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Preview Gallery Instructions
We highly recommend watching our instructional
videos in addition to reading these written instructions.
You can find
our Video Library at our Support Menu on our home page.
You must have a current full install of the latest Presentation Gold or Lite V 5.0.23 to organize and upload your images to the Preview Gallery.
Follow the instructions on our Performerpro.com website to install a program.
If you are currently using our Preview ProLab or Presentation Deluxe program, do not uninstall it if you have active orders in progress. You can install a new Presentation Gold or Lite along side your present program.
To join Preview GalleryIf you are computer "savvy" you can follow these instruction: (if you are like the rest of us, just skip the do it yourself method and drop us an email or phone call and we will help you through the entire process. It will take about 30 minutes and we are happy to help you)
Before you can upload images to Preview Gallery be sure you registered, paid and logged into the Back Office to create your Studio Web Page. For the following instructions we will call our programs Presentation.
1- Go to this page to join us or log in if you already registered and paid.
http://www.previewgallery.com/start/
You will notice as you use our system that there is no direct web link for your customers to follow that would lead them to the Preview Gallery Photographers side of the system. They can only get to event pages by typing into the Explorer address box- either the photographers name or the photographers name and the event name, as supplied by YOU.
They cannot get to the sign up pages, or price pages for Preview Gallery. This information is only available on our Preview Pro site. We feel it is unprofessional for your clients to get to main page of a web hosting company and have the option of viewing the costs you pay for services.
If they do type in www.previewgallery.com they will get a screen that sell them to contact the photographer of the event, or the host of the event they are looking for.
Photographers can only get to our sign up pages through links on other sites or by typing in the specific URL for the signup page.
This concept should keep clients from getting information they shouldn't have.
2- After you register for the first time you will receive and email back automatically from the "system". That email will contain the username you entered and a computer generated password. When you log into the system to create your web hosing site you can change the password in the "Administration" page.
NOTE: When you receive a second email from us that your Gallery has been activated, you must enter the "computer generated password" in the box shown below to create your connection the first time. Do not use your own password.
3- During the next 24 hours we will activate your actual website on our server. It is a manual operation and it takes about an hour. Based on the volume of requests we receive for hosting sites, you could get a verification that your site is active in 1 hour or the next day.
When you get notification that your site is activated, and you connect to your site the first time, a PGR file will be retrieved and placed in the "startup" folder inside your program files directory for Presentation.
The PGR file is the "auto" connection file that contains the information the program uses to connect you to your Gallery. Once it is installed you never have to worry about it again. We are just letting you know a little bit about how the system works.
4- While you are waiting for your site to be activated, you can go to your back office and set up your pages and set some of the parameters available to you. Unlike other web hosting site, we load your username and password into your computer and you never have to "log on" to upload an event. You will see how easy it is when you get started using the system.
As soon as you click the Preview Gallery icon
in the tool bar you will automatically be connected to your Preview Gallery Web Hosting site.
5- When you receive the email that your site is activated, all you have to do is:
a- type the username (in "User ID) and the computer generated password (in "Password") you received in the first email from us into the screen below, that appears when you click the Preview Gallery Icon in Presentation. Click "Retrieve".
Do that once and forget about it. You will automatically be connected to your gallery each time you open the Preview Gallery Upload Screen.
b- PRINT out the email with the username and password you received. Keep it where you can find it later. If your computer crashes, all you have to do is install a new program from our website, and follow these procedures again.
Don't panic if you do loose it- just contact us and we will make you a new one. We can only help you during normal business hours.
Suggestion: I have a "rolodex" file that I use to store all my passwords. Try it.
6- While waiting for your activation email to arrive you can do a little homework in Presentation. If you have been using another web hosting service you know that you have options to offer different prices and sizes for different events. We set those options in Presentation. Since the order created in Preview Gallery can be opened and processed in Presentation, we set some options in Presentation.
7- While waiting for your activation, you could also begin to organize an event for uploading!!!!
8- Be sure to take advantage of the "Slide Show" you can create on your main page. You must have a Presentation Gold or Lite program installed to upload your "main page slide show".
Prepare and upload 6 different images for your main page slide show. You will see this new icon at the bottom of the 1st Upload Screen:
Click the Slides button. The next screen will appear:
The first time you open this screen there aren't any images to be downloaded from your gallery. Once you upload your first set of images for your main page slide show, the next time you open this screen your images will download and populate the boxes:
When this screen is open you can select new images to upload.
Click a box and it will open a "browse" window. Browse to your images and select them. You can rotate and crop them right in this window. A great time savor.
Follow the instructions at the bottom left of the Slides screen.
Right click an image and the crop box will appear. Drag it to size, and release it. Then use the space bar to save the crop, click the space bar again to remove the crop.
When you are finished, "Upload" the Main Page Slide Show Images.
We emphasize "Main Page" slide show because you can upload images to a slide show for each event you upload. When you go to the image organizer to select images for your event, you can select images for your "Web_Slide_Show". These 6 images will appear on the event page.
Follow the instructions below.
Presentation "Homework"
A few "do's and don'ts....
1- Do not use any characters in image file names, folder names, category names, event names, ect. Especially your original image directory names. Use only "alpha" and numeric characters, no / [ ] \@#$ , . %&*().
Only use letters and numbers, and put an underscore if you want to leave a space between words.
NOTE:do not think because you were able to upload your images to the Gallery that everything is "ok" even if you have incorrect image file names. The "incorrection" will come back to haunt you later.
Images should only be named with letters and numbers, and not even letters (names) unless absolutely necessary. Keep image and folder names short and concise. Don't name your images with client names in them, or:
Joann's & Christopher's Wedding 01293845.jpg make it 001.jpg and so on. Keep the image names small!!!We have tried to "code out" some prohibited characters, but there is no limit to the things that can cause problems on the web or in digital image ordering systems.
3- You cannot add images, or change price groups to an event once the event is online. Our system saves you an enormous amount of prep time because it categorizes and resizes the images for you in your computer. Events have to be uploaded in their entirety.
4- You must remove any password protection from your event BEFORE deleting the event from the gallery.
5- When you receive an order from the Gallery, look for the payment type. If no payment type is listed, it is possible your client did not proceed to the payment page and pay for the order. Contact them for payment.
1- Open the View/Preferences screen.
2- Select a Config File for your lab if they are one of our Lab Partners. If you are not using one of our Lab Partners to process your lab orders, you can still use Preview to prepare and organize your images for uploading to Preview Gallery, and you can use the email order that you receive from the web to create your lab order manually, and send it to your lab the way you normally do.
If you are using our Partners Labs to process your work, you can use the "order.dat." file that is attached to the email to open your order in Presentation, crop, color correct, and retouch, then send it off to the lab. If you use Presentation to process your orders, you will never have to search for ordered images- the orders open in Presentation and the ordered images appear. Then you can FTP your order directly out of Presentation-to your lab. A real time savor.
3- If you are not using one of our Lab Partners, select the "Default" config file.
4- You can decide what sizes to offer your clients by checking and unchecking the boxes next to the sizes in the Price Schedule screen. To set a price, click on the size itself and enter a price.
5- You can make different "Price Groups" by typing a Price Group name into the box to the left of the add button and clicking "Add". When you are finished creating a Price/Size group you will be prompted to save it as a new Config File. Give it any name you like and save it.
6- When you upload you images to your gallery later you will have an opportunity to select any Price group you created.
7- For orders created in Presentation itself you can set the sales tax here. For web orders, you set the sales tax in the "Back Office" of Preview Gallery.
8- The other 2 boxes, "Quantities for each Order Dropdown", and "Number of Package Buttons" are for Presentation settings, and do not apply to web hosting settings.
When you make any changes to the sizes or prices in this screen, be sure to click "Save" (the config file) when you are finished.
Preparing your images for uploading
1- Open an image directory in Presentation.
Use File Open, or click the first icon on the tool bar and select an image directory.
2- Open the Image Organizer
3- Create your Image Categories
Images only load to the web if placed in the Image Organizer. You can select any category, or create a category of your choice.
To make a new category, click the + button. Type in the new category name and click OK. It will be added to the list. To remove a category- select it and click the X. Then click Ok to delete the category.
Drag your images from the Thumb Bar up to the Images Organizer Bar.
You can remove images from the Organizer Bar with the standard "Delete" key.
You can load images into multiple categories and later Preview will upload all the categories to the web at once.
You can load all the images in one category if you choose. Use a category like Portraits, or Wedding Images....
You can drag images from left to right on the Image Organizer and they will stay in the order you placed them when they appear on the web. This is just one of the unique features of Preview Gallery.
You must select 6 images from each event to be displayed in a Web_Slide_Show on each client's event page. Another great feature.
NOTE: do not use the feature in Presentation Gold to create Black and White or Sepia images and then upload those image to the gallery. Your clients can click any image while viewing them on the gallery and see them in Black and White. Sepia is just not an option at this time.
The problem is this... When you create a B&W or Sepia image in Presentation the image is renamed with a [B] or a [S]. The brackets around the B and the S cause problems in the "Web Based" ordering system. We are looking into a solution, you will be informed when we solve the problem.
4- Click the Preview Gallery icon.
5- The Preview Gallery Order Process Screen 1 appears
In line #1- the name of the current Image Directory appears.
In Line #2- Type in the name you would like have appear on the event web page.
In Line #3- Select an existing Event Type, such as Wedding, or create your own Event titles like Portrait,
Dance Recital, ect. When you create an Event Group and add an Event, the Event title Group will
appear on your main Event page in the Gallery. The Event Group name will not appear on the page
if there are no Events in the category.In Box #4- Move the Categories you want to have appear on the web to the box to the right. You can use the Up
and Down arrows to move the categories into the position you would like them to appear on the Client's
Event page.6- The Preview Gallery Order Process Screen 2 appears.
7- In the top line you see the name of your event.
8- In the box you see the events that are currently on the Preview Gallery.
9- The X allows you to delete any events from the Gallery. When the event has been successfully deleted a message will appear telling you the process was completed.
10- In Processing Options:
A- you can choose a type style for your displayed Wedding Album Cover
B- you can print the Proof on your large display images. Click "Apply Overlay"
C- you can password protect your event by clicking the "Privacy" button.
11- Process and Upload your images.
During this process your images are rotated, cropped, color corrected, resized and dropped into the category folders. Presentation accomplishes all of these processes at once, saving you hours of wasted time preparing your images as required by the other web hosting services. You can continue to use Presentation or any other program while your images are being processed.
When the image "Processing" is completed, the images will begin the upload process automatically.
Upload an Album
After you create an album in Presentation, you can upload the layout to your Gallery.
Simply design your album, open your Gallery Upload System, enter a title, you may want to create a new category like "Albums", then check the "Album" check box at the bottom right of the first upload screen, go to the next screen and upload the album.
Your clients can review the album, you can make changes and "re-upload the new design" for their approval.
Yes, you can password protect album design uploads.
Password ProtectionA- create an event and upload it to your Gallery. You cannot password protect an event until it is uploaded to the Gallery.
B- in Preview Gallery (screen 2) click the "Privacy" button.
C- you will be brought back on the web to your Web Office. Enter your username and password for Preview Gallery.
D- the screen below will appear.
E- click the arrow to the right of the "Current Folder" window. Select the event you want to Password Protect. Click "Change Folder". the new folder name will appear in the "Current Folder" field.
NOTE: it is important for you to be sure you selected event you want to protect, and then click "Change Folder" to be sure you are protecting the event and NOT the entire Gallery. If you find you accidentally protected the entire Gallery, don't panic, just go back to the Protection page and remove the Password Protection.
F- click the "Restrict access to the following users".
G- in the "AuthName Banner" box you can create a name to be displayed on the Password Screen that people see when they click an event. You can always come back here and change anything you did, so don't worry about doing it all correctly the first time.
H- in the table below you enter a "username". Type in the password twice and you are set. For a portrait session you might use the clients first name for the username and the last name for the password. For a wedding, the clients last names. Bride in the username, groom in the password. Just suggestions. You will create a system that works for you.
I- click the "Save Data" button at the bottom of the screen and you are finished.
Go online and see if your Password Protection was successful.
The Preview Gallery
The Gallery operation is very simple. Clients get there by typing in the URL address you give them after you create and event. What you may want to keep in mind is that if you create an event name like Jeff and Jill. the URL has to read (lower case) jeff_and_jill. Be sure to put the underscores between the words.
When you go on line to see how your event uploaded, take a look at the URL for the event. Then you will see how to do it. You will give your clients the complete web address: www.previewgallery,com/studioname/eventname, like this:
www.previewgallery.com/parkphotography/jeff_and_jillThat address will get them to their images.
If you have your own website you can place a link there and have your clients start at your site and click to get to the Gallery.
You may choose to give everyone the Gallery address and your studio name (username in the system) like this:
www.previewgallery.com/parkphotographyWhen they arrive at your main page they can click the event category drop downs and find their event.
Once there, it flows very easily. Click an even name, click a category, click a thumbnail, order prints, check out. There are 3 payment options available for you to offer your clients.
They can enter their credit card number and it will be sent to you with the order. This option is for those of you who have your own credit card processing terminal accounts.They can pay by PayPal. We have a link in the back office that links to PayPal. You can set up an account from there. We don't require you to use PayPal. We have investigate many other credit card processors and found PayPal to be the easiest solution. If you find one you prefer to use, contact customer support and we will see if we can implement it into our system.
And we offer a "Call the Photographer with your payment" option. This works quite well when there are complimentary pictures included in the order.
You set the options yourself in your Admin Page in the Preview Gallery back office (on the web side).
There are many other features available to you. We now have a separate "Studio Information" page you can use to add information to your site. You can set the colors of your site. There are a few pre-set themes.
We suggest you create a quick site, go through the entire process of organizing and uploading your images, then go back and "tweak" the site.
Receiving an Order
You will receive an email from your customer when an order is placed. The body of the email will contain the order in written text form.
you will also receive an "Order.dat" file attachment. Save that attachment to a folder on your computers drive. Make a folder called "Web Orders", save the attachment there.
Then, open Presentation and use the Open Order feature. Browse to the new Web Order folder you created and select the Order.dat file- your order will open. Once opened, an order folder will be created in C:/Presentation Orders. That is where you will go to re-open the order in the future.
If you plan on using Presentation to create orders as a regular part of your workflow- we strongly suggest you read the instructions on our web site. Presentation are very powerful programs and can save you many hour of production time.
When you open your order in Presentation, go to the crop screen- you will be able to see what was ordered and the quantities.
You can crop, color correct, and open the images in Photoshop for retouching and enhancements. Save the image in Photoshop and it will be ready to be sent to the lab with your order.
Don't let any of this fluster you right now. View our sample sight www.previewgallery.com/parkphotography and create an event yourself, and you will see how all the pieces fit together.
Preview Gallery Album Images Selection Tool
This is a tool for clients to use to select images for their "Albums". It is NOT an album design tool for them to layout and design albums. If we let them start doing that, next we will have them taking their own pictures. Album design is a creative process. It should not be left in the Bride's hands. That concept is equal to allowing them to arrange their own flowers for their wedding. We are the professionals, they choose the images they like, we design.
1- if you are an existing Gallery Subscriber:
a. Go to your Back Office, go to your Web Page Editor/Preview Gallery Homepage.
b. You need to "build the page" again. Just scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Build Web Site button.
2- New Subscribers and existing subscribers who have re-built their Homepage
a. Go to your Back Office, go to your Web Page Editor/ Homepage, scroll to the bottom of the page
c. You will see a link called "bride-login.php", click it
d. You will be brought to a "linking" page that will tell you to click the link to be brought to the Album selection feature, click the link.
e. This is the next screen you will see:
f. On the left side you will see the events you selected to use the Album Selection tool.
g. For a Bride to use this tool YOU must create a username and password for her to log in to the Album Selection page.h. The Album selection system requires a username and password to enter the system. If you password protect your event, you must use the same username and password as you use to password protect the event.
i. In the "Bride's Event ID" box browse to your Bride's Event Name. When you click the dropdown arrow all of your events will appear. Select the event you want to use.
j. Click "AddLogin".
k. Notify your Bride that the Album Selection System is active and supply her with the username and password.
What does the Bride have to do to use the system?
l. Your Bride enters the Gallery just as they did before. Once they select a category in an their event, they will be brought to the thumbnail page, as before.
There is a new "link" in the top right corner of the thumbnail page: "bride login". They click it and the password screen appears. They enter their information and they are brought to this screen:
m. The instructions are there but here is a review. The Bride can create an Album with any name. Bride Album, My Album, Sheila (her name) Album, etc...
o. They can create albums for themselves and their parents. The parents can open the albums in their own computers and make their own selections.
At this time all the album orders are grouped together when the Bride sends you the album selections. In our studio we don't allow the clients to submit partial orders, so this system works for us. But after discussing it with other photographers we realized that the not all studios have the same workflow.
We are working on an upgrade that will allow the clients to "select" the album to send you. That way, if the parents albums are not ready, you can begin work on the Bride's album.
As we have suggested in the past. Don't allow the computer to eliminate opportunities to speak to your clients. Every time you speak to your clients you reinforce the "personal relationships" you need to nurture your business. Too many photographers we speak to are trying to run "anonymous" relationships with their clients. Even though we are trying to take advantage of the computer age to help us with workflow, we shouldn't let the clients think they are a number in a system.
A few years ago restaurants tried to use "Palm Pilot" hand held computers to take orders and transfer them to the kitchen. You don't really see them in fine restaurants anymore. They realized the customers felt that the food they were ordering was mass produced if the waiter could just punch the order into a hand held computer.
But...if you look behind the "wall" in the same restaurant, you will find a computer with a touch screen. They still use the computer, but they are not so "impersonal" about it, and the customers feel "special" when they have a special request for their food preparation.
p. When the Bride is ready to "check out" they click the button and they are brought to a simple screen that allows them to enter their name and phone info.
How do you receive the order?
q. The order arrives exactly like a regular order from the web. You open the order in Presentation Gold or Lite. This system will not work with Preview ProLab or Presentation Deluxe.
If you are a Preview ProLab user, install Presentation Gold, use it for the 30 day trial period. After the 30 day trial period it will become Presentation Lite. Presentation Lite is the free version of our software created to replace Preview ProLab and is identical it's basic operation.
r. When you open the order, open the Album Designer Module, open the Image Organizer.
s. Look through the categories in the Image Organizer List. You will see the categories the Bride created in CAPS.
Also, you should contact the Bride, let her know you received the order, confirm her categories, and discuss any details she feels would make her album "special". Remember...the personal touch.
t. You are ready to design her album. Her selections are in the Image Organizer bar, and all of her images are below in the thumbnail bar. When designing a custom album, you made need to add or change images to make it flow better. Since all of her images are right there in the thumbnail bar, the process is made easier.
u. Parent Album orders. If your Bride sent the Parent Album orders, open the crop screen. Open the Image Organizer, select one of the Parent Albums. Select "all" of the images in the Organizer. Select a quantity of "1" from the size/quantity list. Click Order.
You have now ordered 1 5x7 (or whatever size you sold the client) of each image.
Order the other Parent Albums and crop the ordered images. When you are finished, send the order to the lab.
If you are using Presentation Gold, you can go to the Proof Sheet printer and print separate proof sheets for each album to speed up assembly later.
You can't modify an already uploaded event- you can't add images, remove images, or change the Prices. Unlike other web hosting services that take you hours of prep and upload time, but allow you to do these things- we save you hours of time, but each event is a complete event. Modifying and event and re-uploading only takes a few minutes.
You can't include an "Album Cover" in an individual image upload. Album Covers are for Album uploads only.
Please contact us by email, include a phone number, we do call back if we can't answer a question in an email.
| Performer Software - Nutley, NJ - techsupport@performerpro.com |
