X6 : My Tray Workflow - NOT?

[Grazie]

What is the Numbty's Guide to getting Photos Copied FROM one of my hard drives - I have 6 - into a Named Tray, say "Mr Numbty's Tray".

Seriously? I think this workflow needs to be overhauled by the programmers. It is dafter than a box of frogs.

Grazie

[Forriner]

You mention workflow. So tell us what you're trying to do and how. Then ask a question. Or do you expect ten people to think for you before you give any info whatsoever?

[hartpaul]

You have not mentioned where you are working in Manage, Adjust or Edit .
From my understanding , when you creatre a tray and place some images in there, a copy of the image is not physically put into a new folder, but a database entry for that thumbnail position so that it can get the image from uts real location, make a thumbnail and then display it. To all intents and purposes the image is in your tray.
This understanding comes from where I have read that some people have then had problems when they deleted an image or renamed it under windows that the tray could not read or locate that image.
As well if you had a million images and put them in a tray then iy would be duplicating all those images and doubling the size of the folders on your hard drive.

From this I gather that if you had a number of images on your 6 external hard drives (I presume they are external ones but you did not mention that) say 6 images from each of your 6 external hard drives, they would have to be connected for you to use of access them . You would not be able to place the images in the tray then disconnect your external drives and still use the images -- I could be wrong and expect to be corrected.
This is why I have never really used these trays and file management databases. I prefer to open a folder on my desktop, copy images to be worked on to that folderthen I can turn off/ disconnect any external drives and work with the images from the windows folder, by dragging and dropping into the workspace, no chasing images through a number of trees to get the images from different folders again.

[MarkZ]

I agree with Forriner that the original poster provide zero information to work with.

User trays in Manage retain reference only to images in the Collections, not even other images that may be in Computer but not Collections, never mind other drives which may not be connected. When you exit PSP any images not in Collections will disappear, they are in the tray only for that session.

One of the features I like very much in AfterShot Pro (ASP) is that in the Catalogs section you can catalog images on any drive and can view thumbs and previews even when the drive is disconnected. Great for trying to locate specific shots. To edit, you have to connect the drive, of course.

[Grazie]

OK, you are all correct, my apologies - I didn't give you much to go on.

Here we go:-

1] Working within MANAGE and a MY TRAY, I create a Tray called : WEDDING

2] I click on "Computer" in the Navigation Pane and navigate to the F drive and finally the Wedding Photos Folder

3] I select a mass of Photos that Automatically appear in a Tabbed Tab called WEDDING where all the Photos I selected appear.

4] I now DRAG a selection from this Auto Tab to my newly created WEDDING Tray and I am able to see all my slecetion - Great! Simple and straightforward - they appear, I work . . . .

5] Close X6

6] Open X6 and my new Tray WEDDING is empty. This can't be what a User expects.

Now, at no time in this process does X6 tell me NOT to do this nor are any of the functions/controls greyed-out - implying I CAN'T do what I did. I have repeated this but still get the same results. No, this isn't a User expectation. If I am NOT allowed to do something then surely X6 would have told me - no?

Cheers

Grazie

[Tadjio]

User trays in Manage retain reference only to images in the Collections...

I am afraid this is just a fact of life. With PSP X6 the program only 'remembers' entries under Collections - actually in a Database ImageDB.db.
The simple answer for you is to work with Collections - use "Browse More Folders" to open and find your Images and your Tray should then work

[MarkZ]

Grazie:

I assume that your F: drive is always attached to your computer, always on when you start X6. If it is not, all contents of the trays will be lost.

As a first step, in Manage click on Collections. Click on Browse more folders and select the folder or tree you want included. There is discussion of this in http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=51722 and I've included a screenshot of the process about the fifth item down.

Next, with thumbnail view of Manage go to the folder you want in Collections, select the thumbnails and drag them to the tray. Actually, you may not even need the custom trays.

If you close and restart X6 your Collections will still be there and your custom tray should contain what you dragged there. If you disconnect F: at some point when X6 is not running I'm not sure what will happen. I'll try that some other time.

[Grazie]

Grazie: I assume that your F: drive is always attached to your computer, always on when you start X6. If it is not, all contents of the trays will be lost. . . . If you disconnect F: at some point when X6 is not running I'm not sure what will happen. I'll try that some other time.

Correct, my F drive is always ON. As a Video Content Creator and Publisher, my F Drive contains the most relevant, immediate and crucial time-of-the-essence source material I require for jobs. The Workflow methodology, coming straight from the Computer Navigation is exactly what I would have thought would be the case, 'cept when I restart X6 a newly created Tray called "London EYE" it is devoid of my image selection made directly from the PC Navigation. And it's this PSP logic, cul-de-sac that I find irksome and counter intuitive.

Cheers

Grazie

[Tadjio]

The Workflow methodology, coming straight from the Computer Navigation is exactly what I would have thought would be the case, 'cept when I restart X6 a newly created Tray called "London EYE" it is devoid of my image selection made directly from the PC Navigation. And it's this PSP logic, cul-de-sac that I find irksome and counter intuitive.

I'm playing devil's advocate here:
Why is using Collections so irksome?
As to the counter-intuitive, by choosing "Browse more folders" you are in charge, saying that this particular folder is part of your Collections!
It's not a cul-de-sac, just a bypass avoiding too much traffic (images)...