How To Guide - Folio Albums

HOW TO GUIDE
Folio Albums
Designer
Contents
Creating a design
Edit Spreads
Storyboard
Versions
Share Album
Upload
(Click a heading to take you to the appropriate page)
Creating a design
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After placing an order via the online shop you will be assigned an order number
beginning with ‘FO’ (e.g.: FO12345). The album design software can be accessed at the
following link: designer.folioalbums.com
When logged in to the Folio Albums Shop the design software will automatically create you an account and log you in.
In the design software select ‘Create new album project’. Select the appropriate album then type a Project name in the provided box.
The next stage of the design process requires you to upload your images. The available options are to either upload thumbnails (recommended), High resolution files or
both. If you select thumbnails at this point the upload will be much quicker. You can
then upload the high resolution files once the design is complete.
Once all the images have uploaded you will be given the option to Edit your spreads,
view your Storyboard or view the different versions of the design.
Edit Spreads
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In the Edit Spreads screen all the uploaded images will be in the bar along the top of
the screen. Spreads will be displayed below the images and there is a toolbar to the
right of the screen.
To add images to the design simply drag and drop them from the top image bar on
to the spread. Once an image has been used within the design it will be blanked out
in the image bar. If you want to use the same image within the design twice a new
version will need to be uploaded with a different name.
When the desired images have been dragged on to the spread a range of templates
will appear in the bar underneath, matching the number of apertures to the number
of images on the spread.
Templates with apertures that match the orientation of the images selected will appear in green while other templates that perhaps don’t quite fit the orientation of the
selected images as well will appear in grey.
Templates can be quickly changed by selecting a new one from the bottom template
bar. This will automatically switch the template in the spread. The crop of the image
can be changed by clicking on the image and dragging it around the aperture. Zoom
in to an image by using your mouse scroll-wheel.
Matted Album templates have a faded white border around each image, representing
the area of image that the mount board may cover. It is advised to keep anything you
don’t want to be cropped within this area.
Images can be removed from the spread by clicking the black arrow button in the top
left corner of the image and dragging it back in to the top image bar. This will make
the image available again to be placed on another spread.
In the right toolbar is the option to ‘Flip Horizontally’ or ‘Flip Vertically’ this will flip the
layout of the template. The images below demonstrate this using the ‘Flip Horizontally’ tool.
It is possible to swap images around into different apertures by clicking the black
arrow button in the top left corner of an image and dragging it on top of another
image.
When happy with the design of a spread click the ‘Save Spread’ button in the right
toolbar. The spread will then be added to the bottom bar. In this bar you can switch
between spreads and make amendments at any time.
The padlock button in the right toolbar allows the number of apertures on a spread
to be locked. For example if you wanted to keep the design as it is but simply swap
the images lock the padlock then drag another image from the top image bar onto
an existing image. This will replace the old image with the new one, in the existing
position.
If the padlock is unlocked dragging an image on to the spread will simply add another aperture rather than replacing an existing one.
Where the toolbar says ‘8/10 photos used’ in the above screenshot you are able to
click on the underlined number to see which images have been used within the design. This is a handy way of keeping track of which images you have used within the
design and which images you may still need to add.
The ‘Arrange Spreads’ tool in the right toolbar allows you to rearrange the position of
the spreads.
When happy with your design click the ‘Save and Exit’ button. This will take you back
to the main screen.
Storyboard
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The Storyboard mode allows you to group images together by dragging them on top
of each other. Select ‘Clean up’ and your images will appear in these groups in the
image bar along the top of the ‘Edit Spreads’ mode.
Versions
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The ‘Versions’ mode allows you to open older versions of the design (if there are any).
This is helpful if you come back to a design at a later date and want to refer back to an
older version.
Share Album
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In the ‘Share Album’ mode you can send your client the design for approval before
sending the design to be printed. A password can be added to the design which can
then be passed on to your client for secure access.
Upload
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When on the home screen of the designer select ‘Quick Upload Step 2’ if High Resolution files have not already been uploaded. If there are any missing high resolution files
a red warning will be visible, stopping you from exporting the files.
Once all the high resolution files have been successfully uploaded the option to
export the design will become available. Once the required size has been selected a
prompt will appear asking for an order number to be entered. After the appropriate
order number has been entered you can then select OK.
After selecting OK the spreads will start to generate with a progress bar appearing
above them. Once all the spreads have generated and all the previews are showing
you can give them a quick check over by clicking on each one to ensure everything
looks as it should.
Once the message ‘The spreads have been generated successfully’ appears you can
close the window as they will have been uploaded to us!
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