# The Program Options

The "Options" let you define various basic settings for the SmileBooks software.

If you are not an experienced computer user and everything is working the way it should, it is a good idea to leave the settings as they are.

Some options are only available if specific products are available.

If one of the options described here is not listed in your software, the corresponding photo product is not available.

The left side of the option window is subdivided into various sections.

#### "Window"

##### Undockable areas

###### Flexible arrangement of the workspaces; move and undock window areas

If this option is set, you can undock individual program windows from the main window and position them freely on your desktop. This may be useful if you have a system with two screens, as you could position the object browsers adjacently on one screen, and the image selector on the other. You can use a similar approach to optimize the use of 16:9 displays.
You can reset the original window layout at any time by clicking the "Reset window layout" button, which is lower down.

###### Vertical arrangement of tabs for Images/Layout/Background

If you set this option, the object selector tabs are arranged vertically on the right margin of the tab. Otherwise they are arranged at the top.

###### Reset window layout

If you have moved window sections in the meantime, this button will restore the factory defaults for the program windows – this is useful if you do not like the current layout, or if you can't find a window.

##### Image selector behavior

###### Select a home directory for the file browser

This is where you select the home directory which your file browser will display by default.
The default setting here is your "My Images" folder (the path name may look slightly different).
Click the "Browse" button to open a folder browser where you can select another directory.

###### Double click on thumbnail opens image in photo show

A thumbnail is a preview image of your photo in the object browser and in the product editor.
You can set here whether or not double clicking the thumbnail opens the image (for editing) in the photo show. You can always launch the photo show via the drop-down menu (right click on the thumbnail).

###### Show filenames in file browser

You can decide here whether or not the filenames for image files are shown n the object selector. The filename display is disabled by default.

#### "Directories"

##### Temporary files

###### Select the directory the program will use to store its temporary files, photo books etc.

This is where you set the working directory in which the program caches the data it needs for the current project.
The default setting here is your "My Files" folder (the path name may look slightly different).
Click the "Browse" button to open a folder browser where you can select another directory.

###### Store Auto-Restore Info

This is an option that prevents loss of data in case of a power outage or if your computer crashes.
If you enable this option, your current order is automatically stored at defined intervals (e.g. every 5 minutes), and can be restored when you restart the program.

You can also specify the directory to use for the backup.

###### Behavior at program launch

If you enable the option "Automatically search for updates", the program will automatically check the Internet for a new file version or new price lists. You can then download and install the new version. This keeps your program up to date.

#### "Editor"

##### Behavior on inserting images

This is where you set the layout frame behavior for various photo products for cases where the layout frame aspect and the inserted photo aspect do not match.

###### "Keep frame size and crop center of image"

this positions the image at the center of the layout frame without changing the frame aspect (see the figure lower center). Any parts of the image that jut out beyond the frame are no longer visible. You can move the image inside the layout frame to shift important image content into the visible area. (Or to remove unwanted content out of the visible area.)

###### "Modify layout frame to let the image fill the frame optimally"

modifies the layout frame to match the image aspect (see figure bottom right). The longer side of the image is scaled to fit the frame optimally.
This can have a major impact on the layout, e.g. if you insert a portrait image into a landscape layout frame, however, the inserted image is always shown in full, even if you scale the frame.

Examples:

Empty layout frame | Keep frame size The original image is cropped by the layout frame | Change layout frame The layout frame takes the aspect of the original image

##### Grid

This is where you can enable and disable the grid and set the grid size.

##### Spellcheck during text entry

This option enables and disables the automatic spellchecker.

##### Position images automatically if they are too near to the edge

This sets the behavior of an inserted image if it is too close to the edge of the page in a photo book, calendar, canvas or deco poster.

Images that are close to the edge of the page typically snap to the edge of the page or even jut out slightly. This helps to avoid white gap when cutting the pages during production.

#### "Frames and Shadows"

##### Frame properties

This is where you can enable and disable the use of frames around images and set the frame thickness and colour.

The "Image actions…" group of commands in the drop-down menu for an image lets you modify or remove the frame properties individually for each image.

##### Shadow properties

Enable this option to display your images with a cast shadow.
Set the shadow gap to define how far the shadow should just out beyond the image.
The intensity refers to the opacity of the shadow. This is where you set whether it should be lighter or darker.
You can use the mouse to shift the sun symbol and thus set the shadow direction.
The effect of the shadow settings is shown in a preview graphic.

These are global settings for all images you insert: they do not affect any images you have already inserted!

#### "Assistant"

###### "Automatically launch Assistant for photo books"

Specifies whether to launch the "Photo book Assistant" when creating a photo book. If you prefer to create your photo books manually, you can disable this behaviour permanently here.

###### "Launch Assistant on help page"

Specifies whether the how-to page appears before launching the photo book assistant so that you can decide if you would like to use it.

###### "Display Selection Assistant for prints"

Specifies whether or not to automatically start the Selection Assistant when you choose to order prints or posters.

#### "Speed"

###### Size of the image cache

Setting the cache size influences the program’s processing speed. The cache is that part of your computer’s RAM that the program reserves for its own use. The bigger the cache, the faster the program as it can keep more data (images) in memory without needing to load them from the slower hard disc. However, this means that other programs running at the same time have less memory and will thus run more slowly.
The following options

###### "High resolution preview",

###### "Edge smoothing thanks to intermediate colors",

###### "Higher resolution for thumbnails in the editor"

######

will make your computer slightly slower, but at the same time achieve a superior display of the program on screen.
If the software does not run smoothly on your computer, you can make the program slightly faster by disabling these options. This does not affect the quality of the finished product.

###### "Use Exif Thumbnails"

Many cameras and image editing programs store thumbnails in the digital photo’s Exif data.
This option tells the photo software to use the preview data from the photograph’s Exif data rather than calculating its own thumbnail.
This makes the image display slightly faster, but the quality of the Exif thumbnails may cause a slightly poorer preview.

The following option

###### "Do not check for subdirectories in the directory tree"

means that the directory browser does not show you whether subdirectories exist. There is a "+" character to the right of each directory, even if the directory does not contain subdirectories.
This mainly gives you a speed advantage for drives shared by the computer on a network (network drives) as data transmission over a network connection is much slower than on the computer itself.

#### "Images"

##### "Redeye correction for images with flash"

Settings for automatic "Redeye correction".
Options: prompt for each image, never use redeye correction, or always use redeye correction.
(The EXIF data for an image typically indicates whether the photo was taken with flash; EXIF data is the data stored in the image file itself.)

##### "Automatic image correction (AIC)"

You can enable or disable "Automatic image correction" here.
Specifically for images that have been edited using an image editing program (the EXIF data reveals this), you can set whether to prompt for each image, always use AIC, or never use AIC.

#### "Network"

The program’s Internet access is configured here.

You can ignore this item if you only want to order by CD.

##### Proxy

If your computer has a reliable Internet connection, the "Use system proxy" setting is perfectly sufficient. This uses your computer’s existing settings for the Internet connection.

Use the setting "Use own proxy" if you work on a large network and use different proxies, or if you have a firewall.
Ask your system administrator for the correct settings.

#### "About"

Shows the program name, the version number, and a copyright notice, along with the email address for support.