Nuance ImageAXS for Macintosh 4.0 Standard User guide

I

MAGE

AXS

V

ERSION

4.0

FOR

M

ACINTOSH

U

SER

’

S

G

UIDE

1301 Marina Village Parkway

Alameda, California 94501

USA

(800) 449-6220 Sales • (510) 814-7200 Support

(510) 814-6100 Fax

http://www.dascorp.com

ImageAXS

4.0

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ImageAXS

™ 4.0

Macintosh

tion or disclosure. No part of the contents of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the

written permission of Digital Arts & Sciences.

Sample images distributed with ImageAXS and pictured in this manual are made available for non-commercial, personal use only. Copying

or redistribution in any manner for personal or corporate gain is not permitted. Commercial publication or exploitation of these ﬁles is

speciﬁcally prohibited.

Use of this document and ImageAXS is governed by a Software License Agreement that speciﬁes their permitted and prohibited uses. This

document contains conﬁdential and proprietary information constituting valuable trade secrets. This document (or any portion thereof)

may not be: (a) disclosed to third parties, (b) copied in any form, or (c) used for any unauthorized purpose.

ImageAXS is a trademark of Digital Arts & Sciences. All other company and product names are trademarks of their respective companies.

This technical data is provided with RESTRICTED RIGHTS. Use, duplication, or disclosure by the Government is subject to restrictions as

set forth in subparagraph (c) (1) (ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.227-7013, and in sub-

paragraphs (a) through (d) of the Commercial Computer - Restricted Rights clause at FAR 52.227-19, and in similar clauses in the NASA

FAR Supplement, when applicable. Contractor/Manufacturer is: Digital Arts & Sciences, 1301 Marina Village Parkway, Alameda, CA

94501.

This Software media is warranted to be free from defects in materials and workmanship for a period of 90 days from the date of shipment.

DIGITAL ARTS & SCIENCES, ITS LICENSOR(S), AGENTS AND DISTRIBUTORS MAKE NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,

INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PUR-

POSE, REGARDING THE SOFTWARE. THEY DO NOT WARRANT, GUARANTEE OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING

THE USE OR THE RESULTS OF THE USE OF THE SOFTWARE IN TERMS OF ITS CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, CUR-

RENTNESS OR OTHERWISE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE RESULTS AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE IS ASSUMED BY

YOU. BECAUSE THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES IS NOT PERMITTED BY SOME JURISDICTIONS, THE ABOVE EXCLU-

SION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

IN NO EVENT WILL DIGITAL ARTS & SCIENCES, ITS AGENTS, DISTRIBUTORS, LICENSOR(S), AND THEIR DIRECTORS, OFFICERS,

EMPLOYEES OR AGENTS (COLLECTIVELY DIGITAL ARTS & SCIENCES’ LICENSOR) BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY CONSEQUEN-

TIAL, INCIDENTAL OR INDIRECT DAMAGES (INCLUDING DAMGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS

INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION, AND THE LIKE) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE

SOFTWARE EVEN IF ANY ONE OR ALL HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. BECAUSE SOME JUSRIS-

DICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES,

THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. Digital Arts & Sciences’, its licensors’, agents’, and distributors’ liability to you for

actual damages from any cause whatsoever, and regardless of the form of the action (whether in contract, tort (including negligence), prod-

uct liabilty or otherwise), will be limited to $50.

The detailed terms of the Limited Warranty and Disclaimer, and Limitations of Liability are set forth in the Software License Agreement

enclosed with the Software.

Printed February, 1999

ImageAXS

4.0

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AXS 4.0 M

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C

ONTENTS

C

HAPTER

1W

HAT

I

S

I

MAGE

AXS™?

What Is ImageAXS? 1-1

Key Concepts and Terms 1-1

Getting Help and Technical Support 1-4

C

HAPTER

2G

ETTING

S

TARTED

System Requirements 2-1

Installing ImageAXS 2-1

Starting ImageAXS

2-4

Where Do I Go From Here? 2-5

C

HAPTER

3V

IEWING

C

OLLECTIONS

Overview: What Is a Collection? 3-1

Opening and Closing Collections 3-1

Viewing a Collection 3-2

Viewing Thumbnails 3-7

Changing Thumbnails View Options 3-9

Viewing Text Field Data 3-12

Changing Text List View Options 3-14

C

HAPTER

4V

IEWING

R

ECORDS

AND

S

OURCE

F

ILES

Selecting Records 4-1

Viewing Info Sheets 4-2

Viewing Source Files 4-5

Viewing Images 4-7

Playing Movies, Animated GIFs, or Sounds 4-10

Viewing 3D Files 4-11

Changing Source File View Options 4-11

ImageAXS

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REATING

AND

A

DDING

TO

A

C

OLLECTION

Creating a New Collection 5-1

Overview: Adding Files to a Collection 5-2

Acquiring Individual Files 5-3

Acquiring All Files in a Folder 5-4

Acquiring From Removable Media 5-5

Acquiring From Digital Cameras or Scanners 5-8

Acquiring From a Video Source 5-10

Acquiring From an Audio Source 5-15

Acquiring From Adobe Photoshop 5-16

Changing Options for Acquiring Files 5-17

C

HAPTER

6E

NTERING

F

IELD

D

ATA

How Do I Use Data Fields? 6-1

Entering Data in an Individual Record 6-1

Copying Data to Other Records 6-3

Importing a Text Data File 6-4

C

HAPTER

7U

SING

K

EYWORDS

TO

D

ESCRIBE

F

ILES

How Do I Use Keywords? 7-1

Viewing and Managing Keywords 7-1

Importing Keywords From a Text File 7-5

Adding Keywords to Data Records 7-6

C

HAPTER

8C

REATING

P

ORTFOLIOS

W

ITHIN

C

OLLECTIONS

What Is a Portfolio? 8-1

Creating a Portfolio 8-1

Saving and Renaming Portfolios 8-2

Managing Portfolios 8-3

Managing Records in a Portfolio 8-4

C

HAPTER

9S

EARCHING

AND

S

ORTING

C

OLLECTIONS

How Do I Search a Collection or Portfolio? 9-1

Keyword Searches 9-1

Searches Based on Field Data and/or Other Characteristics 9-2

Using And/Or in Complex Searches 9-4

Sorting Collections and Portfolios 9-5

C

HAPTER

10 M

ANAGING

D

ATA RECORDS

Creating New Records 10-1

Deleting Records 10-1

Updating Records 10-3

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IMAGEAXS 4.0 MACINTOSH USER’S GUIDE

CHAPTER 11 MANAGING SOURCE FILES

Managing Source Files in ImageAXS 11-1

Editing Source Files 11-1

Selecting an Alternate Editing Application 11-3

Moving Source Files 11-4

Copying Source Files 11-4

Renaming a Source File 11-5

Deleting Source Files 11-6

CHAPTER 12 EXPORTING DATA TO OTHER FORMATS

Exporting Data Records 12-1

Exporting to a Text File 12-1

Exporting to a DAS File 12-3

Exporting to an ImageAXS 2.x File 12-4

CHAPTER 13 SLIDE SHOWS

Displaying Slide Shows 13-1

Changing Slide Show Options 13-2

CHAPTER 14 PRINTING

Printing ImageAXS Collections and Records 14-1

CHAPTER 15 SCRIPTING AND RECORDING

Scripting and Recording in ImageAXS 15-1

WHAT IS IMAGEAXS™?

1

1-1

IMAGEAXS 4.0 MACINTOSH USER’S GUIDE

1

WHAT IS IMAGEAXS™?

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HIS

C

HAPTER

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1

What Is ImageAXS? 1-1

Key Concepts and Terms 1-1

Getting Help and Technical Support 1-4

WHAT IS

I

MAGEAXS?

ImageAXS lets you create visual databases to organize and manage

the image, movie, sound, and 3D ﬁles on your computer.

The documents it creates (called collections) combine text information

with thumbnail images of the original ﬁles, so you can see what

you’re describing, even if the ﬁles are on a CD-ROM, an Iomega Zip

disk, or a networked drive that isn’t currently connected to your

computer.

ImageAXS offers several ways for you to view, search, and organize

your collections. You can use ImageAXS to organize your ﬁles from

scratch, or by importing information to expand on a database you've

already created.

KEY CONCEPTS

AND TERMS

The basic elements of how ImageAXS works are deﬁned brieﬂy

below. Becoming familiar with these terms will help you learn the

program more quickly.

SOURCE FILES

A source ﬁle is any ﬁle on your computer (or a separate disk or

storage device) that is catalogued in ImageAXS.

The ﬁle is referred to as a source ﬁle because it is the source for the

data record created by ImageAXS.

CHAPTER 1

ImageAXS

4.0

WHAT IS IMAGEAXS™?

1

1-2

IMAGEAXS 4.0 MACINTOSH USER’S GUIDE

ACQUIRING

Acquiring is the act of making an ImageAXS data record for a source

ﬁle. To use ImageAXS to manage the ﬁles in a particular folder, for

example, you would acquire all of the ﬁles in that folder (see Chapter

5, “Creating and Adding to a Collection”).

COLLECTIONS

Collections are the documents created by ImageAXS. A collection

contains a data record for each source ﬁle that you acquire (as well as

blank records, if you create any).

With ImageAXS, you can create and maintain as many different

collections as you want, although you can only view one collection at

a time.

N

OTE

Although the records in ImageAXS collections describe your source ﬁles,

they do

not

contain the ﬁles themselves. You can move or delete the

collection without affecting the source ﬁles, and vice versa.

In the Finder, ImageAXS collections are represented by two ﬁles: one

with a “.db” extension (containing text information), and the other

with a “.blob” extension (containing thumbnail images). ImageAXS

cannot open a collection unless both of these ﬁles are in the same

folder. (To remind you to keep them together, the “.db” and “.blob”

ﬁle icons are two halves of an open notebook.)

PORTFOLIOS

Portfolios are subsets of collections — for example, a collection of

family photos might include separate portfolios for your children,

your parents, your brothers and/or sisters, your in-laws, and so on.

Placing records in a portfolio does not remove them from a

collection, and any record in a collection may belong to several

different portfolios.

You can create a portfolio automatically by searching a collection, or

manually by making a personal selection of records (for example,

your favorite photos or best works of 3D art).

RECORDS

An ImageAXS data record contains information about a source ﬁle.

A thumbnail image of the ﬁle and some basic data (such as the ﬁle

size, and when it was created) are included in the record when you

acquire the source ﬁle. You can add to each record by entering data

in text ﬁelds and attaching keywords.

ImageAXS™

ﬁle icons

WHAT IS IMAGEAXS™?

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IMAGEAXS 4.0 MACINTOSH USER’S GUIDE

THUMBNAILS

A thumbnail is a smaller version (in both actual size and disk space

required) of an image. When you acquire an image, movie, or 3D

ﬁle, ImageAXS includes a thumbnail version of the ﬁle in the data

record.

KEYWORDS

Keywords are terms you choose that describe one or more source

ﬁles in a collection. They may describe the literal content of a ﬁle

(such as objects in a photo, or events in a video clip) or its subjective

aspects (for example, adjectives like beautiful or intense).

Unlike information in text ﬁelds, keywords do not have to conform

to a category that applies to every ﬁle in a collection. You simply add

them to the Keyword List for the collection, then attach them to one

or more records as you see ﬁt.

Keywords are powerful search tools. If you add keywords

extensively across a collection, you'll be able to ﬁnd almost unlimited

combinations of records instantly based on keyword searches.

VIEWS

Views are different ways of displaying information about a collection

and/or its records. ImageAXS offers four different views, including

two ways to look at all of the records in a collection:

• The Thumbnails View displays thumbnail images for each record

in a collection.

• The Text List View displays the text ﬁeld data (in a row-and-

column table format) for each record in a collection.

The other two views let you see information about individual

records that you select:

• The Info Sheet View displays the thumbnail, text data, and

keywords associated with a source ﬁle.

• The Source File View displays image or 3D ﬁles, or plays movie,

sound, or animated GIF ﬁles.

WHAT IS IMAGEAXS™?

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IMAGEAXS 4.0 MACINTOSH USER’S GUIDE

GETTING HELP

AND TECHNICAL

S

UPPORT

Because Digital Arts & Sciences is committed to helping you get the

most out of ImageAXS, we have provided several different options to

assist you in learning how to use the program and resolving any

problems that you encounter.

BALLOON HELP

Virtually every menu item, button, and dialog box option in

ImageAXS includes Balloon Help, which provides a brief

explanation of what that item, button, or option does.

To see Balloon Help, click the Balloon Help button in any ImageAXS

window or choose Show Balloons from the Help menu, then point at

the item for which you want to see information.

IMAGEAXS HELP

ImageAXS also includes extensive Apple Guide–based online help,

with step-by-step instructions for accomplishing most of the tasks in

the program.

To open ImageAXS Help, click the Help button in any ImageAXS

window or choose ImageAXS Help from the Help menu.

IMAGEAXS MACINTOSH USER’S GUIDE

Use this manual for a broader narrative overview of how ImageAXS

works, and to see screen illustrations of the elements and features of

the program.

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

Digital Arts & Sciences provides technical support for ImageAXS

users on the Internet, as well as by fax, telephone, or regular mail.

For sales or upgrade information, product news, or answers to

frequently asked questions, visit the Digital Arts & Sciences website

at http://www.dascorp.com.

N

OTE

You can access the Digital Arts & Sciences website while using ImageAXS

by selecting ImageAXS on the Web from the Help menu.

For technical support via email, send your questions and comments

to [email protected]. If you wish to fax your questions or

comments, call (510) 814-6100.

Balloon Help

button

ImageAXS

Help button

WHAT IS IMAGEAXS™?

1

1-5

IMAGEAXS 4.0 MACINTOSH USER’S GUIDE

Free telephone support is only available to customers who have

returned an ImageAXS registration card or registered over the

Internet (to do this, select Register ImageAXS from the Help menu).

If you are a registered ImageAXS user, call our customer support

department at (510) 814-7200 (press 1 at the main menu when the

phone is answered).

Telephone support for registered ImageAXS users is available

Monday through Friday between 9:00

A.M. and 5:00 P.M, Paciﬁc time.

GETTING STARTED

2

2-1

IMAGEAXS 4.0 MACINTOSH USER’S GUIDE

2

GETTING STARTED

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HAPTER

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System Requirements 2-1

Installing ImageAXS 2-1

Starting ImageAXS 2-4

Where Do I Go From Here? 2-5

SYSTEM

R

EQUIREMENTS

To use ImageAXS, your Macintosh must have the following

minimum characteristics:

• A CD-ROM drive (for installation only)

• 68030 or faster processor (Power Macintosh recommended)

• System 7.5 or more recent operating system

• 10 MB of RAM available (more if you will be managing large ﬁles

or collections)

• 20 MB of hard disk space available

INSTALLING

I

MAGEAXS

You can install ImageAXS on your Macintosh in just a few minutes.

Follow these instructions:

STEP 1 Insert the ImageAXS CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive.

A window showing the contents of the CD-ROM appears

on the desktop. (If this window does not appear, double-

click the CD-ROM icon.)

STEP 2 Double-click the ImageAXS Installer icon in the disc contents

window.

The ImageAXS Installer window appears.

STEP 3 Click Continue.

The ImageAXS ReadMe ﬁle appears. This ﬁle contains

important information, so be sure to save or print it.

STEP 4 Click Save or Print to save or print the ReadMe ﬁle, then click

Continue.

The ImageAXS license agreement window appears.

CHAPTER 2

ImageAXS

4.0

GETTING STARTED

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IMAGEAXS 4.0 MACINTOSH USER’S GUIDE

STEP 5 Read the license agreement, then click Agree.

The Easy Install dialog box appears.

NOTE

If you click Disagree, the installation process will be cancelled.

The Easy Install option installs the ImageAXS application, a sample

collection, various plug-ins and system extensions, folders

containing AppleScripts and Web page templates, and a ReadMe

document into a folder that you create later during the installation.

In addition, the Easy Install option installs QuickTime 3.0 in the

Extensions folder of the System Folder on your startup drive,

replacing any older version of QuickTime you may have. (QuickTime

will not be installed if you have a newer version on your system.)

STEP 6 Click Install to begin the Easy Install, or choose Custom Install

from the pop-up menu in the upper left corner of the dialog box

to select installation options.

If you click Install, skip to Step 7.

The Custom Install dialog box contains six options. Click the

checkbox next to an option to include it in the installation.

• Complete Installation

This option installs the ImageAXS application, along with

supporting system extensions, plug-ins.

• ImageAXS Only

This option installs the ImageAXS application without any of

the related ﬁles.

• Sample Collection and Images

This option installs a sample data ﬁle you can use to help

learn the basic features of ImageAXS before you create

collections of your own, as well as the sample image ﬁles on

which the collection is based.

• Navigation Services Module

This option installs a system extension that lets ImageAXS

use Mac OS Navigation Services dialog boxes for opening

and saving ﬁles on computers running a Mac OS 8.0 or 8.1

operating system.

Do not install Navigation Services Support if you are using

Mac OS 8.5 or a more recent operating system. .

N

OTE

The Navigation Services Support feature can only be installed as an option

in the Custom Install dialog box. It is not part of the Easy Install ﬁles.

GETTING STARTED

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IMAGEAXS 4.0 MACINTOSH USER’S GUIDE

• Contextual Menu Module

If your Macintosh has a PowerPC processor, this option

installs a system extension that includes an “Acquire in

ImageAXS” command in the contextual menus that appear

when you press and hold

CTRL on your keyboard, then click

documents or folders in the Finder (see Chapter 6, “Creating

and Adding to a Collection”).

STEP 7 Select the custom installation options you want, then click

Install.

A standard ﬁle dialog box appears, prompting you to

choose where you want to install the ﬁles you selected.

STEP 8 Choose a name and location for the folder containing your

ImageAXS ﬁles.

If you do not change the default settings, the installer

creates a folder named ImageAXS 4.0 on your startup disk.

STEP 9 Click Install to begin installing ImageAXS.

A progress window appears as the ImageAXS ﬁles you

selected are installed.

NOTE

To cancel the installation, press COMMAND-PERIOD (z-.) on your keyboard.

In the dialog box that appears, click Reinstall to return to the Easy install

window. Click Quit to close the installer application entirely.

A dialog box appears when the ImageAXS installation is

complete, prompting you to quit or install ﬁles again.

STEP 10 Click Quit.

If you chose to install the ImageAXS application and the

latest version of QuickTime on your computer is version 2.5

or earlier, the QuickTime 3.0 installation process will begin.

Use this same procedure to install optional ﬁles at a later time if you

do not include them when you ﬁrst install ImageAXS.

INSTALLING PLUG-INS

Some of the ﬁles installed with ImageAXS are plug-ins that work

with other programs. These ﬁles need to be moved into other folders

on your Macintosh.

In the folder where you installed ImageAXS, each plug-in is stored in

a subfolder whose name tells you where to move the ﬁle.

N

OTE

In the Finder, open each ImageAXS subfolder and drag the plug-in inside it

to the appropriate folder. Do

not

drag the subfolders out of the ImageAXS

folder; if you do, the plug-ins will not work properly.

GETTING STARTED

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2-4

IMAGEAXS 4.0 MACINTOSH USER’S GUIDE

• Drag into Photoshop Plug-ins ƒ

If you have Adobe Photoshop installed on your Macintosh (or

other image-editing applications that can use Photoshop

plug-ins), drag the IAXAcquire/Export ﬁle contained here

into the Plug-ins folder inside the Photoshop folder.

• Drag into Preferences, TWAIN

If you have software for capturing images from TWAIN-

compatible scanners installed on your Macintosh, drag the

Source Manager ﬁle contained here into the TWAIN folder

inside the Preferences folder of your System Folder.

• Drag into Quark XTension ƒ

If you have Quark XPress installed on your Macintosh, drag

the ImageAXS PictureDrop ﬁle contained here into the

XTension folder inside the Quark XPress folder.

STARTING

I

MAGEAXS

To start ImageAXS, open the folder in the Finder where you installed

the ImageAXS ﬁles, then double-click the ImageAXS application

icon.

If you are using ImageAXS for the ﬁrst time, you will see an empty

window with the ImageAXS menu bar at the top of the screen. (If

you have used ImageAXS before, any collection that was open when

you last closed the program will automatically open.)

OPENING A COLLECTION

To start working with ImageAXS, you must open a collection.

If you have not created any collections (for example, if you are using

ImageAXS for the ﬁrst time), you can either create a new collection

(see Chapter 5, “Creating and Adding to a Collection”) or open the

sample collection. Opening and viewing the sample collection is a

good way to learn the basic features of ImageAXS (see Chapter 3,

“Viewing Collections”).

To open the sample collection:

STEP 1 Choose Open Collection from the File menu (z-O).

A dialog box appears, prompting you to select a collection

to open.

ImageAXS™

application icon

GETTING STARTED

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2-5

IMAGEAXS 4.0 MACINTOSH USER’S GUIDE

STEP 2 In the dialog box, locate the folder where you installed

ImageAXS.

STEP 3 Double-click the icon labeled Sample Collection.db.

You can recognize collections by the ImageAXS ﬁle icon

and/or the ".db" extension at the end of the ﬁle name.

You can also open the sample collection (or any other ImageAXS

collection) in the Finder by dragging and dropping the collection

icon on the ImageAXS application icon.

To open the sample collection (or any other ImageAXS collection) if

you have closed it recently, highlight Open Recent Collections in the

File menu, then select the collection from the submenu that appears.

WHERE DO I GO

F

ROM HERE?

If you have opened the sample collection, go on to Chapter 3

(“Viewing Collections”) and Chapter 4 (“Viewing Records and

Source Files”), which explain how to view collections, data records,

and source ﬁles.

If you want to get started using ImageAXS to organize and manage

your ﬁles, skip ahead to Chapter 5 (“Creating and Adding to a

Collection”). After creating a collection of your own, return to

Chapters 3 and 4 to learn about the different ways to look at your

new collection.

ImageAXS™

“.db” ﬁle icon

VIEWING COLLECTIONS

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IMAGEAXS 4.0 MACINTOSH USER’S GUIDE

ImageAXS

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VIEWING COLLECTIONS

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Overview: What Is a Collection? 3-1

Viewing a Collection 3-2

Viewing Thumbnails 3-7

Changing Thumbnails View Options 3-9

Viewing Text Field Data 3-12

Changing Text List View Options 3-14

OVERVIEW:

W

HAT IS A

C

OLLECTION?

Collections are the documents created by ImageAXS. They consist of

data records for each ﬁle on your computer that is associated with

the collection, plus a thumbnail image that represents each ﬁle.

With ImageAXS, you can create and maintain as many collections as

you want, although you can only view one collection at a time.

N

OTE

Although ImageAXS collections describe the ﬁles on your computer and

storage drives, they do

not

contain the ﬁles themselves. You can move or

delete the collection without affecting the original ﬁles, and vice versa.

In the Finder, ImageAXS collections are represented by two ﬁles: one

with a “.db” extension (containing text information), and the other

with a “.blob” extension (containing thumbnail images). If you want

to move or rename a collection, you must move or rename both ﬁles.

OPENING AND

C

LOSING

C

OLLECTIONS

OPENING A COLLECTION

To open a collection that you have used recently, highlight Open

Recent Collections in the File menu, then select the collection from

the submenu that appears.

CHAPTER 3

VIEWING COLLECTIONS

3

3-2

IMAGEAXS 4.0 MACINTOSH USER’S GUIDE

If the collection you want is not on the list, follow the steps below.

To open a collection:

STEP 1 Choose Open Collection from the File menu (z-O).

A dialog box prompts you to select a collection to open.

STEP 2 In the dialog box, locate and select a collection.

You can recognize collections by the ImageAXS ﬁle icon

and/or the ".db" extension at the end of the ﬁle name.

STEP 3 Double-click the collection name, or highlight it and click Open.

You can also open any ImageAXS collection in the Finder by

dragging and dropping the collection icon on the ImageAXS

application icon, or by double-clicking the collection icon.

N

OTE

If you have used ImageAXS before, the collection (if any) that was open

when you last quit the program will automatically open the next time you

start the progam.

CLOSING A COLLECTION

When you close a collection, all windows related to the collection

(including those for all records and portfolios, and the Keyword and

Portfolio Lists) will close automatically.

To close an open collection:

• With any window of the collection active, select Close Collection from

the File menu.

VIEWING A

C

OLLECTION

ImageAXS gives you two main ways to look at all of the records in a

collection — the Thumbnails View and the Text List View. These

views share many common elements, which are discussed below.

IMAGEAXS HELP AND BALLOON HELP

Each ImageAXS collection window has three buttons in the upper

right corner. Click the button on the far right to open ImageAXS

Help, an Apple Guide help ﬁle that provides step-by-step

instructions for accomplishing most of the tasks in the program.

Click the middle button to show Balloon Help, which provides a

brief explanation of virtually every menu item, button, and dialog

box option in ImageAXS. After opening Balloon Help, just point at

any item in a window to see information about that item. Click the

Balloon Help button again to turn Balloon Help off.

ImageAXS

“.db” ﬁle icon

ImageAXS Help

Balloon Help

VIEWING COLLECTIONS

3

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IMAGEAXS 4.0 MACINTOSH USER’S GUIDE

COLLECTION INFO

In the upper right corner of any ImageAXS collection window, click

the leftmost button to open the Collection Info dialog box.

N

OTE

If information has been entered in the Collection Info dialog box, the

Collection Info button will display a solid “i” symbol. An empty or outlined “i”

indicates that no information has been entered for the collection.

Use the Collection Info dialog box to enter general information (up to

32,000 characters) about your collection, or to edit information that

you have already entered. You can type this information, or paste

text that you have copied from another program.)

The lower left corner of the Collection Info dialog box displays where

the collection is located in the Finder.

Collection Info window

To save any changes you make and close the Collection Info dialog

box, click OK. To close the dialog box without saving your changes,

click Cancel.

Collection Info

VIEWING COLLECTIONS

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IMAGEAXS 4.0 MACINTOSH USER’S GUIDE

USING THE BUTTON PANEL

The button panel along the left side of ImageAXS collection

windows gives you quick access to the basic ways to view and

organize your collections.

To show or hide the button panel, do either of the following:

• Select Show Buttons (or Hide Buttons, if the button panel is

shown) from the View menu

• Click the Show/Hide Buttons icon on the upper left corner of

most ImageAXS windows.

Here is a brief summary of what each button in the button panel does

(from top to bottom):

T

HUMBNAILS VIEW

Displays the thumbnail images for all data records in the collection.

T

EXT LIST VIEW

Displays the ﬁeld data for all data records in the collection.

I

NFO SHEET VIEW

Displays the thumbnail image, ﬁeld data, and keywords for a

selected data record.

S

OURCE FILE VIEW

Opens a read-only version of the source ﬁle for a data record.

K

EYWORD LIST

Displays a list of keywords you have created to describe records in

the collection.

P

ORTFOLIO LIST

Displays a list of smaller groups of records that you have created

within the collection.

S

EARCH

Lets you ﬁnd records that share ﬁeld data, keywords, and/or other

characteristics.

S

ORT

Lets you reorder all records in the collection based on ﬁelds that you

select.

O

PEN SELECTION AS PORTFOLIO

Creates a new portfolio window containing the records you have

selected.

Show/Hide Buttons

VIEWING COLLECTIONS

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IMAGEAXS 4.0 MACINTOSH USER’S GUIDE

FILE TYPE ICONS

The ﬁle type icon for a data record indicates the type of the source ﬁle

and whether the source ﬁle is online. It appears to the left of the

thumbnail caption for each record in the Thumbnails View, and at the

left end of the data row for each record in the Text List View.

The terms online and ofﬂine refer to whether ImageAXS is able to ﬁnd

the source ﬁle for a record. For example, a source ﬁle located on a

network drive that is not currently connected to your computer will

be ofﬂine in ImageAXS.

Ofﬂine source ﬁles are indicated by a red “X” through the ﬁle type

icon for the record. You cannot open the Source File View for records

that are ofﬂine; in addition, you cannot copy, move, rename, delete,

or edit the source ﬁles for these records. (For non-multimedia ﬁles,

you will not be able to open the source ﬁle from within ImageAXS.)

For information on updating the location of ofﬂine source ﬁles, see

“Updating Records” on page 10-3.

File location pop-up window

NOTE

Click the ﬁle type icon to display the Finder location of the source ﬁle in a

pop-up window. Select the ﬁle name from this pop-up window to open the

source ﬁle in its original application, or select a disk or folder name to open

that disk or folder in the Finder.

CHANGING THE BACKGROUND COLOR

ImageAXS offers a choice of backgrounds, either of which is applied

to all windows in the program. The default Dark Gray background,

with text and buttons in light gray, is often preferred for viewing

images. You may ﬁnd the Light Gray background, with text and

buttons in black, more useful for reading text information.

Use the ImageAXS Preferences dialog box to change the background

color of all ImageAXS windows at any time.

Image ﬁle icons

Sound ﬁle icons

Movie ﬁle icons

3D ﬁle icons

Document ﬁle icons

Application ﬁle icons

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Nuance ImageAXS for Macintosh 4.0 Standard User guide

Nuance ImageAXS for Macintosh 4.0 Standard User guide

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