New to Paintshop

[Bobc2]

Am used to Photoshop

How do I catalog and index my photos in Paintshop?

[JoeB]

Am used to Photoshop

How do I catalog and index my photos in Paintshop?

You start by opening PSP 2018, going to Help>Help Topics and then typing the word catalog into the search box.

[hartpaul]

Now then Joe. This is a new person, you don't want to scare them away too soon.

You could also look at Manage in the help topics, and also look at some of the videos on youtube and corel on the Manage mode.

The Manage Workspace
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9IvBOMcLgY

All three Workspaces
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNa-PoEy5Dg

It is a fairly complex thing as any new program has a learning curve. But having tried Photoshop and many other graphics programs I keep coming back to PSP because of its mostly intuitive way to operate and its full use of the tools available - one in particular is the use of the mouse wheel and also the right click button which often acts to reverse what was previously done eg erasing and unerasing.

[MarkZ]

I have not used Photoshop much but I remember the frustration with "cataloging" and finding images.

In PSP there is no need to create catalogs. In Manage you simply select the folders containing files you want to work with, just as you would in explorer. There is an option to reduce the number of folders that you search by providing pointers to them in the Collections section - Computer section shows you all the drives and folders in your system.

[JoeB]

Now then Joe. This is a new person, you don't want to scare them away too soon.

Sorry 'bout that. I guess I just assumed that anyone coming from Photoshop would be extremely familiar with using the Help files because if there is any program that requires extensive use of those files to be able to figure out how to use it it's Photoshop.

That said, I second MarkZ's initial suggestion of just using the Computer tab which works like Explorer. It's just as easy to set up your own folder structure with informative names and sub-folders to store various photos, projects, etc., as it is to use cataloguing, and I believe - from what I've seen in other posts - a lot less CPU intensive when PSP starts. But perhaps the experience of others is different. I just use the Computer tab myself.

[bruce1951]

I think we are all guilty of hitting the internet before looking at the help files. If we expect 'bug' free programs then how can we expect comprehensive help files?

If you look at 'almost' all software the last thing that gets any money thrown at it are the help files. In fact the Help Files need a new approach. They all look the same. All work the same. And all give about the same sub par results. In fact I'm sure companies are now relying on third parties to produce most documentation.

Someone needs to reinvent the help wheel!!

bruce

[JoeB]

I think we are all guilty of hitting the internet before looking at the help files. If we expect 'bug' free programs then how can we expect comprehensive help files?

If you look at 'almost' all software the last thing that gets any money thrown at it are the help files. In fact the Help Files need a new approach. They all look the same. All work the same. And all give about the same sub par results. In fact I'm sure companies are now relying on third parties to produce most documentation.

Someone needs to reinvent the help wheel!!

bruce

I agree totally with that sentiment. One thing that would make a big difference, even with the existing, not so informative help files, would be better search algorithms like those of Google. In my original post I suggested that the OP search for the word catalog. If, however, he were to type the more accurate word catalogue he would get zero relevant results. If you type either into the Google search engine it will return virtually identical results because it "knows" they are the same word. It even tends to know similar concepts to typed words and will return links that are conceptually relevant. The search algorithms for help files are archaic and simple, making it much more difficult to actually find what you are looking for unless you actually know the specific term used by the program AND the help file writers.

As a side note, when I typed my original post I typed the word catalog because that was the one used by the OP. The forum's spell checker flagged it as a mis-spelling and suggested catalogue as the correct word. I had to reject it to be able to use the OP's spelling, which is the only one that works properly in the Help file.

[bruce1951]

I think there's a few dollars to be made by a third party company who specialises in HELP File documentation.
Many companies now contract out work. So why can't some smart folks start up a start up company whos sole task is writing help documents/manuals for all the various software companies? We at least would get some consistency!!

Who's up for it?
Money money money.

bruce