# Additional Features

## Downloading and installing additional designs/content

Additional backgrounds, designs, or content are available for some products and can be installed at any time later.
If a "Download more…" button appears in the object browser for a product, you can click the button to go to the download page for design templates on the Internet. (Internet connection required.)
Save the required download package on your computer and execute the package to install the design templates.

Important:

There is no charge for downloading designs and content. If you use any of the templates a small "Design surcharge" will be charged. Refer to the price list for details of the "Design surcharge". The surcharge will be shown separately in your shopping basket.

Please note:

If you have installed multiple versions of the SmileBooks (e.g. different release or partner versions), the design templates will be stored in your latest version.

## Grid

The grid is used for more precise positioning of objects in a layout.

A grid is displayed which you can use as an orientation aid when positioning objects adjacently in horizontal or vertical direction.

It can also be configured to allow the objects to snap to the grid intersections.

The grid is not part of the finished product and is not printed or exposed.

## Drop-down menu

A drop-down menu is a menu window that appears when you press the right mouse button on an object. It contains text format commands that you can apply to the object.

The drop-down menu content changes with the object type.

Very often, the drop-down menu will offer more options than the object toolbar.

## Using your own image as a background

The command "As background …" appears in the drop-down menu for images in the "Images" tab. If you execute this command, the image is used as a page background for the right or left page, or both.

In contrast to other backgrounds, you can edit this background image by double clicking it in the photo viewer.

You can apply a line drawing effect to the background image.

Try out various effects to discover your preferences, or to find a background that matches the images in the foreground.

Sepia effects are also very attractive. In this case, make the image slightly lighter and use less contrast. The results are very useful as photo book backgrounds or calendar backgrounds.

## Create image section

The combination of the size of the layout frame, the zoom factor ("Scale down image" / "Scale up image") the inserted image and the position of the image within the layout frame lets you create an image section.
Pay attention to the quality display in the object toolbar (smiley).

Typical working steps:

Insert original image | Scale down layout frame | Center image
Zoom in | Center image again | Scale down the frame slightly

Now the bird nicely fills the frame.
It is not always necessary to scale down the layout frame. In the next example, we see the effect of zooming in on and moving the image:

## Selecting objects

To select an object, left click on the object: selected objects are identified by a selection frame. Selected text is either colour highlighted or inverted.

To select multiple objects at the same time you can:
1: If the objects are in a row, and you need to select multiple adjacent objects, start by selecting the first object, then hold down the Shift key and click the last object you wish to select. This selects all the objects between the two, or adds them to an existing selection. This also works with text inside a text box.
2: Objects placed adjacently on the screen can be selected using a selection frame. Simply drag a selection frame from one corner to another by pressing the left mouse button. All the objects that are at least partially inside the frame are selected and added to the selection.

3: The keyboard shortcut "Ctrl" + "a" selects all the objects in the current workspace. This also works for text inside a text box.
4: Select/click other objects and hold down the "Ctrl" button at the same time to additionally select these objects. This is the method for simultaneously selecting multiple objects that are distributed over the desktop and adding them to the selection.

If you hold down the "Ctrl" button and click an object that is selected, it is "unselected", that is, removed from he current selection.
Combining these methods gives you new selection options: For example, if you want to select all objects but one, start by pressing "Ctrl" + "a" and then, while still holding down the "Ctrl" button, click the object you do not wish to edit to remove it.

To select an area of text in a textbox, hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse. You can select a single word by double clicking the word.

## Transparency tips

Images created in the "PNG" file format can contain transparencies and semi-transparencies.

You can use this format as a workaround for inserting any kind of clipart (from Internet-based clipart collections or from CDs) into a photo book or another photo product with a layout function.

Simply open the clipart with a suitable vector drawing or image editing program, export to PNG, or save as PNG.

Semi-transparent PNG graphics can be selected as normal images in the product selector and inserted into the photo product.

Semi-transparencies can even cast shadows that follow the contour of the object.
The results are shown here.

This even works with text written with an image editing program on a transparent background and then stored as PNG.
Example:

## ShortCuts

Learning the keyboard shortcuts can save you a fair amount of time when editing products.

Shortcuts for the SmileBooks software are listed in the following table:

Action/command | ShortCut
--- | ---
"Find similar images..." | "Ctrl" + "F"
"Mark all" | "Ctrl" + "A"
"Snap to grid" | "Ctrl" + "-"
"Zoom out of image" | "-"
"Cut" | "Ctrl" + "X"
"Rotate image counter-clockwise in frame" | "Shift" + "L"
"Rotate image clockwise in frame" | "Shift" + "R"
"Display image in directory view " | "Ctrl" + "Shift" + "F"
"Paste" | "Ctrl" + "V"
"Zoom into image" | "+"
"Copy" | "Ctrl" + "C"
"Delete" and "Remove selected elements from selection" | "Del"
"Next layout suggestion" | "Space"
"Rotate frame counter-clockwise" | "Ctrl" + "L" and "L"
"Move frame left in editor" | Left arrow
"Move frame up in editor" | Up arrow
"Move frame right in editor" | Right arrow
"Move frame down in editor" | Down arrow
"Rotate frame clockwise" | "Ctrl" + "R" and "R"
"Edit frame around image" | "Alt" + "B"
"Undo" | "Ctrl" + "Z"
"Save" | "Ctrl" + "S"
"Text bold" | "Ctrl" + "B"
"Text italic" | "Ctrl" + "I"
"Text underlined" | "Ctrl" + "U"
"Redo" | "Ctrl" + "Y"
"Go to next page" | "Pg Dn"
"Go back one page" | "Pg Up"