Portfolio 6

Filing negatives and photographs is at the best of times a laborious task, but when you need to find a picture quickly, the benefits of having an efficient filing system become obvious. The problem with digital cameras is that they create pictures with meaningless filenames such as DSC_2010 or Img_3567 etc., and distinguishing an image is impossible unless you have some form of a visual reference. Using a digital camera means you can take thousands of pictures in a very short space of time and if you haven’t catalogued them efficiently, finding the right one can be a major headache.

Portfolio 6 is a Digital Asset Management application which creates a visual database of all stored images and assigns Keywords and Field values to each one for rapid searches. Portfolio can be used to copy or move files between folders and drives in much the same way you would by using your Operating System, but Portfolio keeps track of where they have been moved to and updates the database accordingly. Searching for a picture, or collection of pictures, in a database of thousands of images takes just a few split seconds - this application is fast! So is this what we have all been waiting for?

Portfolio adds images to user defined catalogues - you can have several of them open at any one time enabling you to move items between catalogues, or to perform a search across multiple ones. Starting Portfolio for the first time you are prompted to create a new catalogue, give it a name and press Save - you are now ready to add images. Adding files to the database is simple, just click on the “+” symbol or select Add items from the menu. Select single files, a folder, entire directories, CDs, or other removable media, and they will all be added to the database. You can even view the disk’s folder hierarchy within the database.

A browser style catalogue can be created from removable media such as CD-R's or from your hard drive.

Portfolio also automates the transfer of images from a card reader to hard drive, renaming and adding Keywords to each picture during the process if you want. Keywords and Fields are the secret to finding images quickly - a keyword is a descriptive piece of information that is embedded with each image. For your holiday pictures you could add keywords such as Majorca, Palma, Holiday, Mum, Sophie, Boats, 2002 etc. When you search the database you only need to enter one keyword for a general search, or for a more refined search you could use two or more keywords. Searches can be saved, which makes re-finding a collection of pictures a quick task. Portfolio will recognise keywords created in Photoshop (File > File Info), although Keywords added to files via Portfolio are not recognised by Photoshop (an oversight by Extensis?). Keywords can be added, deleted or changed at any time.

There are many options for adding useful Keywords to your database at any stage, you should add these from within Photoshop if you are intending to distribute your images.

Catalogues can be viewed as a hierarchy of your hard drive or CD - clicking on any of the folders will display the content in the same way as Explorer. Portfolio 6 now has an extra feature called Folder Sync which will watch chosen folders (or directories) and update them as you add, change, or delete images and update the catalogue. Portfolio also has a background cataloguing feature which catalogues CDs, folders or directories at your own chosen intervals (from 5 seconds to 1 day), making the addition of new or modified files a very simple matter.

Another new feature for version 6 is the Portfolio Express Palette which is added to the task bar on start up. Pressing Ctrl + Shift + P (or define your own Hotkeys), opens the floating palette which enables you to search for files and drag them to your application. When you’re working in Photoshop, Quark etc., the palette gives you quick access to any of the files in the catalogue. This palette, combined with the search facility, saves time having to wade through folders looking for files stored in multiple locations.

The new Express Palette will let you drag and drop files into your applications

The display of catalogue. thumbnails can be customised with several predefined borders - you can customise the background colour and fonts. Double clicking on a thumbnail opens the source file, or if you press Ctrl + E, the image opens in your chosen application. When cataloguing CDs or other removable media the images are not available until you insert the correct disk. However, Portfolio can create JPG preview images up to a maximum of 1000 pixels on the longest side, these are then used to preview the image. Previews are automatically created when you add to the catalogue. (the feature can also be turned off). Portfolio can create web pages from your catalogue. content using professionally designed templates, making it easy to display images via the web. The predefined web pages can be altered to your own preferred layout, although a knowledge of HTML (Horrid Text Meaningless Language) is essential. Basic slide shows can be created - these pale in comparison to other applications such as FotoStation 4.5, or ACDSee 4, but are nevertheless a useful addition. Window OS users now have the facility to create a Quick time movie of catalogues or selected images, this was previously only available to Mac users.

Portfolio 6 can create image catalogues ready for use on the web, a knowledge of HTML is essential should you want to make any alterations.

Searching for files is very fast in Portfolio. From a catalogue. of 8064 images a search took less than 2 seconds to find and display 1396 files. Selecting the file’s properties gives the relevant information, such as CD Disk number and folder name for each image (you have to give your own numbers to CDs at the time of creating them - things are never that automatic on computers). Adding 960 digital camera images from a CD to a catalog is a slow process taking some 11 minutes, but this could be a background operation which would then not interfere with other work. Copying files from a compact flash card reader, adding keywords and renaming each file, took approx 3 minutes for 140 files.

Verdict.

Portfolio 6 is a professional application which may not appeal to the casual user. Although simple to master it is not as intuitive as some of the amateur offerings like ACDSee 4.0. To get the full benefit from Portfolio you must be prepared to assign Keywords, Field Values etc. There are many features in this application which you may or may not require, but the options are there. For professional photographers, designers, and digital camera users, all of whom are likely to have hundreds or thousands of images this application is an essential item.

System requirements

Mac
OS 8.6 and higher (9.2.1 recommended) OS X (free upgrade available summer 2002)
Power PC + 32mb available RAM

Windows
Windows 98 and higher, NT, 2000 and XP
Pentium + 32mb available RAM

Price

£149.99 + vat

upgrade from version 5 £34.95 + vat

Pros:
Very fast searches
Multiple catalogs open at any time
New Portfolio Express palette

Cons:
Slow to add to catalog
Price
Requires studying the manual in great detail
Keywords can’t be read by Photoshop

Portfolio 6

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