Manage Your Photos

Your uploads must be at least 480 pixels by 480 pixels. If they are smaller, they will not land on your photo page.

There are several ways to access your photos. You can either upload photos from your computer, or you can import photos from your Facebook, Flickr, or Photobucket accounts.

When choosing "Manage Your Photos" you will see several tabbed options on the right of the window for choosing the source of your photos. On the left of the window, you will see folder options for organizing your photos.

When choosing to upload from supported sites, simply select that tab, enter your login information, and select. Some photos from online sites may not be high enough resolution for larger products. The program will warn you when this is the case by displaying a yellow triangle warning symbol.

When choosing to upload from your computer, select the folder titled "New Folder." You should choose to "Rename folder" in order to better organize your photos. You might choose, events, holidays, names, seasons, or whatever you like. You can create one folder, or several.

When you are ready, you can begin uploading photos to your folders. You can upload one or as many photos as you want, depending on the type of product you will be creating, just follow these easy steps:

1. Highlight the folder you wish to add photos to and select the "Add new photos" button. A sub window will open with two buttons, "Add Files" and "Start Upload."
2. Select the "Add Files" button and browse your computer for the photos you would like to upload. You can upload more than one photo at a time by holding down the Control button on a PC or the Apple button on a Mac while selecting your photos.
3. Once your photos are selected choose the "Open" or "Select" button. You will now see your photos in the upload queue. Simply select "Start Upload" to place the photos in your selected folder. You can continue to repeat this process until you have uploaded what you need to start creating great photo products.

In this section, you also have the option of editing your photos. You have several choices, including color correction and conversion, red eye correction, cropping, fun photo effects and several edge effects. Editing your photos in this program will not affect your original photo, only the copy of the photo you have uploaded to our site.

When you are finished, choose "Done" and you will be taken back to the Home Page where you can choose to "Create a New Product," "Work on an Existing Product," or "Browse the Bookstore." Anytime you wish to add new photos, edit existing photos, or change the source of your photos, you can go back to the "Manage your photos" button on the Home Page. You may also change the source or add photos while creating products.

Create a New Product

Once you've entered this area, the fun really starts! From the menu on the left you have several products to choose from. Pick a product you would like to work on and you will see a preview window with information.

The magnifying glass will give you more information on each product as well as a blow-up preview. Double-click on the preview window, or click once and choose the next button to continue creating. Some products will give you further choices, others will take you directly to the place photos and text pages.

Most products will display a sub-menu on the left with various theme options. For example, you might see choices for Collages, Holidays, Sports, etc. Browse your options and choose the layout you think you would like.

Adding Photos

Depending on the product and layout chosen, you will see either one or several gray boxes in the layout and your photos, themes (when available), art, and text will be on the right. Simply drag and drop your photos onto the gray boxes to insert them into the layout.

Each photo box will have two controls. The button with the large, red "X" will delete the box completely, the button with the wand will open a photo control box for zooming, cropping, and otherwise editing your photos, including effects and edges. In this editing window, you can zoom and move your photo around in the window to position it optimally. To move it in the window, click and slide it whichever way you want. Apply other effects or edges to your image in the advanced tab of this window. When finished, select "Apply" or "Cancel." You can continue to add images, or replace images by dragging and dropping photos from your folder on the right.

Any photo box that displays a small gray box in the lower right corner can be moved and/or resized. Not all layouts will allow moving or resizing of boxes.

Be sure to choose "Apply" before exiting in order to avoid losing your changes.


Adding Text and Captions

You will see available text boxes on some products where you can choose to enter your text. The button with the large "T" is for entering and editing text, the button with the large, red "X" will delete the text box. You will also have the option of adding text boxes and art from the tabs to the right side of the "Edit your Product" page. You will have options of changing the text size, style and color in the text editing control box.

Any text box that displays a gray box in the lower right corner can be moved and/or resized. Not all layouts will allow moving or resizing boxes.

Be sure to choose "Apply" before exiting in order to avoid losing your changes.


Preview Your Product

Be sure to preview your product prior to ordering. Check for photo placement and typographic errors. When creating products, keep critical image matter and text in from the edges of the layout to avoid loss in production and trimming.

When creating photo books, you will select your cover choices in the preview section. This will also give you a preview of color and texture for your chosen book cover.