You are here: Manage Mode > Organizing > Organizing with the Catalog Pane
Organizing with the Catalog Pane
The Catalog pane is one of the most useful panes in ACDSee as it provides many ways to catalog, sort, group, search for, and manage your files.
Categories
Categories are an easy way to organize your files into context-related sections. When you assign a file to a category, you do not move the file from its folder or create an extra copy. Your categories can be simple or complex and use any names you choose. There are different icons to use for different categories to help you identify them at a glance. Once your files are in categories, you can search, sort, group, and find them by category.
One way to assign files to a category is to select and drag one or more files from the file list and drop them onto the category. Any file that is assigned to a category has a blue tab above its thumbnail in the File List. A file can belong to multiple categories, but it will only have one blue tab. For comprehensive categories management, use the Organize tab of the Properties pane.
Keywords
Keywording is a highly efficient way to group files in hierarchies that make sense to you and find them quickly in an expanding tree. The hierarchical tree of keywords you have created in the Organize tab of the Properties pane is displayed in the Keywords section of the Catalog pane without the need to select an image. Utilize this group to manage your keywords on the fly by using the context menu (right-click). Keyword quickly by dragging a keyword onto an image, or by dragging an image onto a keyword.
Ratings
You can assign a numerical rating from 1 to 5 to your images and files. Once you have assigned ratings, you can search, sort, and catalog your files based on the ratings, or a combination of ratings, categories, auto categories etc. A file can have only one rating. When a file has a rating, the number appears on top of the thumbnail in the File List pane.
Color Labels
Color labels can be used in many ways to help you catalog your files. You can use different colors to represent different stages of your workflow. As you review your photos you can assign them to the color labels and rename them accordingly.
Auto Categories
Most digital cameras create and embed information about the file as you take a photo. This information is called metadata and can include the name and model of the camera, the file size, shutter speed, camera settings used in the shot and much more. ACDSee uses this information to create auto categories. When you click on an auto category, ACDSee searches for images containing that metadata. You can select one or more auto categories to find files, for example, photos of a certain size, taken by a particular camera. You can also add to this data using the Properties panes.
Saved Searches
If you find yourself creating the same search criteria frequently, you can save the search to use again later. Saved searches appear at the top of the Search pane but they also appear in the Catalog pane for you to re-run using a single click on the name or in the white checkbox of the Easy-select bar.
To create a new saved search from the Catalog pane:
- In the Saved Searches area of the Catalog pane, click the New saved search icon.
The Search pane opens.
- Enter your search criteria and then click the Saved searches icon.
The new saved search appears in the Saved Searches on the Catalog pane and in the Saved Searches drop-down list of the Search pane.
Special Items
You can use Special Items to quickly view all of the images in your database and any uncategorized images. Select one of the following items:
- Image Well: Displays all images cataloged in the ACDSee database. If you have a substantial image collection, it may take a few moments to gather all of the information.
- Embed Pending: Displays all the files with database data that has changed but has not yet been embedded in the files.
- Uncategorized: Displays any images cataloged in the database that have not been assigned to a category.
- No Keywords: Displays any images cataloged in the database that have no ACDSee keywords assigned.
- Tagged: Displays all the tagged photos on the computer.
You can assign a rating or category to any type of file, but the options in the Special Items area only apply to images.
The ACDSee Database and Embedded Data
When you assign a file to a rating, or category, this information is stored in the ACDSee database. If you choose to, you can also embed this information in each individual file, making it easier to relocate and share files, or retrieve the information from the file if you need to. As the database, information is always associated with a particular file. If you move or rename files using an application other than ACDSee (like Windows Explorer) the link between the file and the ACDSee database will be broken. If this happens, and you have embedded the information in each file, you can rebuild the database and retrieve all the information.
You can also use the Properties pane to add information to the ACDSee database like captions, keywords and much more. Taking the time to assign categories and add keywords, notes, etc., makes it much easier to find and organize your files.
ACDSee uses XMP to embed ACDSee Metadata into each file. Only some file formats and file extensions support XMP. These include GIF, JPEG, DNG, PNG, PSD, and TIF. In the case of these file formats, the ACDSee Metadata is embedded inside the file and so you can rename or move the file outside of ACDSee and still be able to retrieve the ACDSee Metadata. For formats that currently do not support XMP, including RAW and ABR, the ACDSee Metadata is written to a sidecar file that is stored in the same folder as its file. Because a sidecar file is separate from the file itself, you need to rename or move them together, or you could lose the ACDSee Metadata permanently.
Easy-Select Bars
The Easy-Select bars are the indicators on the left side of the Folders and Catalog panes. You can use the Easy-Select indicators to select multiple folders or categories, and display their contents in the File List pane. In the Catalog pane you can also use the Easy-Select indicators to select combinations of categories, ratings, auto categories, saved searches, and special items. For example, you could display all your photos with a rating of 1 that belonged to the category People.
You can also use the Easy-Select indicators with the Selective Browsing pane (View | Selective Browsing).
When you use the Match Any/All buttons and the Easy-Select indicators together, the Catalog pane becomes a powerful search tool for finding unique sets of files.
To Use the Easy-Select Bar:
In the Catalog pane, select the indicator to the left of each item with contents you want to display. The indicator changes orientation to point to the item you have selected.
If you select a category, rating, or combination that does not have any files that match, the File List displays a message and shows no thumbnails. The quickest way to return to a folder with files is to click the back arrow.
To View Cataloged Files:
Select one or more categories, ratings, auto categories, saved searches, or special items. Files assigned to those classifications are displayed in the File List pane.
The Contents bar at the top of the File List pane displays whatever categories or items are currently selected. You can browse through specific categories, ratings, or items within specific folders using the Selective Browsing pane.
Match All Match Any
There are two Match All/ Match Any drop-down lists on the Catalog pane; one at the top of the pane that affects categories and one that affects saved searches. You can use the Match All and Any options to affect the display of thumbnails in the File List in the following way:
- Match All: To be included, a file has to belong to all the categories or searches you select. So the file has to be in both or all of the categories or searches before it will display in the File List. Match All is more exclusive. You can use it to limit the number of files that display and narrow a search down.
- Match Any: To be included, a file can belong to any of the categories or searches you select. So any files in the selected categories or searches will display in the File List. Match any is more inclusive.
Catalog Icons
|
|
Category
|
Identifies files that have been assigned to a category.
|
|
|
Ratings 1-5
|
Identifies file ratings.
|
|
|
New Saved search
|
Opens the Search pane so that you can create a new saved search.
|
|
|
Saved search
|
Displays the Save/Save As menu so you can save a search.
|
|
|
Easy-Select indicator (selected)
|
Selects the category, rating, auto category, or other item for display in the File List pane.
|
|
|
Easy-Select indicator (not selected)
|
Does not select the category, rating, auto category, or other item for display in the File List pane.
|
|
|
Match Any/All
|
Controls which images are displayed in the File List pane.
|
To hide the icons in the Catalog pane, click Tools | Options, and then select Catalog. Deselect the Show Icons checkbox in the Options dialog box.
See Also: