display size selected for the source folder.  Similarly, by adjusting the preview spacing value of the source folder, you can alter the amount of space Ember leaves between printed preview images.

Note: You do not directly specify the number of preview pages that Ember will print.  Rather, you determine which previews will be printed (by selecting them in Ember’s thumbnail window), and how they will be sized and spaced (by adjusting the folder settings appropriately), and then Ember determines how many pages will be required to lay out the print job.

Select the “Print images” radio button in the Content section of the Print dialog to print full-sized versions of the images associated with the selected previews – one per page – rather than the previews themselves.  Select the “Stretch/shrink to fit margins” checkbox to stretch or shrink each image to best fit the page on which it is printed (within the margins specified on the Page Setup dialog).  If the “Stretch/shrink to fit margins” checkbox is not checked, each image is printed in its native dimensions – adjusted for the resolution of the print device.

The Print dialog’s Options section contains two checkboxes: “Include source header”, and “Include page numbers.”  Check the Include source header checkbox to cause a source header to be printed at the top of each printed page in the print job.  If preview images are being printed, the source header is the name of the source folder; if full-sized images are being printed, the source header on a page is the name of the single image printed on that page.  Check the Include page numbers checkbox to cause sequential page numbers to be printed, centered, at the bottom of each page in the print job.


File Menu: "Acquire"
File Menu: “Acquire”

The “Acquire” command is accessible via Ember’s File menu.  It is part of Ember’s TWAIN interface, which allows Ember to communicate in a standardized fashion with a variety of imaging devices, including most scanners and many digital cameras.

When invoked, the Acquire command displays the TWAIN imaging interface associated with the TWAIN data source (if any) selected in the Select Source dialog.  You can then utilize the controls on this interface to download an image or set of images from the associated imaging device directly into folder displayed in the active thumbnail window within Ember.


File Menu: "Select Source"
File Menu: “Select Source”

The “Select Source” command is accessible via Ember’s File menu.  It is part of Ember’s TWAIN interface, which allows Ember to communicate in a standardized fashion with a variety of types of imaging hardware, including most scanners and many digital cameras.

When invoked, the Select Source command displays the standard TWAIN data source selection dialog.  All TWAIN-compliant devices attached to your computer are listed in this dialog.  Selecting a device and clicking OK makes that device the current TWAIN default device; until a new default device is selected, all Acquire commands are directed to this device.


File Menu: Most Recently Used Folder List

Ember “remembers” the last five folders that were opened, and displays their names on the File menu.  You may quickly reopen any of these folders by selecting the appropriate entry on the menu.

Note: If you do not wish Ember to track the folders you have visited, you may deselect the Maintain “most recently used” folder list checkbox on Ember’s View/Options dialog.


File Menu: "Exit"
File Menu: “Exit”

The “Exit” command accessible via Ember’s File menu terminates a session with Ember and closes the program.  If the Reload last folders at start-up option is enabled, the contents and positions of all thumbnail windows are saved when Ember is closed – and restored the next time Ember is opened.


Edit Menu: "Cut"
Edit Menu: “Cut”

IMPORTANT: Due to limitations in early versions of the Shell32.dll system library that shipped with Windows 95, the Cut command does not appear on Ember’s menus and is not available when Ember is run on Windows 95 unless the Windows 95 Desktop Update is installed. (The Cut command appears and is available when Ember is run on all other supported operating systems.)

The “Cut” command is accessible via Ember’s Edit menu, as well as the context menu that appears when a thumbnail preview is right-clicked in a thumbnail window. This command is available only when at least one thumbnail is selected.

When invoked, the Cut command causes the image files associated with the selected thumbnail previews to be placed on the Windows system clipboard.  The copied files can then be pasted into a different folder on your system, or the contents of a single file can be pasted into any Windows application that supports the pasting of data of that file type.  When the associated files themselves are pasted into another folder on your system, the files are moved to that folder, rather than being merely replicated (as is the case when the Copy command is used to place the files on the clipboard).


Edit Menu: "Copy"
Edit Menu: “Copy”

The “Copy” command is accessible via Ember’s Edit menu, as well as the context menu that appears when a thumbnail preview is right-clicked in a thumbnail window. This command is available only when at least one thumbnail is selected.

When invoked, the Copy command causes the image files associated with the selected thumbnail previews to be placed on the Windows system clipboard.  The copied files can then be pasted into a different folder on your system, or the contents of a single file can be pasted into any Windows application that supports the pasting of data of that file type.


Edit Menu: "Paste"
Edit Menu: “Paste”

The “Paste” command is accessible via Ember’s Edit menu. This command is available only when at least one file or buffer of Windows bitmap data is on the Windows system clipboard and a thumbnail window is open and has the keyboard input focus.

If a buffer of Windows bitmap data, GIF data, or JPEG data, is on the Windows system clipboard when the Paste command is invoked, Ember algorithmically generates a filename and creates an image file (of the appropriate type and with the appropriate extension) from the data in the folder displayed in the active thumbnail window.   Unless the drive on which the folder resides does not support auto-refresh, or the Keep thumbnail display up-to-date option is deselected, a thumbnail preview for the created image will immediately be constructed by Ember and displayed in the active thumbnail window.

If, rather than containing a buffer of image data the Windows system clipboard contains one or more files when the Paste command is invoked, the files are copied into the folder associated with the active thumbnail window.  If the folder associated with the active thumbnail window resides on a drive that supports automatic refreshes, and if the Keep thumbnail display up-to-date option is enabled, the thumbnail window will immediately be updated to reflect the new addition to the folder.


Edit Menu: "Select All"
Edit Menu: “Select All”

The “Select All” command is accessible via Ember’s Edit menu.  This command is available whenever a thumbnail window is active that contains one or more unselected thumbnails.  When invoked, the Select All command causes all thumbnail previews in the active thumbnail window to be selected.


Edit Menu: "Unselect All"
Edit Menu: “Unselect All”

The “Unselect All” command is accessible via Ember’s Edit menu.  This command is available whenever a thumbnail window is active that contains one or more selected thumbnails.  When invoked, the Unselect All command causes all thumbnail previews in the active thumbnail window to be de-selected.


Edit Menu: "Invert Selection"
Edit Menu: “Invert Selection”

The “Invert Selection” command is accessible via Ember’s Edit menu.  This command is available whenever a thumbnail window is active that contains one or more thumbnails.  When invoked, the Invert Selection command causes all selected previews to be de-selected, while all unselected previews are selected.


Edit Menu: "Previous Selection"
Edit Menu: “Previous Selection”

The “Previous Selection” command is accessible via Ember’s Edit menu.  This command is available whenever a thumbnail window is active that contains a selected thumbnail preview prior to the current caret position.  When invoked, the Previous Selection command moves the caret back to the closest previous thumbnail selection.


Edit Menu: "Next Selection"
Edit Menu: “Next Selection”

The “Next Selection” command is accessible via Ember’s Edit menu.  This command is available whenever a thumbnail window is active that contains a selected thumbnail preview after the current caret position.  When invoked, the Next Selection command moves the caret forward to the next thumbnail selection.


Edit Menu: "Find"
Edit Menu: “Find”

The “Find” command is accessible via Ember’s Edit menu, as well as the application toolbar. This command is available whenever a thumbnail window is active that contains at least one thumbnail preview.  When invoked, the Find command opens the Find dialog that features an edit control into which you can enter a search expression.

To search for a single file whose filename you know, simply enter the filename into the edit control and click OK.  Ember will immediately select the preview associated with that file.  To search for a set files whose names match a particular pattern, enter that pattern into the Find dialog using standard DOS wildcard characters and then click OK.  For example, if you wish to find all files beginning with the letter “T” and having a “.JPG” extension, use “T*.JPG” as the search expression in the Find dialog.  When you click OK, Ember will immediately select the preview of the first file in the active thumbnail window whose name matches the search expression.  A new dialog then appears, allowing you to search for the next matching file in the current folder, or to scan for and select all files whose names match the search expression.

Note: If you direct Ember to search for and select all files whose names match the search expression, you can subsequently navigate between selected previews using the Next Selection and Previous Selection commands found on the Edit menu.


Process Menu: "Convert"
Process Menu: “Convert”
(Ember 2000 Standard Edition only)

The “Convert” command is accessible via Ember’s Process menu, as well as the application toolbar, and the thumbnail window context menu.  This command can also be invoked by holding down the Ctrl key and striking F2 on the keyboard.  The Convert command is available only when the keyboard input focus is in an open thumbnail window and at least one thumbnail preview corresponding to an exportable image file type is selected.

When the Convert command is invoked, the Conversion dialog is displayed, from which you can select the output format for the conversion: JPEG, OS/2 Bitmap, Portable Network Graphic, Targa File, TIFF Image, or Windows Bitmap.  The conversion format defaults to that used in the last successful conversion or export operation.

If you are converting a single file or several files at once to JPEG format, the Image Quality dialog is displayed when the Conversion dialog is dispatched.  It is by means of the Image Quality dialog that you specify the level of compression you desire for the resulting JPEG file or files.  The higher the image quality setting you choose, the less compressed the resulting image or images will be.  Reduce the image quality to enable the compressor to make the on-disk size of the converted file or files smaller (at the expense of visual quality).  The quality setting you choose is saved from one conversion session to the next.

If you are, instead, converting a single file or several files at once in some image format other than JPEG, the Image Color Depth dialog is displayed rather than the Image Quality dialog after you have dispatched the Conversion dialog.  (The Image Color Depth dialog is not displayed for JPEG conversions because all non-grayscale JPEG images are 24-bit.)  The Image Color Depth dialog allows you to specify the number of bits that will be used to represent each pixel in the converted file or files.  If fewer bits are used per pixel in the resulting files than in the source files, the color quality of the resulting files will typically suffer – but the files will be substantially smaller on disk.  Using more bits per pixel in the converted files than in the source files will typically make the resulting files larger but will not improve their color quality.

Clicking OK on the Image Color Depth dialog (or the Image Quality dialog in the case of JPEG conversions) begins the conversion operation.  The files associated with all selected previews are sequentially converted to the selected target format, and the extensions of the files are changed to reflect their new format.


Process Menu: Export sub-menu
(Ember 2000 Standard Edition only)

The Export sub-menu is accessible via Ember’s Process menu, as well as the application toolbar, and the thumbnail window context menu.  This sub-menu contains two related commands: “Export Image(s)” and “Export Preview(s).”

Export Image(s)

The “Export Image(s)” command is available only when the keyboard input focus is in an open thumbnail window and at least one thumbnail preview corresponding to an exportable image is selected.  The dialog that appears in response to invoking this command depends on whether a single thumbnail preview is selected, or multiple previews are selected.

If a single thumbnail preview is selected, a standard Windows Save As dialog is displayed when the Export Image(s) command is invoked.  The dialog is initialized to export the current image, by default, to the folder to which files were last exported. The suggested name for the exported file is initialized to match that of the source file .  You may export the selected image as a JPEG, OS/2 Bitmap, Portable Network Graphic, Targa File, TIFF Image, or Windows Bitmap by selecting the format from the format drop list.  The export format defaults to that used in the last successful export or conversion operation.

If multiple thumbnail previews are selected when the Export Image(s) command is invoked, the mass Export dialog is displayed.  The dialog’s destination directory field is initialized to the folder to which files were last exported or converted.  You may export the selected image set in JPEG, OS/2 Bitmap, Portable Network Graphic, Targa File, TIFF Image, or Windows Bitmap format by selecting the desired format from the format drop list.  The export format defaults to that used in the last successful export operation.

When exporting multiple files at once, the exported files are given the same names as the files from which they were derived – with extensions appropriate for the selected export format.  For example, if you have selected three files in the active thumbnail window – xyz1.jpg, xyz2.jpg, xyz3.gif – and you opt to export these files in Windows Bitmap format, the resulting files will be placed in the specified destination directory and named xyz1.bmp, xyz2.bmp, and xyz3.bmp.  If files of these names already exist in the destination directory, an overwrite prompt will be displayed as each file is exported.  Selecting the Overwrite files without prompting checkbox on the Export dialog inhibits these overwrite prompts.

If you are exporting a single file or several files at once in JPEG format, the Image Quality dialog is displayed when the Export dialog is dispatched.  It is by means of the Image Quality dialog that you specify the level of compression you desire for the exported file or files.  The higher the image quality setting you choose, the less compressed the resulting image or images will be.  Reduce the image quality to enable the compressor to make the on-disk size of the exported file or files smaller (at the expense of visual quality).  The quality setting you choose is saved from one export session to the next.

If you are, instead, exporting a single file or several files at once in some image format other than JPEG, the Image Color Depth dialog is displayed rather than the Image Quality dialog.  (The Image Color Depth dialog is not displayed for JPEG exports because all non-grayscale JPEG images are 24-bit.)  The Image Color Depth dialog allows you to specify the number of bits that will be used to represent each pixel in the exported file or files.  If fewer bits are used per pixel in the resulting files than in the source files, the color quality of the resulting files will typically suffer – but the files will be substantially smaller on disk.  Using more bits per pixel in the exported files than in the source files will typically make the resulting files larger but will not improve their color quality.

Export Preview(s)

The “Export Preview(s)” command is available only when the keyboard input focus is in an open thumbnail window and at least one thumbnail preview is selected.  The dialog that appears in response to invoking this command depends on whether a single thumbnail preview is selected, or multiple previews are selected.

If a single thumbnail preview is selected, a standard Windows Save As dialog is displayed when the Export Preview(s) command is invoked.  The dialog is initialized to export the selected preview, by default, to the folder to which files were last exported. The suggested name for the exported preview is initialized to “(preview)” appended to the source file name.  You may export the selected preview as a JPEG, OS/2 Bitmap, Portable Network Graphic, Targa File, TIFF Image, or Windows Bitmap by selecting the format from the format drop list.  The export format defaults to that used in the last successful export or conversion operation.

If multiple thumbnail previews are selected when the Export Preview(s) command is invoked, the mass Export dialog is displayed.  The dialog’s destination directory field is initialized to the folder to which files were last exported.  You may export the selected preview set in JPEG, OS/2 Bitmap, Portable Network Graphic, Targa File, TIFF Image, or Windows Bitmap format by selecting the desired format from the format drop list.  The export format defaults to that used in the last successful export operation.

When exporting multiple previews at once, the exported files are named as the files from which they were derived with the word “(preview)” appended; they are given extensions appropriate for the export format.  For example, if you have selected the previews of three files displayed in the active thumbnail window – xyz1.jpg, xyz2.jpg, xyz3.gif – and you opt to export these previews in Windows Bitmap format, the resulting files will be placed in the specified destination directory and named xyz1 (preview).bmp, xyz2 (preview).bmp, and xyz3 (preview).bmp.  If files of these names already exist in the destination directory, an overwrite prompt will be displayed as each preview is exported.  Selecting the Overwrite files without prompting checkbox on the Export dialog inhibits these overwrite prompts.

If you are exporting a single preview or several previews at once in JPEG format, the Image Quality dialog is displayed when the Export dialog is dispatched.  It is by means of the Image Quality dialog that you specify the level of compression you desire for the exported preview or previews.  The higher the image quality setting you choose, the less compressed the resulting files will be.  Reduce the image quality to enable the compressor to make the on-disk size of the exported files smaller (at the expense of visual quality).  The quality setting you choose is saved from one export session to the next.

If you are, instead, exporting a single preview or several previews at once in some image format other than JPEG, the Image Color Depth dialog is displayed rather than the Image Quality dialog.  (The Image Color Depth dialog is not displayed for JPEG exports because all non-grayscale JPEG images are 24-bit.)  The Image Color Depth dialog allows you to specify the number of bits that will be used to represent each pixel in the exported files.


Process Menu: "Resize"
Process Menu: “Resize”
(Ember 2000 Standard Edition only)

The “Resize” command is accessible via Ember’s Process menu, as well as the thumbnail window context menu. This command is available only when the keyboard input focus is in an open thumbnail window and at least one thumbnail preview corresponding to a file in a supported image format is selected.  This command provides a multi-file mechanism for resizing files that is an alternative to the pop-up Imager’s single-file resizing capability.

When invoked, the Resize command displays the Resize dialog.  Specify a width and height (in pixels) in the Maximum Dimensions section of the dialog.  These values determine the maximum extents of each file that will result from the Resize operation.  Normally, you will check the dialog’s Constrain proportions checkbox to ensure that when images are resized the ratio of their width to their height is preserved; deselecting this option causes each selected image to be resized to exactly fit the specified maximum dimensions without necessarily preserving its natural proportions.

For example, suppose three images are selected in the active thumbnail window whose native dimensions are 400x200, 100x200, and 300x300, respectively, and a maximum resize width of 200 and a maximum resize height of 200 have been specified in the Resize dialog.  If the Constrain proportions checkbox has been checked, the resulting resized images will have dimensions 200x100, 100x200, and 200x200 respectively.  By contrast, if the Constrain proportions option is disabled, the resulting resized images will all have dimensions of 200x200.

IMPORTANT: Ember attempts to rewrite images processed by the Resize command in their native formats.  In other words, JPEG images are resaved in JPEG format after being resized, Windows bitmap images are resaved in bitmap format after being resized, and so forth.  However, Ember does not support the writing of every format it can read and process.  Thus, if you invoke the Resize command on images of certain types, it must write them out in a format other than their source format.  The format selected for this writing is configurable via the Default output format drop-list found in the Mass Image Processing section of Ember’s General Options dialog (accessible via the Options sub-menu found on Ember’s View menu).  For example, if you opt to resize a file in PCX format (which is not an output format supported by Ember, though it is a supported input format), when Ember resaves the image it will save it in the format currently selected in the Mass Image Processing section of the General Options dialog.  So, the net result of the Resize operation in this case will be a rescaling of the image, a conversion of its data format, and a change in its file extension.


Process Menu: "Rotate/Reflect"
Process Menu: “Rotate/Reflect”
(Ember 2000 Standard Edition only)

The “Rotate/Reflect” command is accessible via Ember’s Process menu, as well as the thumbnail window context menu. This command is available only when the keyboard input focus is in an open thumbnail window and at least one thumbnail preview corresponding to a file in a supported image format is selected.  This command provides a multi-file mechanism for rotating and reflecting files that is an alternative to the pop-up Imager’s single-file rotation/reflection capability.

When invoked, the Rotate/Reflect command displays the Rotate/Reflect dialog.  This dialog features radio buttons allowing you to select from the following operations: reflection about the y-axis, reflection about the x-axis, quarter turn left rotation, quarter turn right rotation, and a half turn rotation.  Clicking the dialog’s OK button invokes Ember to undertake the selected transformation on all images currently selected in the active thumbnail window.

IMPORTANT: Ember attempts to rewrite images processed by the Rotate/Reflect command in their native formats.  In other words, JPEG images are resaved in JPEG format after being rotated or reflected, Windows bitmap images are resaved in bitmap format, and so forth.  However, Ember does not support the writing of every format it can read and process.  Thus, if you invoke the Rotate/Reflect command on images of certain types, it must write them out in a format other than their source format.  The format selected for this writing is configurable via the Default output format drop-list found in the Mass Image Processing section of Ember’s General Options dialog (accessible via the Options sub-menu found on Ember’s View menu).  For example, if you opt to rotate a file in PCX format (which is not an output format supported by Ember, though it is a supported input format), when Ember resaves the image it will save it in the format currently selected in the Mass Image Processing section of the General Options dialog.  So, the net result of the Rotate/Reflect operation in this case will be a rotation of the image, a conversion of its data format, and a change in its file extension.


Process Menu: "Color Correct"
Process Menu: “Color Correct”
(Ember 2000 Standard Edition only)

The “Color Correct” command is accessible via Ember’s Process menu, as well as the thumbnail window context menu. This command is available only when the keyboard input focus is in an open thumbnail window and at least one thumbnail preview corresponding to a file in a supported image format is selected.  This command provides a multi-file mechanism for color correcting files that is an alternative to the pop-up Imager’s single-file color correction capability.

When invoked, the Color Correct command displays the Color Correct dialog.  This dialog features controls for adjusting brightness, contrast, gamma level, saturation, tint, and color balance.  At the top of the dialog are two preview images: one showing the first image in the selection set before any color correction adjustments (for reference), and one showing the same selected image after the current color corrections are applied.  If you selected more than one image before invoking the Color Correct command, buttons will appear below the before and after previews that allow you to step between the selected images, sequentially.  Using the preview images, you can judge the affect of your color corrections on each image in the selected set before actually applying those changes.

IMPORTANT: Ember attempts to rewrite images processed by the Color Correct command in their native formats.  In other words, JPEG images are resaved in JPEG format after being color corrected, Windows bitmap images are resaved in bitmap format, and so forth.  However, Ember does not support the writing of every format it can read and process.  Thus, if you invoke the Color Correct command on images of certain types, it must write them out in a format other than their source format.  The format selected for this writing is configurable via the Default output format drop-list found in the Mass Image Processing section of Ember’s General Options dialog (accessible via the Options sub-menu found on Ember’s View menu).  For example, if you opt to color correct a file in PCX format (which is not an output format supported by Ember, though it is a supported input format), when Ember resaves the image it will save it in the format currently selected in the Mass Image Processing section of the General Options dialog.  So, the net result of the Color Correct operation in this case will be a change to the image’s color content, a conversion of its data format, and a change in its file extension.


View Menu: "Toolbar"
View Menu: “Toolbar”

Checking the “Toolbar” item on Ember’s View menu causes the toolbar to be displayed at the top of the main application window.  Though the toolbar is a useful convenience, removing it from the main application window provides some additional room in which to display thumbnail previews.


View Menu: "Status Bar"
View Menu: “Status Bar”

Checking the “Status Bar” item on Ember’s View menu causes the status bar to be displayed at the bottom of the main application window.  The status bar displays the total number of thumbnails displayed in the active thumbnail window, the number of those thumbnails currently selected, the current display filter used within the active thumbnail window, and the current sort order used within the active thumbnail window.  Though the status bar provides some useful information, removing it from the main application window provides some additional room in which to display thumbnail previews.


View Menu: "Folder View Pane"
View Menu: “Folder View Pane”

Checking the “Folder View Pane” item on Ember’s View menu causes the folder view pane to be displayed along the left-hand side of the main application window.  The folder view pane provides the primary means of selecting folders for display in Ember, and is the usual destination for drag/drop operations.  However, it can be removed to provide some additional room in which to display thumbnail previews.  Note that when the folder view pane is closed, an “Open Folder” button is added to the toolbar, so that you can still select folders for viewing.


View Menu: "Global Folder Settings"
View Menu: “Global Folder Settings”

The “Global Folder Settings” command is accessible through Ember’s View menu.  It may also be invoked by depressing the “F6” key on the keyboard.  When invoked, this command opens the Global Folder Settings dialog through which you can customize the global folder settings used by Ember.

IMPORTANT: Ember recognizes two different sets of folder settings.  Global settings (set via the Global Folder Settings command) are those settings and preferences used by default whenever a folder is opened in an Ember thumbnail window. Global settings are used when displaying a particular folder only if you have not created custom folder settings for that folder (via the View menu’s “Customize Active Folder” command).  In other words, if a particular folder has custom settings, those settings override the global folder settings Ember maintains.

The Global Folder Settings dialog has six tabs:

Background Tab

The controls on the Background Tab of the Global Folder Settings dialog determine the appearance of the thumbnail window displayed when folders are opened that utilize Ember’s global folder settings.

The Background Image section contains controls used to specify a background image for the window, and its placement.  To add a background image, first select the radio button corresponding to the placement you want for the image.  Select “Center” to cause the background image to be centered in the window. Select “Best Stretch” to cause the background image to be stretched to best fit the thumbnail window while maintaining its relative dimensions.  Select “Unconstrained Stretch” to cause the background image to be stretched to totally cover the thumbnail window. Select “Tile” to cause the background image to be replicated on the thumbnail window in a tiled pattern until the window is totally covered.  Once you have selected a position for your background image, select the “Import” button to open a standard Windows file open dialog which will allow you to select the image you wish to use as your background image.

Note: Any opaque or transparent still image may be used as the thumbnail window background image.

The Background Color section of this dialog tab contains two radio buttons.  Select the “Use system window color” radio button to cause Ember use the current Windows system window color (controlled via the Display control on your system Control Panel) as the thumbnail window color.  Alternatively, to select a particular background color directly, you can click the “Use custom color” radio button.  When you select this option, the color button beside this radio button becomes enabled.  The current background color is shown the face of this button.  To change the color, click the color button and pick a color from the resulting color selection dialog.

Layout Tab

The controls on the Layout Tab of the Global Folder Settings dialog determine the size and spacing of thumbnail previews displayed within thumbnail windows when folders are opened that utilize Ember’s global folder settings.

The “Thumbnail Size” slider control permits you to specify the desired global thumbnail size.  You may select a thumbnail size as small as 20 pixels or as large as 900 pixels.

The “Thumbnail Spacing” slider control permits you to specify the amount of space you want between thumbnails.  You can select as little as 4 (this minimum is necessary in order to leave room for selection rectangles) and as much as 100 pixels.

Note: The margins specified via the “Thumbnail Spacing” slider actually represent the amount of white-space added to whatever white-space Ember calculates that it must leave around preview images to make room for the thumbnail captions beneath the previews.  Ember may actually have to leave considerable white space around preview images in order to accommodate the caption format you have selected.  Adjusting the “Thumbnail Spacing” slider will not decrease this caption allowance spacing.  To do that, change the caption format on the Caption Tab of the dialog.

Framing Tab

The controls on the Framing Tab of the Global Folder Settings dialog determine the appearance of thumbnail preview frames displayed within thumbnail windows when folders are opened that utilize Ember’s global folder settings.

The Frame Style section contains controls for selecting a frame style.  There are currently eight supported frame styles.  The control above the Frame Color section displays a sample preview framed in the selected style.

The Frame Color section contains two radio buttons.  Select the “Use system button face color” radio button to cause Ember to use the current Windows system button face color (controlled via the Display control on your system Control Panel) when it draws preview frames.  Alternatively, to select a particular frame color directly, you can click the “Use custom color” radio button.  When you select this option, the color button beside this radio button becomes enabled.  The current frame color is shown the face of this button.  To change the color, click the color button and pick a color from the resulting color selection dialog.

Captions Tab

The controls on the Captions Tab of the Global Folder Settings dialog determine the appearance and content of captions displayed beneath each thumbnail preview when folders are opened that utilize Ember’s global folder settings. (There is also a checkbox at the top of this page – “Show file name and size on mouse-over” – that determines whether or not the full name of a particular file, along with its byte size, appears in a pop-up “tip” window when you pause the mouse cursor over its thumbnail preview.)

Check the “Display file names” checkbox to display the name of each file beneath its thumbnail preview.  When the “Display file names” checkbox is checked, two radio buttons become enabled, allowing you to determine how much of the filename is actually displayed below each thumbnail preview.  Select the “Show each name in its entirety” checkbox to display the whole file name beneath its preview; select “Show only first” and then specify a number of characters, in order to limit the length of the displayed filename.

IMPORTANT: When Ember opens a folder, before laying out any preview images, it first scans the items in the folder and examines the currently specified caption format to determine how much space must be left around each preview to accommodate the longest caption it will have to draw under any preview in the folder (it must do this to ensure that the columns line up properly).  For this reason, you will often want to limit the number of characters of each filename displayed beneath the previews in folders that contain lengthy filenames to avoid excessive inter-thumbnail spacing.

Check the “Display file byte sizes” checkbox to display the size of each file beneath its thumbnail preview.

Check the “Display file modification dates” checkbox to display the modification date of each file beneath its thumbnail preview.

Check the Display image dimensions” checkbox to display the height and width of each image (in pixels) beneath its thumbnail preview.

The controls in the Text Styling section permit you to customize the font used to draw captions beneath thumbnail previews.  Select the “Use system font” radio button to use the system font for caption text; select the “Use custom font” radio button and then click the “Set” button to select an alternate font (font color) for the caption text.

Filter Tab

The edit control on the Filter Tab of the Global Folder Settings dialog determines what files are actually displayed when folders are opened that utilize Ember’s global folder settings.

To filter the thumbnail display to feature only files whose names match a certain pattern, enter that pattern into the edit control using standard DOS wildcard characters.  For example, if you wish to restrict your display only to files beginning with the letter “T” and having a “.JPG” extension, use “T*.JPG” as the search string.

Sequencing Tab

The controls on the Sequencing Tab of the Global Folder Settings dialog determine the order in which thumbnail previews are arranged when folders are opened that utilize Ember’s global folder settings.  Files can be displayed in ascending or descending alphabetical order, or can be arranged in ascending or descending order by their disk sizes or modification dates.


View Menu: "Customize Active Folder"
View Menu: “Customize Active Folder”

The “Customize Active Folder” command is accessible through Ember’s View menu.  It may also be invoked by depressing the “F7” key on the keyboard.  It is available whenever the “Use global folder settings only” checkbox on the View/Options dialog is not checked, and a thumbnail window has keyboard input focus.  When invoked, this command opens the Customize Folder dialog through which you can customize the settings and preferences associated with the folder open in the active thumbnail window.

Note: If a folder already has customized settings, the controls in the Customize Folder dialog are initialized with those settings.  If a folder does not yet have customized settings, the controls in the Customize Folder dialog are initialized with the currently specified global folder settings – such that the current global folder settings act as a “starting point” for folders subsequently customized.

IMPORTANT: Ember recognizes two different sets of folder settings.  Global settings (set via the Global Folder Settings command) are those settings and preferences used by default whenever a folder is opened in an Ember thumbnail window.  Global settings are used when displaying a particular folder only if you have not created custom folder settings for that folder (via the “Customize Active Folder” command).  In other words, if a particular folder has custom settings, those settings override the global folder settings Ember maintains.

The Customize Folder dialog has seven tabs:

Background Tab

The controls on the Background Tab of the Customize Folder dialog determine the appearance of the thumbnail window displayed when the folder being customized is opened in Ember.

The Background Image section contains controls used to specify a background image for the window, and its placement.  To add a background image, first select the radio button corresponding to the placement you want for the image.  Select “Center” to cause the background image to be centered in the window. Select “Best Stretch” to cause the background image to be stretched to best fit the thumbnail window while maintaining its relative dimensions.  Select “Unconstrained Stretch” to cause the background image to be stretched to totally cover the thumbnail window. Select “Tile” to cause the background image to be replicated on the thumbnail window in a tiled pattern until the window is totally covered.  Once you have selected a position for your background image, select the “Import” button to open a standard Windows file open dialog which will allow you to select the image you wish to use as your background image.

Note: Any opaque or transparent still image may be used as the thumbnail window background image.

The Background Color section of this dialog tab contains two radio buttons.  Select the “Use system window color” radio button to cause Ember use the current Windows system window color (controlled via the Display control on your system Control Panel) as the thumbnail window color.  Alternatively, to select a particular background color directly, you can click the “Use custom color” radio button.  When you select this option, the color button beside this radio button becomes enabled.  The current background color is shown the face of this button.  To change the color, click the color button and pick a color from the resulting color selection dialog.

Layout Tab

The controls on the Layout Tab of the Customize Folder dialog determine the size and spacing of thumbnail previews displayed when the folder being customized is opened in Ember.

The “Maximum Thumbnail Dimensions” slider control permits you to specify the desired thumbnail size.  You may select a thumbnail size as small as 20 pixels or as large as 900 pixels.

The “Row/Column Margins” slider control permits you to specify the amount of space you want between thumbnails.  You can select as little as 4 pixels (this minimum is necessary in order to leave room for selection rectangles) and as much as 100 pixels.

Note: The margins specified via the “Row/Column Margins” slider actually represent the amount of white-space added to whatever white-space Ember calculates that it must leave around preview images to make room for the thumbnail captions beneath the previews.  Ember may actually have to leave considerable white space around preview images in order to accommodate the caption format you have selected.  Adjusting the “Row/Column Margins” slider will not decrease this caption allowance spacing.  To do that, change the caption format on the Caption Tab of the dialog.

Framing Tab

The controls on the Framing Tab of the Customize Folder dialog determine the appearance of thumbnail preview frames displayed when the folder being customized is opened in Ember.

The Frame Style section contains controls for selecting a frame style.  There are currently eight supported frame styles.  The control above the Frame Color section displays a sample preview framed in the selected style.

The Frame Color section contains two radio buttons.  Select the “Use system button face color” radio button to cause Ember to use the current Windows system button face color (controlled via the Display control on your system Control Panel) when it draws preview frames.  Alternatively, to select a particular frame color directly, you can click the “Use custom color” radio button.  When you select this option, the color button beside this radio button becomes enabled.  The current frame color is shown the face of this button.  To change the color, click the color button and pick a color from the resulting color selection dialog.

Captions Tab

The controls on the Captions Tab of the Customize Folder dialog determine the appearance and content of captions displayed beneath each thumbnail preview when the folder being customized is opened in Ember.  (There is also a checkbox at the top of this page – “Show file name and size on mouse-over” – that determines whether or not the full name of a particular file, along with its byte size, appears in a pop-up “tip” window when you pause the mouse cursor over its thumbnail preview.)

Check the “Display file names” checkbox to display the name of each file beneath its thumbnail preview.  When the “Display file names” checkbox is checked, two radio buttons become enabled, allowing you to specify how much of the filename is actually displayed below each thumbnail preview.  Select the “Show each name in its entirety” checkbox to display the whole file name beneath its preview; select “Show only first” and then specify a number of characters, in order to limit the length of the displayed filename.

IMPORTANT: When Ember opens a folder, before laying out any preview images, it first scans the items in the folder and examines the currently specified caption format to determine how much space must be left around each preview to accommodate the longest caption it will have to draw under any preview in the folder (it must do this to ensure that the columns line up properly).  For this reason, you will often want to limit the number of characters of each filename displayed beneath the previews in folders that contain lengthy filenames to avoid excessive inter-thumbnail spacing.

Check the “Display file byte sizes” checkbox to display the size of each file beneath its thumbnail preview.

Check the “Display file modification dates” checkbox to display the modification date of each file beneath its thumbnail preview.

Check the Display image dimensions” checkbox to display the height and width of each image (in pixels) beneath its thumbnail preview.

The controls in the Text Styling section permit you to customize the font used to draw captions beneath thumbnail previews.  Select the “Use system font” radio button to use the system font for caption text; select the “Use custom font” radio button and then click the “Set” button to select an alternate font (font color) for the caption text.

Filter Tab

The edit control on the Filter Tab of the Customize Folder dialog determines what files are actually displayed when the folder being customized is opened in Ember.

To filter the thumbnail display to feature only files whose names match a certain pattern, enter that pattern into the edit control using standard DOS wildcard characters.  For example, if you wish to restrict your display only to files beginning with the letter “T” and having a “.JPG” extension, use “T*.JPG” as the search string.

Sequencing Tab

The controls on the Sequencing Tab of the Customize Folder dialog determine the order in which thumbnail previews are arranged when the folder being customized is opened in Ember.  Files can be displayed in ascending or descending alphabetical order, or can be arranged in ascending or descending order by their disk sizes or modification dates.

 Title Tab

The controls on the Title Tab of the Customize Folder dialog determine the content and appearance of title text (if any) displayed at the top of the thumbnail window when the folder being customized is opened in Ember.

Enter into the “Window title text” edit control the title text you wish to appear at the top of the window.  Upon entering text into this field, the controls in the Text Styling section become active.  Choose the “Use system font” radio button to cause the title text to be displayed using the current system font and system font color; choose the “Use custom font” radio button and then click the “Set” button to select an alternate title font and color.


View Menu: "Remove Folder Customizations"
View Menu: “Remove Folder Customizations”

The “Remove Folder Customizations” command is accessible through Ember’s View menu.  It is available whenever a thumbnail window has keyboard input focus and the folder displayed in that window has custom display settings.  When invoked, the Remove Folder Customizations command removes all custom display settings from the folder.  Ember then refreshes the folder and, when re-rendered, the folder utilizes Ember’s currently specified default folder settings.


View Menu: "File Gallery"
View Menu: “File Gallery”

The “File Gallery” command is accessible through Ember’s View menu.  It may also be invoked by depressing the “F10” key on the keyboard.  This command is available whenever keyboard input focus resides in a thumbnail window that features at least one thumbnail preview.

When invoked, the File Gallery command causes the file gallery dialog to be displayed.

The “Pause on non-streaming files” slider bar allows you to specify the number of seconds non-streaming media files (for example, still images and animated GIFs) will be displayed in the full-screen gallery window before the gallery automatically advances to the next file.

Note: The file gallery dialog’s pause slider does not affect the length of time the file gallery pauses on streaming media files (for example, digital audio and video files, if the Media Xtension Add-In is installed).  Rather, the gallery always immediately advances past a streaming file when the streaming file reaches its end.

The “Display mode” section on the file gallery dialog allows you to select “Default Size” or “Descale to Fit” or “Best Stretch” or “Unconstrained Stretch” mode for the gallery presentation.  If you select “Default Size” mode, all files in the current folder will be displayed full-screen, sequentially, in their default dimensions.  If you select “Descale to Fit” mode, all files will be displayed full-screen in their native dimensions if those dimensions are such that the file will fit entirely within the display area of your computer monitor; otherwise, the files are shrunk to fit the available display area.  If you select “Best Stretch” mode, all files will be stretched to best fit your computer monitor’s display area while preserving their aspect ratio.  If you select “Unconstrained Stretch” mode, all files will be stretched to entirely fill your computer monitor’s display area (their aspect ratios will not be preserved if they differ from your monitor’s aspect ratio).

To start the file gallery, select the OK button on the File Gallery dialog; to abort the file gallery, click the Cancel button.  The gallery, once invoked, can be paused at any time by striking a key on the keyboard, or clicking one of the mouse buttons.  To cancel the gallery presentation and close the full-screen gallery window, strike the Esc key on your keyboard.

Note: To manually advance to the next file in the gallery, you may simply tap the spacebar on your keyboard while the file gallery is running.  Similarly, you may resume a paused gallery presentation by tapping the spacebar.


View Menu: "Slideshow"
View Menu: “Slideshow”

The “Slideshow” command is accessible via Ember’s View menu. This command is available whenever keyboard input focus resides in a thumbnail window that features at least one thumbnail preview.

When invoked, this command causes the Ember slideshow player to launch and to display, as a slideshow, the folder currently open in the active Ember thumbnail window.  The slideshow is initially positioned to the image currently selected in Ember.


View Menu: "Refresh"
View Menu: “Refresh”

The “Refresh” command is accessible through Ember’s View menu.  It may also be invoked by depressing the “F5” key on the keyboard.

When invoked, the Refresh command causes both the folder view pane (if displayed) and any open thumbnail windows to be re-examined by Ember and updated to reflect the current state of the directory structure in your computing environment, and the current contents of the open folders.

Note: You should rarely need to manually invoke the Refresh command, since Ember automatically detects changes to your directory structure and the contents of open folders and keeps its display current at all times.  The only time you may need to utilize the Refresh command is when you are viewing folders on certain types of drives that do not support automatic refresh notifications (ie, certain remote network drives), or when Ember’s Keep thumbnail display up-to-date or Keep folder display up-to-date option is disabled.


View Menu: "General Options"
View Menu: “Options - General”

When invoked, the “General” command on Ember’s View/Options sub-menu opens the General Options dialog whereby you can set various preferences that affect the way Ember behaves. The state of these options is saved from session to session.

Show filenames with thumbnails

When checked, this option causes the name of each file to be displayed with its thumbnail in all open Ember thumbnail windows.

Confirm deletions

When checked, this option causes a confirmation dialog to appear whenever you attempt to delete a file from Ember.  When this item is unchecked, files are deleted immediately – without the opportunity for confirmation.

IMPORTANT: It is recommended that this option be left enabled.

Reload last folders at start-up

When checked, this option causes Ember to “remember” the contents and positions of all open thumbnail windows when the application is closed.  Then, when Ember is launched again (if it is not manually launched on a particular folder) the set of previously-open thumbnail windows is restored.

Assume file extensions are correct

When checked, this option causes Ember to “assume” that the extensions of the files it encounters accurately indicate the contents of the files.  For example, if this option is set and Ember encounters a file with a .GIF extension, it will assume that the file contains valid Compuserve GIF data (rather than, for example, Windows bitmap data).  This assumption allows Ember to process files much more quickly than it could otherwise.  However, this assumption also causes Ember to consider any file with an incorrect file extension to be “corrupted,” and to display the “broken file” icon in place of the file’s thumbnail preview.  Consequently, when you are dealing with files that may have been given incorrect extensions, you may wish to clear this option.  However, in most cases you should leave it enabled (for optimum performance).

Automatically recycle maximized window

When this option is checked, if Ember’s active thumbnail window is maximized within Ember’s main frame window and you select a new folder for viewing, Ember will close the folder displayed in the active thumbnail window and replace the contents of the thumbnail window with thumbnail previews derived from the newly-opened folder.  When this option is off, Ember will always open a new thumbnail window when you select a new folder for viewing (and will leave any currently-open folders open and their associated thumbnail windows undisturbed).  Enabling this option prevents you from being deluged with thumbnail windows when you really only wish to browse a single folder at a time.

Use global folder settings only

When this option is checked, Ember uses only global folder settings – you cannot configure preferences for particular folders using the “Customize Active Folder” command on the View menu.

Note: This option is checked by default in order to simplify Ember’s interface for novice users and to permit the global “Thumbnail Size” and global “Thumbnail Spacing” slider controls (so familiar to Ember Pro and Ember Ultra users) to be placed on Ember 2000’s toolbar.  Much of the power and flexibility of Ember 2000’s interface is lost, however, when this option is enabled.  As you become more familiar with Ember 2000, it is recommended that you turn this option off so that you can fully customize the folders you browse regularly.

Maintain “most recently used” folder list

When this option is checked, Ember notes the folders you browse and maintains a list of the last ten visited folders on the File menu – so that you can easily return to any of them by simply selecting its name from the provided list. If you do not wish Ember to track the folders you visit, you may disable this option.

Mute sound effects

When this option is checked, Ember will not play the audio cues associated with moving the cursor in the thumbnail window, selecting previews, opening pop-ups, and so forth.

Show hidden files

By default, Ember does not display files flagged as “hidden” within the Windows file system.  If you wish to display such files in Ember, enable this option.

Animate opening pop-ups

By default, when you double-click a thumbnail preview in one of Ember’s thumbnail windows, Ember “animates” the opening of the associated pop-up display window.  In paletted display modes, the opening animation consists merely of an expanding outline of the pop-up window (this same sort of animation is used in both paletted and non-paletted display modes when opening animated and transparent GIF files and multimedia files – if the Media Xtension is installed).  In non-paletted display modes, opaque still images are animated open with an expanding “stretch.”  If you wish to inhibit this animation effect, disable the “Animate opening pop-ups” option.

Verify folder nesting before display

By default, for performance reasons, Ember’s folder view pane does not attempt to determine whether subfolders exist within a folder when it initially displays a particular folder icon.  Rather, it always assumes that subfolders probably do exist, and so it simply sets the expansion button (the little ‘+’) next to the folder icon.  If, later, you click the expansion button next to a folder and the folder view pane determines that there are no subfolders to display, it simply removes the expansion button to indicate this and leaves the folder icon “closed.”  You can, however, coerce Ember’s folder view pane into verifying whether subfolders exist within a folder before displaying the folder icon by checking the Verify folder nesting before display checkbox on the General Options dialog.  When this option is enabled, an expansion button is displayed when a folder is first displayed only if subfolders exist within that folder.  This keeps the representation of the layout of the file system in your computing environment more consistently “accurate.”  However, this can significantly slow folder view pane display.  Moreover, note that when the Keep folder display up-to-date option is enabled, Ember’s folder view pane will work “in the background” to bring its display into correspondence with the actual state of the underlying file system, whether the Verify folder nesting before display option is enabled or not.  This means that given enough time (and available compute cycles not committed to higher priority operations) the folder view pane will eventually update itself to display expansion buttons only next to those folder icons corresponding to folders containing subfolders.  Setting the Verify folder nesting before display option when the Keep folder display up-to-date option is enabled, then,  only affects the presence or absence of an expansion button beside a particular folder when that folder is initially displayed.

Keep folder display up-to-date

When checked, this option causes the tree structure displayed within the folder view pane to be kept current at all times.  As new drives are mapped or unmapped within your computing environment, and as are added and removed and renamed – even outside of Ember – those changes are immediately reflected within the folder view pane.

When this option is not checked, the folder view pane is not automatically updated whenever changes are made outside of Ember to the underlying drive and directory structure of your computing environment, and the Refresh command must be manually invoked in order to see the changes reflected in the folder view pane.

Keep thumbnail display up-to-date

Except when thumbnail windows are displaying the contents of folders on drives that do not support auto-refresh, checking the Keep thumbnail display up-to-date check-box on Ember’s Options dialog causes Ember to keep the thumbnail windows constantly “in sync” with the contents of their associated folders.  As recognized files are added to the folders being viewed, removed from those folders, renamed, or their content is modified, Ember automatically refreshes the thumbnail windows so that they always accurately reflect the files currently in those folders.

Open associated files in Ember

When this “File Associations” section radio button is selected, and a file of a type that has been associated with Ember is double-clicked from Windows Explorer, Ember’s main application window opens, rather than a simple pop-up window, and thumbnail previews for all supported files in the selected file’s folder are displayed in a thumbnail window, including the selected file itself (which is selected in the thumbnail window).

Open associated files in pop-ups

When this “File Associations” section radio button is selected, and a file of a type that has been associated with Ember is double-clicked from Windows Explorer, Ember opens the selected file in a simple pop-up window, rather than displaying a thumbnail preview of the selected file in a thumbnail window within Ember’s main application window.  This is the default behavior.

Open associated files in Ember and pop-ups

When this “File Associations” section radio button is selected, and a file of a type that has been associated with Ember is double-clicked from Windows Explorer, Ember’s main application window opens and thumbnail previews for all supported files in the selected file’s folder are displayed in a thumbnail window, including the selected file itself (which is selected in the thumbnail window).  Ember also opens the file in a pop-up display window bound to the associated thumbnail preview.

Set Associations

 When this “File Associations” section button is clicked, the Set File Associations dialog is displayed by which you specify which file extensions you wish to be associated with Ember. Windows will then launch Ember to view files of those types when their icons are double-clicked from Windows Explorer.

It is recommended that you associate all recognized file types with Ember.  To do this, simply ensure that all file extensions are in the “selected” list within the Set File Associations dialog and click Close.  You have the option, however, of selectively dissociating some (or all) file types by moving their extensions into the “not selected” list before clicking Close.

Once a set of file types is associated with Ember, Ember will scan your system registry each time it is launched to ensure that no other program has overwritten its associations.  If Ember detects that some other program has changed any of its file associations, it will notify you and display its current set of file associations.  You then have the opportunity to restore any associations that you would like to.

NOTE: When you set an association, Ember “remembers” the application with which the file type was previously associated; when you clear the association, or uninstall Ember, Ember restores the association between the selected file type and the application with which it was previously associated.

Show icons for unsupported file types

When this “Unsupported Types Display section option is checked, Ember displays icons for all files in open thumbnail windows that are not of directly supported types (and for which, therefore, thumbnail previews cannot be constructed).  Enabling this option is useful when browsing folders that contain files other than supported media types.  When this option is enabled, you can delete, copy, and move unsupported files as though they were of supported types.  Invoking the Display command on the icon of an unsupported file in a thumbnail window causes Ember to launch the file using whatever application is currently registered with the system to handle files of that type.

Full-screen icon window color

The color button in the “Unsupported Types Display” section is enabled only if the “Show icons for unsupported file types” option has been selected.  The face of this button, when enabled, displays the background color used when full-screen browsing unsupported (that is, iconized) files in Ember.  By default the full-screen browsing window for icons is black.  Click the color button to select an alternate color.  Note that an alternate color can only be selected when running Ember in a non-paletted display mode.

Default output format

Ember attempts to rewrite images processed by the Resize, Rotate/Reflect, and Color Correct commands (on the Process menu) in their native formats.  In other words, JPEG images are resaved in JPEG format after being resized, rotated, or color corrected, Windows bitmap images are resaved in bitmap format, and so forth.  However, Ember does not support the writing of every format it can read and process.  Thus, if you invoke processing commands on images of certain types, it must write them out in a format other than their source format.  The output format utilized in such cases is specified via the “Default output format” drop list found in the “Mass Image Processing” section of the General Options dialog.


View Menu: "Pop-up Imager Options"
View Menu: “Options – Pop-up Imager”

When invoked, the “Pop-up Imager” command on Ember’s View/Options sub-menu opens the Pop-up Imager Options dialog whereby you can set various preferences that affect the way the Imager behaves. The state of these options is saved from session to session, and can also be altered directly from the Imager’s View/Options dialog. The settings displayed on this dialog are shared among all Imager instances.

Display Save Prompt

The Display Save Prompt option causes the Imager to examine the displayed image when the Imager is closed to determine if any changes have been made that have not been saved.  If unsaved changes have been made and this option is enabled, a save prompt is displayed.  If unsaved changes have been made and this option is disabled, the Imager is simply closed and all unsaved changes are lost.  By default, this option is enabled and it is recommended that it be left enabled.

Enhance on Zoom

When the Imager’s Enhance on Zoom option is enabled, TrueColor images are “resampled” when a zoom in or zoom out is invoked (this option has no effect on paletted images).  Resampling will typically result in a much smoother appearance of the zoomed image.  However, resampling is very computationally intensive and will result in somewhat slower display performance.  By default, this option is disabled.

Note: The Enhance on Zoom option is available only when your graphics hardware is running at a color depth greater than 256-colors (8-bit).  In other words, to use the Enhance on Zoom option, you should be sure that your current display settings specify a 16-bit, 24-bit, or 32-bit color palette.

Default Size

When this “Initial View Scaling” section radio button is selected, and an image is initially opened in the Imager, the image is displayed in its “native” dimensions (in other words, at a zoom factor of 100%).  If the image is larger than your monitor’s available display area, scroll bars appear on the Imager window.  This is the default Initial View Scaling setting.

Descale to Fit

When this “Initial View Scaling” section radio button is selected, and an image is initially opened in the Imager, the image is displayed at 100% of its native dimensions if, at 100% scale, its height is less than or equal to your screen height, and its width is less than or equal to your screen width.  Otherwise, the image is descaled proportionately to a size that meets this criteria.  This option is useful for ensuring that images are always opened at a size that obviates the need for scrolling, while also eliminating expansion distortion.

Best Stretch

When this “Initial View Scaling” section radio button is selected, and an image is initially opened in the Imager, an appropriate zoom in or zoom out is triggered to ensure that the image is scaled to the largest dimensions that will appear within your monitor’s display area without clipping or scrolling.

Window Color

The color button found in the Window Color section of the Options dialog indicates, on its face, the current background color used within the Imager window.  When the color button is clicked, the standard Windows Color dialog is displayed by means of which you can select an alternate background color for the Imager window.  The background color is visible whenever an image featuring transparency is displayed within the Imager; also, the background color is visible in most of the Imager’s full-screen display modes.

Note: The Imager window background color is configurable only when your system is in a non-paletted display mode; when in a paletted display mode, the Window Color button is disabled and the Imager window background color is always black.


View Menu: "Animated GIF Player Options"
View Menu: “Options – Animated GIF Player”

When invoked, the “Animated GIF Player” command on Ember’s View/Options sub-menu opens the GIF Player Options dialog whereby you can set various preferences that affect the way the Player behaves. The state of these options is saved from session to session, and can also be altered directly from the Player’s View/Options dialog. The settings displayed on this dialog are shared among all GIF Player instances.

Initial/default view scaling

This control permits you to specify the default view scaling factor from a number of presets.  The default view scaling factor is applied to the GIF Player whenever an animation is first opened in the Player and when you invoke the Full-Screen Default Size viewing mode.  Specifying a value other than 100% for this control value enables you to make animations initially open in the GIF Player in a larger or smaller size than the natural file display size.

Window Color

The color button found in the Window Color section of the Options dialog indicates, on its face, the current background color used within the GIF Player window.  When the color button is clicked, the standard Windows Color dialog is displayed by means of which you can select an alternate background color for the Player window.  Note that the Player window background color is configurable only when your system is in a non-paletted display mode; when in a paletted display mode, the Window Color button is disabled and the Player window background color is always black.


View Menu: "Slideshow Options"
View Menu: “Options – Slideshow”

When invoked, the “Slideshow” command on Ember’s View/Options sub-menu opens the Slideshow Options dialog whereby you can set various preferences that affect the way the Slideshow Player behaves. The state of these options is saved from session to session, and can also be altered directly from the Slideshow Player’s View/Options dialog.

General Tab

Confirm deletions

When checked, this option causes a confirmation dialog to appear whenever you attempt to delete a file from the slideshow player.  When this item is unchecked, files are deleted immediately – without the opportunity for confirmation.

IMPORTANT: It is recommended that this option be left enabled.

Re-open last folder at start-up

When checked, this option causes the slideshow player to “remember” the last folder opened when the slideshow was previously run.  Then, when the slideshow player is launched again directly from Windows, the last opened folder is reopened.  (Note that when launched from Ember, the slideshow always displays the folder open in Ember’s active thumbnail window, regardless of the which folder was open last the previous time the slideshow player was run.)

Maintain “most recently used” folder list

When this option is checked, the slideshow player notes the folders you open and maintains on the File menu a list of the last five opened folders – so that you can easily return to any of them by simply selecting its name from the provided list.  If you do not wish the slideshow player to track the folders you visit, you may disable this option.

Loop show

When the Loop Show option is not enabled, the slideshow automatically stops (and resets itself to the first file) after it displays the last file in the current display set.  When this option is enabled, the slideshow restarts from the beginning and continues playing when it passes the last file in the current display set.

Sequencing Tab

File Arrangement

The controls in the File Arrangement section control the order in which the slideshow player displays files.  Files can be displayed in ascending or descending alphabetical order, or can be arranged in ascending or descending order by their disk sizes or modification dates.

In the full, registered version of the Ember slideshow player, a random arrangement option is also available so that you can view your files in a randomized order.  Note that the random arrangement option is not available in the Evaluation Edition.

Subfolder Usage

The controls in the Subfolder Usage section control how the slideshow player treats supported files located in subfolders nested under the currently-selected folder.

If the Ignore subfolders option is selected, the slideshow simply ignores any supported files other than those contained directly in the selected folder.

If the Iterate through subfolders option is selected when the slideshow is invoked to run, it will first display any displayable files in the currently-selected folder, then it will iterate through supported files in any subfolders (and subfolders nested to any depth within those subfolders). This allows the slideshow player to present files in an entire directory tree, rather than just in a single folder.  Note that when placed into this mode, the slideshow player makes available on the Navigation menu, the application context menu, and the application control bar, additional commands for stepping between folders (as well as commands for stepping between files within the current folder).

When the Random option is selected from the File Arrangement drop list, it becomes possible to select a third subfolder usage option: Treat folder tree as single, random file domain.   When this option is selected, the slideshow player will choose files for sequential display by randomly selecting a folder from within the folder tree that has the selected folder as its "root," and then randomly selecting a supported file from that randomly selected folder.  In essence, when this option is selected, the slideshow player randomizes the contents not just of the selected folder, but randomizes the entire folder tree. Note that when this subfolder usage option is selected, the only playback commands available are “Play/Pause” and “Next File.”

Presentation Speed

Presentation speed of the slideshow is controlled by a slider control.  Each tic mark on the slider represents a delay of approximately one second.  Moving the slider to the right increases presentation speed (ie, decreases the period for which each file is displayed); moving the slider to the left decreases presentation speed (ie, increases the period for which each file is displayed).  Note that the presentation speed slider only affects the length of time the slideshow player pauses when displaying still and animated image file types (ie, JPEGs, GIFs, BMPs, TIFFs, etc.)  When the Firehand Media Xtension is added to your registered Ember Ultra installation, the slideshow player becomes capable of playing multimedia files (MPEGs, AVIs, WAVs, MIDIs, MOVs, MP3s, etc.).  However, when playing multimedia files, the slideshow player does not use a fixed pause interval – rather, it automatically advances to the next file when the current multimedia file reaches its end.

Appearance Tab

Enhance images when stretching

When the Enhance images when stretching option is enabled, TrueColor images are “resampled” when the slideshow player is set to “Best Stretch” or “Descale to Fit” or “Unconstrained Stretch” view mode and an image must be enlarged or shrunk prior to being displayed.  Resampling typically results in a much smoother appearance of the resized image.  However, resampling is very computationally intensive and will result in somewhat slower display performance.

Background Color

The background color of the slideshow display window is specified using the color button found in the Background Color section of the Appearance tab.  The currently selected background color is displayed on the face of the button.

Note that if you wish to dynamically “match” the background color to each image displayed in the slideshow, you can select the “Derive color from image corner” option.  When selected, this option by-passes manual background color selection and causes the slideshow player to inspect the upper left-hand corner of each displayed image before the image is rendered.  The slideshow player then sets the background color on which the image is displayed to exactly match the color found at this location.  Besides making the presentation somewhat more interesting– because the background color is not “fixed” – selecting this option often provides a more natural background matte for each image because the background is derived from a color actually used in each image.

Transition Effect

Transition effects are invoked whenever one file is removed from the slideshow player’s display window and another appears.  Transition effects provide a smoother and more interesting flow to the presentation.

The Ember slideshow player features a number of transition effects which can be selected via the Transition Effect drop list.  These include a Pixel Fade, a Color Fade, a Box Reveal, Shutters (vertical, horizontal), Wipes (vertical and horizontal), an Expansion, a Contraction, a Slide, and a Peel. Each of these effects can be customized via the Settings… button found in this section.

For maximum visual variety, the full, registered version of the Ember slideshow player also features a setting that causes an effect to be selected at random whenever a transition is triggered.

Note: When using the random transition effect setting, note that an effect is chosen at random whenever a transition is triggered.  However, the settings for that transition are as specified in the settings dialog associated with that transition effect.  This allows you to specify settings appropriate for each transition on your particular system – ie you will typically opt for more transition “steps” on a faster computer – while still being able to enjoy the visual variation provided by randomly-selected transitions.

Background Audio Tab

Audio Selection

The Audio Selection section of the Background Audio tab of the Options dialog features a number of controls that allow you to choose the audio track or file you wish to accompany your slideshow presentations.

Select None if you do not wish to play accompanying audio with your slideshows.

Select Audio File if you wish to play an audio file when your slideshow runs, and then choose the specific audio file you wish to play using the file selection dialog that appears when you depress the Select… button.  Note that the slideshow player supports the playback of any type of audio file for which you have an appropriate MCI audio driver installed on your computer.  Usually, you will select a standard Windows .WAV file or a MIDI music file to accompany your slideshow.  However, you may have MCI facilities on your computer for other audio file types as well.

Important: If you have installed the Firehand Media Xtension Add-In, the slideshow player uses Windows DirectShow services for background audio playback instead of standard MCI services.  Not only does this ensure smooth integration of your background audio track with any foreground audio files that may play in the course of your slideshow, but it also significantly expands the selection of audio file formats that may be used as your background track.  In particular, when the Media Xtension Add-In is installed, you can utilize an audio file in the popular .MP3 audio format as your slideshow background audio track.  (This is not possible when the Media Xtension Add-In is not present, unless you happen to have an .MP3 MCI driver installed on your computer.)

Select CD Audio if you wish to play an audio track (or set of tracks) from an audio CD placed in your computer’s CDROM drive.  Then, click the Select… button to choose the specific track or set of tracks with which you wish to accompany your slideshow.  Choose the Play tracks Sequentially radio button on the CD Track Selection dialog to play, in sequence, each track on the CD in the disc drive when the slideshow begins playing.  Choose the Randomize CD radio button to “shuffle” all of the tracks on the CD and then play each in turn to accompany the presentation.  Choose the Play specified track only radio button to specify, by track number, a particular CD audio track with which you wish to accompany the presentation.

Loop playback

When the Loop Playback option is selected, the slideshow player automatically replays the audio selection when that audio selection reaches its end during slideshow playback.  When this option is not selected, the audio selection simply halts when the slideshow is playing and the audio selection reaches its end.

Text Tab

Title Text

When enabled, the Display folder name at top of page option causes the name of the currently-open folder to be shown at the top of the slideshow display window.  The title text can be styled by selecting font attributes from the font selection dialog that appears when the Set… button in this section is clicked.  When this option is not enabled, and the slideshow is running in windowed (rather than full-screen) display mode, the name of the currently-open folder is displayed on the application title bar using the current system font.

Filename Captions

When enabled, the Display filename captions beneath images option causes the name of the currently-displayed file to be drawn beneath the file in the slideshow display window.  The filename caption text can be styled by selecting font attributes from the font selection dialog that appears when the Set… button in this section is clicked.

Wallpaper Placement Tab

Sizing

The controls in the Sizing section of the Wallpaper Placement tab control how images are scaled on the desktop when they are installed as the system wallpaper (when the slideshow’s Set as Wallpaper command is selected from the File menu).  There are four sizing options.  If the Default Size radio button is selected, the image is installed as the desktop wallpaper in its native dimensions.  If the Descale to Fit radio button is selected, the image is installed as the desktop wallpaper in its native dimensions if its dimensions are small enough that it can be displayed on the desktop without being “cropped”; otherwise, the image is shrunk until it can be displayed on the desktop without being cropped.  If the Best Stretch radio button is selected, the image is installed as the desktop wallpaper enlarged or shrunk to best fit the desktop display area while preserving the relative dimensions of the image to avoid introducing distortion.  If the Unconstrained Stretch radio button is selected, the image is installed as the desktop wallpaper enlarged or shrunk to entirely fit the desktop display area (without preserving the relative dimensions of the image).

Position

The controls in the Position section of the Wallpaper Placement tab control how images are positioned on the desktop when they are installed by the slideshow player as the system wallpaper.  There are two positioning options.  If the Centered radio button is selected, the image is installed centered on the desktop.  If the Tiled radio button is selected, the image is replicated, left-to-right, top-to-bottom, until the desktop is entirely covered.

Match desktop to background color

Selecting the Match desktop to background color checkbox causes the slideshow player to update the color of the Windows desktop to match the current background color used in the slideshow display window whenever it installs an image as the desktop wallpaper.  Note that this color may be fixed (if you have selected a fixed background color on the Appearance tab), or a color that has been matched to the current image (if you have selected the “Derive color from image corner” option on the Appearance tab).


View Menu: "Screensaver Options"
View Menu: “Options – Screensaver”

When invoked, the “Screensaver” command on Ember’s View/Options sub-menu opens the Screensaver Options dialog whereby you can set various preferences that affect the way the Screensaver module behaves. The state of these options is saved from session to session.

General Tab

Use Ember Screensaver as current system screensaver

When checked, this option causes the Ember screensaver to install itself as your current system screensaver; when unchecked, this option causes the Ember screensaver to remove its registration as your current system screensaver.  Note that you can also set the Ember screensaver as your current system screensaver (or remove its registration as your current system screensaver) using the Screensaver tab on your system’s Display Properties dialog (accessible through your system Control Panel).

Folder Selection

The controls in this section allow you to specify the folder displayed by the Ember screensaver. Select the Use last slideshow folder for screensaver radio button to cause the screensaver to utilize as its source folder whatever folder was last opened for slideshow display.  Select the Use this folder for screensaver radio button to cause the Ember screensaver to open and utilize a specific folder as its source (chosen by clicking the Select… button found in this section).

Display Mode

The controls in this section allow you to specify the display mode used by the screensaver.  Selecting the Default Size radio button causes each image in turn to be displayed within the screensaver display window in its native dimensions.  If the image size is such that it will not fit within the display window, it is “cropped” so that it will fit.  Selecting the Descale to Fit radio button causes each image in turn to be displayed within the screensaver window in its native dimensions if its native dimensions are such that they will fit entirely within the window’s display area.  Otherwise, the image is shrunk so that it will fit entirely within the display window.  Selecting the Best Stretch radio button causes each image in turn to be displayed within the screensaver display window stretched to best fit the window’s display area while preserving the image’s relative dimensions.  Selecting the Unconstrained Stretch radio button causes each image in turn to be displayed within the screensaver display window stretched to entirely fit the window’s display area (without preserving the image’s relative dimensions).

Wait (in minutes)

This control allows you to specify the system “time-out” value that must elapse without keyboard or mouse activity before Windows runs the screensaver.  Note that this value may also be specified using the Screensaver tab on your system’s Display Properties dialog (accessible through your system Control Panel).  Moreover, when the screensaver options dialog is open from the Display Properties dialog, the Wait (in minutes) control does not appear on the General tab – simply because it is available on the Display Properties dialog.

Sequencing Tab

File Arrangement

The controls in the File Arrangement section control the order in which the screensaver displays files.  Files can be displayed in ascending or descending alphabetical order, or can be arranged in ascending or descending order by their disk sizes or last write dates.

In the full, registered version of Ember, a random arrangement option is also supported by the screensaver module so that you can view your files in a randomized order.  Note that the random arrangement option is not available in the Evaluation Edition.

Subfolder Usage

The controls in the Subfolder Usage section control how the screensaver treats supported files located in subfolders nested under the currently-selected folder.

If the Ignore subfolders option is selected, the screensaver simply ignores any supported files other than those contained directly in the selected folder.

If the Iterate through subfolders option is selected when the screensaver is invoked to run, it will first display any displayable files in the currently-selected folder, then it will iterate through supported files in any subfolders (and subfolders nested to any depth within those subfolders). This allows the screensaver to present files in an entire directory tree, rather than just in a single folder.

When the Random option is selected from the File Arrangement drop list, it becomes possible to select a third subfolder usage option: Treat folder tree as single, random file domain.   When this option is selected, the screensaver will choose files for sequential display by randomly selecting a folder from within the folder tree that has the selected folder as its "root," and then randomly selecting a supported file from that randomly selected folder.  In essence, when this option is selected, the screensaver randomizes the contents not just of the selected folder, but randomizes the entire folder tree. This setting often makes for the most interesting screensaver presentation.

Presentation Speed

Presentation speed of the screensaver is controlled by a slider control.  Each tic mark on the slider represents a delay of approximately one second.  Moving the slider to the right increases presentation speed (ie, decreases the period for which each file is displayed); moving the slider to the left decreases presentation speed (ie, increases the period for which each file is displayed).  Note that the presentation speed slider only affects the length of time the screensaver pauses when displaying still and animated image file types (ie, JPEGs, GIFs, BMPs, TIFFs, etc.)  When the Firehand Media Xtension is added to your registered Ember Ultra installation, the screensaver becomes capable of playing multimedia files (MPEGs, AVIs, WAVs, MIDIs, MOVs, MP3s, etc.).  However, when playing multimedia files, the screensaver does not use a fixed pause interval – rather, it automatically advances to the next file when the current multimedia file reaches its end.

Appearance Tab

Enhance images when stretching

When the Enhance images when stretching option is enabled, TrueColor images are “resampled” when the screensaver is set to “Best Stretch,” “Descale to Fit,” or “Unconstrained Stretch” view mode and the image must be enlarged or shrunk prior to being displayed.  Resampling typically results in a much smoother appearance of the resized image.  However, resampling is very computationally intensive and will result in somewhat slower display performance.

Background Color

The background color of the screensaver window is specified using the color button found in the Background Color section of the Appearance tab.  The currently selected background color is displayed on the button’s face.

Note that if you wish to dynamically “match” the background color to each image displayed in the screensaver, you can select the “Derive color from image corner” option.  When selected, this option by-passes manual background color selection and causes the screensaver to inspect the upper left-hand corner of each displayed image before the image is rendered.  The screensaver then sets the background color on which the image is displayed to exactly match the color found at this location.  Besides making the presentation somewhat more interesting– because the background color is not “fixed” – selecting this option often provides a more natural background matte for each image because the background is derived from a color actually used in each image.

Transition Effect

Transition effects are invoked whenever one file is removed from the screensaver’s display window and another appears.  Transition effects provide a smoother and more interesting flow to the presentation.

The screensaver features a number of transition effects which can be selected via the Transition Effect drop list.  These include a Pixel Fade, a Color Fade, Shutters (vertical, horizontal), a Box Reveal, Wipes (vertical and horizontal), an Expansion, a Contraction, a Slide, and a Peel. Each of these effects can be customized via the Settings… button found in this section.

For maximum visual variety, the full, registered version of the screensaver also features a setting that causes an effect to be selected at random whenever a transition is triggered.

Note: When using the random transition effect setting, note that an effect is chosen at random whenever a transition is triggered.  However, the settings for that transition are as specified in the settings dialog associated with that transition effect.  This allows you to specify settings appropriate for each transition on your particular system – ie you will typically opt for more transition “steps” on a faster computer – while still being able to enjoy the visual variation provided by randomly-selected transitions.

Background Audio Tab

Audio Selection

The Audio Selection section of the Background Audio tab of the Screensaver Options dialog features a number of controls that allow you to choose the audio track or file you wish to accompany your screensaver presentation.

Select None if you do not wish to play accompanying audio with your screensaver.

Select Audio File if you wish to play an audio file when your screensaver runs, and then choose the specific audio file you wish to play using the file selection dialog that appears when you depress the Select… button.  Note that the screensaver supports the playback of any type of audio file for which you have an appropriate MCI audio driver installed on your computer.  Usually, you will select a standard Windows .WAV file or a MIDI music file to accompany your screensaver presentation.  However, you may have MCI facilities on your computer for other audio file types as well.

Important: If you have installed the Firehand Media Xtension Add-In, the Ember screensaver uses Windows DirectShow services for background audio playback instead of standard MCI services.  Not only does this ensure smooth integration of your background audio track with any foreground audio files that may play in the course of your screensaver presentation, but it also significantly expands the selection of audio file formats that may be used as your background track.  In particular, when the Media Xtension Add-In is installed, you can utilize an audio file in the popular .MP3 audio format as your screensaver background audio track.  (This is not possible when the Media Xtension Add-In is not present, unless you happen to have an .MP3 MCI driver installed on your computer.)

Select CD Audio if you wish to play an audio track (or set of tracks) from an audio CD placed in your computer’s CDROM drive.  Then, click the Select… button to choose the specific track or set of tracks with which you wish to accompany your screensaver.  Choose the Play tracks Sequentially radio button on the CD Track Selection dialog to play, in sequence, each track on the CD in the disc drive when the screensaver begins playing.  Choose the Randomize CD radio button to “shuffle” all of the tracks on the CD and then play each in turn to accompany the presentation.  Choose the Play specified track only radio button to specify, by track number, a particular CD audio track with which you wish to accompany the presentation.

Loop playback

When the Loop Playback option is selected, the screensaver automatically replays the audio selection when that audio selection reaches its end.  When this option is not selected, the audio selection simply halts when the screensaver is playing and the audio selection reaches its end.

Text Tab

Title Text

When enabled, the Display folder name at top of page option causes the name of the currently-open folder to be shown at the top of the screensaver window.  The title text can be styled by selecting font attributes from the font selection dialog that appears when the Set… button in this section is clicked.

Filename Captions

When enabled, the Display filename captions beneath images option causes the name of the currently-displayed file to be drawn beneath the file in the screensaver window.  The filename caption text can be styled by selecting font attributes from the font selection dialog that appears when the Set… button in this section is clicked.

Wallpaper Placement Tab

Screensaver sets last displayed image as wallpaper

When checked, this command causes the screensaver to change the desktop wallpaper whenever it closes: the last displayed image is installed as your desktop wallpaper using the other settings on this tab.

Sizing

The controls in the Sizing section control how the last displayed image is scaled on the desktop when installed as the system wallpaper upon screensaver termination. There are four sizing options.  If the Default Size radio button is selected, the image is installed as the desktop wallpaper in its native dimensions.  If the Descale to Fit radio button is selected, the image is installed as the desktop wallpaper in its native dimensions if its dimensions are small enough that it can be displayed on the desktop without being “cropped”; otherwise, the image is shrunk until it can be displayed on the desktop without being cropped.  If the Best Stretch radio button is selected, the image is installed as the desktop wallpaper enlarged or shrunk to best fit the desktop display area while preserving the relative dimensions of the image to avoid introducing distortion.  If the Unconstrained Stretch radio button is selected, the image is installed as the desktop wallpaper enlarged or shrunk to entirely fit the desktop display area (without preserving the relative dimensions of the image).

Position

The controls in the Position section of the Wallpaper Placement tab control how the last displayed image is positioned on the desktop when installed upon screensaver termination.  There are two positioning options.  If the Centered radio button is selected, the image is installed centered on the desktop.  If the Tiled radio button is selected, the image is replicated, left-to-right, top-to-bottom, until the desktop is entirely covered.

Match desktop to background color

Selecting the Match desktop to background color checkbox causes the screensaver to update the color of the Windows desktop to match the current background color used in the screensaver window when it installs an image as the desktop wallpaper.  Note that this color may be fixed (if you have selected a fixed background color on the Appearance tab), or a color that has been matched to the current image (if you have selected the “Derive color from image corner” option on the Appearance tab).


View Menu: "Wallpaper Changer Options"
View Menu: “Options – Wallpaper Changer”

When invoked, the “Wallpaper Changer” command on Ember’s View/Options sub-menu opens the Wallpaper Changer Options dialog whereby you can set various preferences that affect the way the Wallpaper Changer applet behaves. The state of these options is saved from session to session.

General Tab

Enable wallpaper changer system service

When checked, this option causes the wallpaper changer service to be active and its icon to appear in the system task tray.  Also, modifications are made to your system registry to ensure that the wallpaper changer service is automatically started the next time your system is restarted.  When unchecked, this option causes the wallpaper changer service to be deactivated and removed from memory.  Moreover, your system registry is updated so that the wallpaper changer service is not subsequently restarted each time your computer is restarted.

Schedule

The schedule section contains controls which allow you to specify when the wallpaper changer is automatically invoked to randomize your desktop wallpaper.  When the Invoke upon system initiation checkbox is checked, the wallpaper changer is invoked whenever the service is loaded.  One effect of this setting is that while the wallpaper changer service is active, each time you restart your computer, your desktop wallpaper will be automatically randomized – because the wallpaper changer service is restarted each time your computer restarts.

When the Invoke periodically checkbox is checked, the Interval edit control is enabled, by which you can specify the pause between subsequent automatic invocations of the wallpaper changer.  For example, if you check the Invoke periodically option and select 3 minutes in the Interval edit control, your desktop wallpaper will be randomized every 3 minutes, while you work.

Folder Selection

The controls in this section allow you to specify the root source folder the wallpaper changer utilizes when it is invoked to change your desktop wallpaper.

Sequencing Tab

File Arrangement

The controls in the File Arrangement section control the order in which the wallpaper changer displays files.  Files can be displayed in ascending or descending alphabetical order, or can be arranged in ascending or descending order by their disk sizes or last write dates.

In the full, registered version of Ember, a random sequencing option is also supported by the wallpaper changer module.  Note that the random sequencing option is not available in the Evaluation Edition of Ember.

Subfolder Usage

The controls in the Subfolder Usage section control how the wallpaper changer treats supported files located in subfolders nested under the currently-selected folder.

If the Ignore subfolders option is selected, the wallpaper changer simply ignores any supported files other than those contained directly in the selected folder.

If the Iterate through subfolders option is selected, when the wallpaper changer is invoked it will first display any displayable files in the currently-selected folder, then it will iterate through supported files in any subfolders (and subfolders nested to any depth within those subfolders). This allows the wallpaper changer to present files in an entire directory tree, rather than just in a single folder.

When the Random option is selected from the File Arrangement drop list, it becomes possible to select a third subfolder usage option: Treat folder tree as single, random file domain.   When this option is selected, the wallpaper changer will choose files for sequential display by randomly selecting a folder from within the folder tree that has the selected folder as its "root," and then randomly selecting a supported file from that randomly selected folder.  In essence, when this option is selected, the wallpaper changer randomizes the contents not just of the selected folder, but randomizes the entire folder tree that has the selected folder as its root.

Wallpaper Placement

Sizing

The controls in the Sizing section control how an image installed by the wallpaper changer is scaled on the desktop. There are four sizing options.  If the Default Size radio button is selected, the image is installed as the desktop wallpaper in its native dimensions.  If the Descale to Fit radio button is selected, the image is installed as the desktop wallpaper in its native dimensions if its dimensions are small enough that it can be displayed on the desktop without being “cropped”; otherwise, the image is shrunk until it can be displayed on the desktop without being cropped.  If the Best Stretch radio button is selected, the image is installed as the desktop wallpaper enlarged or shrunk to best fit the desktop display area while preserving the relative dimensions of the image to avoid introducing distortion.  If the Unconstrained Stretch radio button is selected, the image is installed as the desktop wallpaper enlarged or shrunk to entirely fit the desktop display area (without preserving the relative dimensions of the image).

Position

The controls in the Position section of the Wallpaper Placement tab control how the image is positioned on the desktop when installed by the wallpaper changer.  There are two positioning options.  If the Centered radio button is selected, the image is installed centered on the desktop.  If the Tiled radio button is selected, the image is replicated, left-to-right, top-to-bottom, until the desktop is entirely covered.

Match desktop to corner color

Selecting the Match desktop to corner color checkbox causes the wallpaper changer to update the color of the Windows desktop to match the color of the upper lefthand corner of the image it installs as the desktop wallpaper.


View Menu: "Media Xtension Options"
View Menu: “Options – Media Xtension Player”

When invoked, the “Media Xtension Player” command on Ember’s View/Options sub-menu opens the Media Xtension Player Options dialog whereby you can set various preferences that affect the way the Player behaves. The state of these options is saved from session to session and can also be configured directly from the Options dialog accessible from the Media Player’s View menu.

Note: This command is available only when the Media Xtension Add-In has been inserted into your Ember installation.

Loop file when not auto-advancing

When selected, this option causes playback of each multimedia file to automatically rewind and restart upon reaching its end.  It will thus “loop” continuously until manually stopped or until the Player window is closed.  Note that this setting does not apply when multimedia files are played by Ember’s full-screen browser in auto-advance “file gallery” mode; in that mode, all multimedia files are played through only once, and then a transition to the next file in sequence is triggered.

Show audio track under video

By default, when a multimedia file contains both audio and video streams, the video is displayed in the main display area of the Media Xtension Player and the audio track is simultaneously plotted at the bottom of the Player.  If you wish to inhibit the audio plot display, simply clear the Show audio track under video checkbox.

Initial/default view scaling

This control permits you to specify the default view scaling factor from a number of presets.  The default view scaling factor is applied to the Media Xtension Player whenever a multimedia file is first opened in the player and when you invoke the Full-Screen Default Size viewing mode.  Specifying a value other than 100% for this control value enables you to make multimedia files initially open in the Media Xtension player in a larger or smaller size than the natural file display size.

Window Color

The color button found in the Window Color section of the Options dialog indicates, on its face, the current background color used within the Player window.  When the color button is clicked, the standard Windows Color dialog is displayed by means of which you can select an alternate background color for the Player window.  Note that the Player window background color is configurable only when your system is in a non-paletted display mode; when in a paletted display mode, the Window Color button is disabled and the Player window background color is always black.


Tools Menu: "Map Network Drive"
Tools Menu: “Map Network Drive”

The “Map Network Drive” command is accessible via Ember’s Tools menu, and is available whenever the folder view pane is displayed.  When invoked, the Map Network Drive command opens the standard Windows Map Network Drive dialog, which allows you to map a drive letter to a network resource (if you are connected to a Windows-compatible network).  If you have not disabled the Keep folder view up-to-date option, drive mappings you create should immediately appear in Ember’s folder view pane.  They may then be accessed as though they were fixed drives connected locally to your computer.

Note: The drive mappings you create with the Map Network Drive command in Ember are not restricted to use within Ember: they are available to all other applications running on your computer.


Tools Menu: "Disconnect Network Drive"
Tools Menu: “Disconnect Network Drive”

The “Disconnect Network Drive” command is accessible via Ember’s Tools menu, and is available whenever the folder view pane is displayed.  When invoked, the Disconnect Network Drive command opens the standard Windows Disconnect Network Drive dialog, which allows you to remove a drive letter mapped to a network resource from your system (if any are present).  If you have not disabled the Keep folder view up-to-date option, drive mappings you remove should immediately disappear from Ember’s folder view pane.

Note: The drive mappings you remove with the Disconnect Network Drive command in Ember are removed on a system-wide basis: they cease to be available to any application on your computer (until they are re-mapped).


Tools Menu: "Create Contact Sheet"
Tools Menu: “Create Contact Sheets”

Ember features the ability to create contact sheet images from sets of thumbnail previews.  Often contact sheets are used as a convenient index for groups of full-sized images.  The “Create Contact Sheets” command is accessible via Ember’s Tools menu.  It is available whenever a thumbnail window containing at least one selected thumbnail preview has the keyboard input focus.

IMPORTANT: The folder settings in effect in the active thumbnail window – including preview size and spacing, caption content and font, folder titling, background color and imagery, and preview framing – are used when Ember generates contact sheets from images located in a particular folder.  Thus, you can control the exact layout and all aspects of the appearance of the subsequently generated contact sheets by adjusting the settings associated with the active folder before invoking the Create Contact Sheets command.

When the Create Contact Sheets command is invoked, the Create Contact Sheets dialog appears.  The controls in the dialog’s Page Size section allow you to specify the pixel dimensions of the contact sheets to be generated.  The Page Footer section of the dialog contains controls used to specify what information (if any) is displayed at the bottom of each generated contact sheet. Check the “Include page numbers” checkbox to cause Ember to place sequential page numbers at the bottom of each generated contact sheet in addition to any text you enter into the “Footer text” edit box.  Controls in the Page Footer section of the Create Contact Sheets dialog are also available to enable you to customize the font used to draw any footer text.

Once you have set the desired options on the Create Contact Sheets dialog, click the OK button to display the Contact Sheet File Export dialog by means of which you specify the destination directory and format for the contact sheets to be generated.   When you click the OK button on the Contact Sheet File Export dialog, Ember proceeds to generate the contact sheet set.

Note: You do not directly specify the number of contact sheets that Ember will generate.  Rather, you specify which previews will be included (by selecting them in Ember’s thumbnail window), and how they will be laid out (by adjusting the folder settings appropriately), and then Ember determines how many contact sheets will be required.

Note: Ember automatically generates names for the contact sheets it creates.  These names are in the format: “Ember Contact Sheet (#).xxx” where ‘#’ is the sequential page number of the contact sheet in the generated contact sheet set, and ‘xxx’ is an image file extension appropriate for the image format type selected for the contact sheets.  Since all contact sheet sets use the same output file naming convention, care should be taken to ensure that you do not unintentionally overwrite contact sheets with subsequent sets output to the same destination folder.  An easy way to prevent this is simply to use Ember’s mass renaming capability after generating a contact sheet set to apply filenames that differ from the contact sheet defaults.


Tools Menu: "Send to Compound Picture File"
Tools Menu: “Send to Compound Picture File”

The “Send to Compound Picture File” command is accessible via Ember’s Tools menu, as well as the context menu that appears when a thumbnail preview is right-clicked in a thumbnail window, and is available whenever version 2 of Firehand Lightning – the picture display system from Firehand Technologies – is installed on a computer alongside Firehand Ember, and at least one preview associated with a file type exportable to Lightning is selected in Ember’s active thumbnail window.

When invoked, this command causes the currently-selected file set to be sent to Lightning.  If Lightning is not currently running, it is launched and a new compound picture file is initialized and the file set selected in Ember is sent to that compound picture file.  If Lightning is running when the “Send to Compound Picture File” command is invoked, the file set selected in Ember is sent to whatever compound picture file is loaded in the running Lightning instance.  If multiple instances of Lightning are running, a dialog appears listing the open Lightning compound picture files to which selected file set may be sent.

The files sent to Lightning are inserted into the target compound picture file at the current insertion point (indicated by the caret position in Lightning’s Preview Pane).  Once inserted, the files may be saved as part of the compound picture file – which may be subsequently exported in a number of display formats (including as a slideshow, a screensaver, or a photo album), or may be converted directly into HTML for posting on the Web.


Tools Menu: "Register Utilities"
Tools Menu: “Register Utilities”

The utility registry provides a powerful means of integrating third-party tools with Ember.  Once an external application is registered with Ember, invoking it on a file from within Ember is as simple as selecting the thumbnail preview of that file and then clicking the menu item corresponding to the utility, which can be found on the thumbnail’s context menu and on Ember’s Tools menu itself.

The “Register Utilities” command, accessible from Ember’s Tools menu, allows you to register your custom set of utilities.  When invoked, this command opens the Utility Registration dialog, which displays the list of currently-registered utilities and provides controls for rearranging the utility list, adding to it, removing from it, and editing items in it.

Changing registered utility display order

To change the order in which the utilities are displayed on the thumbnail context menu and Ember’s Tools menu, select one of the utility items in the Utility Registration dialog and then simply drag it to a new position within the list and drop it.

Registering a new utility

To register a new utility, click the Add button on the Utility Registration dialog, which opens the Edit Utility Specification dialog.  This dialog contains four fields.

In the Menu Text field you enter the text you wish to appear for this item on the thumbnail context menu and at the bottom of Ember’s Tools menu.  (Note that you can include an ampersand (&)in front of a character in this field to make that character the shortcut character for the menu item.)

In the Utility Path field of the Edit Utility Specification dialog you should enter the complete path to the utility application.  (Note that if you do not know the complete path, you can click the Browse button to search for the application.)

In the Command-line Flags field of the Edit Utility Specification dialog you can enter any command-line flags you wish to be passed to the utility application when it is invoked on a file in Ember.

For example, an image enhancement utility might define a set of command-line flags that allows you to specify an output format for its resulting output.  If the path registered with Ember for this utility is C:\BIN\ENHANCE.EXE and you provided /TIFF as the command-line flag within the Edit Utility Specification dialog, then if the image file associated with the selected thumbnail in Ember is named C:\PHOTOS\PHOTO1.JPG, when you invoke this utility on the selected file, Ember executes this:

“C:\BIN\ENHANCE.EXE”  /TIFF  “C:\PHOTS\PHOTO1.JPG”

Note: The command-line flags that can be passed to a particular application will depend entirely on that application (there’s no standard set of command-line flags).  Consult the documentation that came with the application to determine its set of recognized command-line flags (if any).  Generally, when registering a utility with Ember, you will leave the Command-line Flags field in the Edit Utility Specification dialog blank.

The final field on the Edit Utility Specification dialog is the Pass short file name check box.  Some utility applications do not function properly when passed Windows “long” file names (which can contain up to 256 characters and spaces).  Checking the Pass short file name box causes Ember to construct equivalent “8.3” file names before passing them to the specified utility.

Removing a registered utility

To remove a registered utility, select it in the Utility Registration dialog and click the Remove button.

Editing a utility registration

To edit any portion of the registration entry for a registered utility, select the utility in the Utility Registration dialog and click the Edit button.  The Edit Utility Specification dialog will open and be filled with the selected utility’s registration information.  Edit the text in the registration fields as appropriate and click OK to save your changes.


Tools Menu: Utilities List

All utilities you have registered with Ember appear at the end of the Tools menu, as well as on the thumbnail context menu.  Registered utilities are available whenever a thumbnail window has keyboard input focus and exactly one thumbnail preview is selected.  Selecting a utility from the utilities list invokes that utility (with any registered command-line) on the file associated with the currently-selected thumbnail preview.


Window Menu: "Close"
Window Menu: “Close”

The “Close” command accessible via Ember’s Window menu (as well as on each thumbnail window’s control menu) is available whenever there is at least one open thumbnail window.  Invoking this command closes the active thumbnail window and any bound pop-up windows.


Window Menu: "Close All"
Window Menu: “Close All”

The “Close All” command accessible via Ember’s Window menu is available whenever there is at least one open thumbnail window.  Invoking this command closes all open thumbnail windows and all bound pop-up windows.


Window Menu: "Next"
Window Menu: “Next”

The “Next” command accessible via Ember’s Window menu (as well as on each thumbnail window’s control menu) is available whenever there is at least one open thumbnail window.  Invoking this command activates the “next” thumbnail window (if there is one) in Windows’ tracking order and gives it keyboard input focus.


Window Menu: "Previous"
Window Menu: “Previous”

The “Previous” command accessible via Ember’s Window menu is available whenever there is at least one open thumbnail window.  Invoking this command activates the “previous” thumbnail window (if there is one) in Windows’ tracking order and gives it keyboard input focus.


Window Menu: "Cascade"
Window Menu: “Cascade”

The “Cascade” command accessible via Ember’s Window menu is available whenever there is at least one open thumbnail window.  Invoking this command de-maximizes any maximized thumbnail window and arranges all open thumbnail windows in a neatly overlaid configuration.  Note that this command does not affect the arrangement of any open pop-up windows.


Window Menu: "Tile Vertically"
Window Menu: “Tile Vertically”

The “Tile Vertically” command accessible via Ember’s Window menu is available whenever there is at least one open thumbnail window.  Invoking this command de-maximizes any maximized thumbnail window and arranges all open thumbnail windows into non-overlapping columns.  Note that if display space allows, all thumbnail windows are displayed in a single row.  Otherwise, they are arranged in multiple rows.


Window Menu: "Tile Horizontally"
Window Menu: “Tile Horizontally”

The “Tile Horizontally” command accessible via Ember’s Window menu is available whenever there is at least one open thumbnail window.  Invoking this command de-maximizes any maximized thumbnail window and arranges all open thumbnail windows into non-overlapping rows.  Note that if display space allows, all thumbnails windows are displayed in a single column.  Otherwise, they are arranged in multiple columns.


Window Menu: Window List

Ember maintains a list of all open thumbnail windows and displays the titles of these windows at the bottom of the Window menu.  You may activate a particular thumbnail window by choosing its entry from this list.