If you have an existing set of images, then you can use the Import feature to get these image in your catalog. To import your image simply click the "Import" button in the main application toolbar.
Once you click the Import button a dialog appears, and in this dialog you can select the folder of images that you'd like to import to the catalog. In the upper tree you select the folder and then set the import option. These options are:
Import sub folders also |
By selecting this option you instruct IDimager to also import all folders that are inside the selected folder
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Create thumbnails afterwards |
By selecting this option you instruct IDimager to create thumbnails during the import process. It is recommended that you enable this option.
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Store meta information to catalog |
By selecting this option you instruct IDimager to read existing meta information like Exif, IPTC, XMP etc to the catalog. It is recommended that you always enable this option, as it will ensure that the images that you read to the Catalog will have their existing keywords migrated to catalog labels.
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Create import session label in Auto Catalog section |
Select this option if you want to create a entry in the catalog labels of your catalog. This will allow you to quickly retrieve all images from this session afterwards.
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Mark import folder as |
[IDimager Pro Only] You can optionally assign a folder marking to the folders that you import. By doing so you can quickly step to that folder when this folder has work left to do.
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Once you have configured the dialog you click <OK> to start the import process. The import process will now start.
The import process is handled in a background process, which means that you can continue to work in IDimager (Professional Edition only). During the import process IDimager will:
1. Create catalog entries in the database
2. If specified, a thumbnail will be created and stored in the thumbnail database. Also, if you have configured IDimager to use stored previews (Tools -> Options -> General -> Store previews in database), a preview image will also be created
3. If you have enabled "Store meta information to catalog", the metadata is imported to the database. This includes:
a. Exif information
b. An XMP block is created for the image if not available yet, and it is initialized with existing Exif and IPTC information
c. If existing XMP and/or IPTC keywords are available, then catalog labels are created for the keywords and assigned to the image
d. Each XMP property is stored to the database for extensive searching (if "Tools -> Options -> XMP Sync Settings -> Allow extensive meta searching" is enabled).
While the import process runs, you can close the window so that it no longer claims precious screen real estate. Once it is closed you can open it again by selecting "View -> Toggle Import Progress" from the application's main menu.
The import process can be canceled at any time by clicking the <X> button at the top right corner of the Import progress window. Once you cancel the import process you can restart it again afterwards, and IDimager will skip all the images that were already imported.
After the import process has completed you can use the Catalog Explorer to browse your images.
You can start multiple import processes for different folders concurrently. To do this, simply click again on the "Import" button to start a new import process.
In the example above the import progress dialog shows two entries that are in progress, one entry that is finished and one entry that is canceled. As you can see, each different entry uses its own status icon.
In progress
Finished
Canceled
Finished and canceled processes can be cleaned up by right clicking in the progress dialog and then selecting "Cleanup Finished Items".