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Reviews by Becky Soto, Beth
Nixon, and Meryl Bartho
Review by Becky Soto
ACDSee 9 Photo Manager is a fabulous program for managing your photos. First off, you can set your screen up in an almost indefinte number of ways, as there are several helpful windows to choose from, and you can stack, rearrange, open or close any and all of them to suit. I am amazed at this program's ability to suit the user's preferences.
I have to say, I've been playing with this program for a few days now, and there is still much more in there for me to explore, but it is so user friendly that it's a snap to learn.
Once you begin sorting through your files, you'll find you are able to not only tag your photos with keywords, you are also able to rate your photos on a scale of 1 through 5, as well as add captions, notes and categories. And all of this is done with ease, as the information can all be entered in a single window!
This program has a feature that, for me, was a pot of gold. A search window! All that tagging you just did gives you the ability to search through your files, using keywords, categories, ratings, etc, in any combination you choose, just by clicking the flyout arrow and selecting them.
This handy program has plenty of other features as well. You can batch edit your photos, which is a great help if you have numerous photos taken that all need the same adjustments - what a time saver!
You can even print right from this program, including
contact sheets. This program will also allow you
to create slide shows, cd's, and dvd's, among other
things. With all of these options, and many more,
this program would be a superb, not to mention extremely
useful, addition to anyone's library.
Review by Beth Nixon
ACDSEE Photo Manger is a database program to help organize all of your image files. It gives you the ability to view, organize, sort, and enhance your photos with just a few clicks. In addition, there are basic photo editing functions including red-eye fixes. Plus there's aquick view mode that allows you to see any jpg quickly. But the key for any digital scrapbooker . . . organization! ACDSee will let yousee, in just a few clicks, all the scrapping supplies you have stored on your computer!
The initial set-up was a snap. When I first opened Photo Manager, itasked what files I would like categorized. I just chose the foldersand the Catalog File Wizard added my file information to the database.
This will take several minutes, depending on how many photos you have,but is worth the time! I chose only certain files as I know where myphotos and supplies are stored and it took over 30 minutes but Icataloged over an amazing 15,000 files! As I sat and watched thecatalog wizard chug through my computer images, I could instantly seethe value of the program! I saw so many files I forgot I had!!
I wasn't completely clear on what to do next but after a little poking around, I figured out how to add categories and sub-categories and Istarted the process of categorizing my images. I decided to startwith a small project and categorize my photos from this year.
I was a little overwhelmed by all the windows but once you take amoment to look at each one, it's pretty easy to figure out. Here's something I found that made it easier to categorize the images. I wasright-clicking on each photo and assigning the appropriate categories.
But the Properties Window > Database Window, on the right-hand side,allows the user to just click each category and assign it to an image.
I also found that you can assign labels as a group. Just select allthe images that you want to have the same label and assign them to thegroup all at once. What a time saver!!
I started with my photos, assigning who was in the photo, when it wastaken, and once I found out I could search by captions, adding a smalldescription. Wow! Now, I just search for snow and I can see all my snow photos from the last couple years! Or just the snow photos fromthis year! (There's a great option to match any of the categories orall of the categories you've checked. Inclusive and exclusivesearches.) So with just a few clicks, I found all pictures on mycomputer with snow!
Every database project is tedious to get set-up. Deciding the rightcategories to add and then going through each item is a process thatneeds to be well thought out. But, it's well worth the work! There'sa lot of thought that must go into any project of this size to makeyour life easier but just think of what you'll be able to find withjust a few clicks.
For a digital scrapper . . . I found that an easy way to start is gothrough and categorize all of my preview or contact sheets as such.Then with one click, you can see all of your previews. It's really agreat way to start. Then you can decide . . . what else do you wantto categorize by? Designer name, kit color, kit theme, elements?? Youcan decide how you want to search and start adding categories! (Onething I would not recommend, if you have alphas, don't categorize themindividually. Otherwise you'll be looking at 26 (or many more) itemsthat are essentially the same. Try categorizing the contact orpreview for the alpha. Then you can see them without clogging up your search with all of them!)
The program opens fast. It's easy to see ALL images . . . jpg, gif,png, even psd files. (LOVE that!) It's a lot of work to categorize,which is to be expected, but it's easy to go through and addcategories and add items to each new category.
For a digital scrapper or anyone with a big inventory
of digitalphotos, this is a must. If you're like
me, your library of digitalelements and photos grows by
leaps and bounds and trying to findthings after only a
few months, becomes an overwhelming project ORyou're missing
the perfect element or kit because you don't evenremember
it! By categorizing and sorting, you'll be finding
everything you need with a few clicks!
Review by Meryl Bartho
Are you always searching for elements, backgrounds,
photos? Unless you are Miss Super Organized Scrapper
I bet the answer is yes! You have probably tried other
organizing programs but have you been disappointed with
their search capabilities, their ability to recognize
various file types? I have recently had the opportunity
to test the ACDSee 9 Photo Manager and I have been very
impressed.
I found installation an easy process and then eagerly
clicked "Acquire Images" picking all my folders as the
option - it very quickly found all sorts of images in
folders I had long forgotten, giving me the option to
rename and choose a destination. Once it had completed
its search what a happy surprise it was to see that
it could display .psd (native Photoshop files) correctly,
I know all Photoshop users morn being able to quickly
view the files in Microsoft Windows Explorer, so this
was a real plus J. I had already heard that it could
display .png files correctly - important to ALL digi
scrappers, and I was very happy to see that this was
indeed correct. Another useful option is to allow automatically
rotation of the thumbs straight from the camera - however,
not all cameras allow this - mine a Sony D50, didn’t,
however it is very easy to do once in the browser.
There are, limited, image editing tools for some common
tasks such as red-eye removal, image tone, shadow/highlight,
cropping, adding captions – however I feel most
digi scrappers will use their graphics program to more
easily and more efficiently do these tasks.
There are a huge number of features and tools available,
obviously the more options one has the more there is
to learn, however, well worth the effort and the excellent
help and numerous tutorials available make it a pleasant
task. Of all the features it is probably the organizing,
categorizing and sorting which is the most powerful
and useful - once you have categorized and added keywords,
captions, ratings and notes you will easily be
able to browse and search your graphic files in a number
of ways. There are many other fun options too –
create a slideshow, a CD or DVD, screensavers or wallpaper,
lots to enjoy.
I feel that the under $50.00 investment is well worthwhile
– once you have the organizing done you WILL find
you’re your precious scrapbooking time more productive
and scrapbooking more of a pleasure – being able
to quickly find your photos, elements and backgrounds,
sketches and all we tend to collect with gay abandon,
will be a huge time and frustration saver!
Buy
Version 10 now!
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