User Guide

ACDSee Pro 3 User Guide
Managing database information
About the ACDSee Pro database
The ACDSee Pro database stores image and media file information automatically when you browse your folders. This process is
called cataloging. The database increases the speed with which you can browse your computer, and you can use the information
stored in the database to sort, organize, search, and filter your images and media files. You can also backup, restore, and share
database information.
You can store cached thumbnail previews, and add or edit the following information for each image or media file on your computer:
Categories
Notes
Keywords
Authors
Dates
Ratings
Captions
You can also choose to exclude folders from the database, and keep the contents of those folders separate from your other images
and media files.
When you add database information to a file in ACDSee Pro, the file is linked to the database. If you then copy, move, or
rename your files using programs other than ACDSee Pro, such as Windows Explorer, the link to the database is broken
and this can cause the loss of database information.
Embedding database information in files
If you edit or add database information, ACDSee Pro automatically tracks these changes and adds the new data to its database.
When you next close ACDSee Pro, the Embed Database Information in Files dialog opens and offers to embed the new data into the
changed files themselves. Embedding database information in the files as well as in the database, is a safe way to back up this data
and make it easier to retrieve if you should need to.
For example, once you have created database information about a file, the file is linked to the database. If the file is moved using
Windows Explorer, or any application other than ACDSee Pro, the link will be broken. If the link is broken but you also embedded this
data in the file itself, you can rebuild the ACDSee Pro database using the embedded data in the files.
When the data is embedded in the files, you can use ACDSee Pro to rename, move, or copy the file—even to another computer—and
the database information transfers with the file.
To embed database information in a file when you are prompted:
1. Do one of the following:
To embed data in files that are on a network, select the Include Network Drives check box.
To write the information to a sidecar file if the file format does not support embedding inside the file, select the Write
sidecar files for formats that do not support embedded XMP.
To accept the current selection in the dialog and have these options happen automatically in future, select Do not ask
me this again.
2. Click Yes to embed the data in the files. A progress bar appears, followed by the Embed Summary Report dialog that lists
the following:
Items Selected: Indicates the number of files that you selected.
Items Processed: Indicates the number of files actually that were processed. (If you selected files that did not need to
have date embedded, this number may be different from the Items Selected.)
Succeeded: Indicates the number of files that had data embedded.
98