Navigating MyPublisher Software
Before you begin designing your PhotoBook, you will need to select the following from the Start screens within MyPublisher:
- the size of the Book you wish to create (PocketBook, Classic or Deluxe)
- the style of your Book including simple or themed designs (Bestseller, Just Photos, Modern, Storyteller, Travel, Wedding, Baby Boy or Baby Girl)
- the cover style of your Book for Classic or Deluxe Hardcovers only, you will have a choice between a Picture Window or a Book Jacket cover; PocketBooks have Printed Covers.
Now you are ready to begin making your Book in 4 easy steps:
1. Get Photos
Step 1 - Get Photos allows you to bring photos into MyPublisher for use in your Book using the file system on your computer.
To copy photos into MyPublisher, click on Get Photos, and select your photo files from the directory. Your photos will be displayed on the upper portion of the screen. There are three ways of selecting photos to be used in your Book:
- Drag and drop the photo into the lower filmstrip area: Left-click on the photo, drag it into the filmstrip area, and release the mouse-button.
- Double-click on the photo. Please be aware that clicking too quickly may duplicate the image in the filmstrip area. Each photo that you select will be added at the end of filmstrip, all the way to the right.
- Left-click on the photo you want to add and then click on the Add Photos button at the bottom of the screen.
Use the scroll bar beneath the filmstrip area to preview all the photos you have selected.
Inserting Multiple Photos at one time
You can drag multiple photos into MyPublisher at one time by left-clicking on the first photo you want to insert, while holding down the Shift key. Then you can either use the scroll bar or keyboard navigation to advance to the last photo in the file you want to add. All the photos should be highlighted in blue. Or you can select multiple photos by holding down the Shift key and left-clicking on individual photos. Then simply drag the entire highlighted area into the filmstrip area in the bottom of the screen.
Removing Photos
There are two ways of removing a photo from the filmstrip area:
- Right-click on the photo and select Remove Photo.
- Left-click on the photo and click on the Remove Photo button located at the bottom of your screen.
Removing the photo will remove it from the software, not from your computer. If you want to add this photo back into the software, you will need to go to Get Photos and follow the instructions above.
You have now selected all the photos you want to use to create your PhotoBook. The next step is organizing these photos.
2. Organizing Photos
Your images will be displayed in the order in which they were placed in the filmstrip area in the Get Photos screen. You can arrange your photos into the order you would like to use them in your Book right in the filmstrip area of the Get Photos screen. Simply left-click on a photo and drag it to the desired position on your screen. The photo will be inserted where the vertical light-blue line appears. If you’d like some more space to arrange your photos, you can click on the Organize button in the toolbar at the bottom of the MyPublisher window. You can return to the Get Photos mode or proceed to the Make Book mode using the buttons in the toolbar near the bottom of the window.
Your photos will not actually be placed into pages in the Book until Step 2 - Make Book. After photos have been added to a page, the page number that each photo resides on is displayed above each photo in
NOTE: If you place photos on a page in Make Book and go back to Get Photos or Organize and rearrange them, these photos will not change sequence or order in which you placed them on your pages. All order changes to photos on your pages need to be made in Make Book.
3. Make Book
Overview
In Step 2 - Make Book, you will be able to create pages, add photos and captions, enhance images, and modify your Book Style and Page Layout selections. Make Book defaults to a manual Book-building mode, whereby you can build your Book page-by-page by following these instructions:
- Page Type — first select the Page Type you would like to use for the particular page you are working on. Page Type means how many photos you would like on the page, or a text-only or cover page.
- Page Layout — once you have selected your Page Type, then you can select your Page Layout, how the photos are arranged on the page (with or without captions), or which cover you would like to use.
- Finally, drag and drop your photos into the empty photo molds (gray boxes) that you see on the page and enter any captions you would like, if your selected layout offers captions.
- Advance to the next page by clicking the next arrow in the lower right corner.
NOTE: If you do not fill all photo molds or do not enter captions in the Page Layout you selected, the empty space on the page will print the background color , i.e. white, black or gray. Neither the photo caption box nor the outline of the photo mold will appear on the page.
To add extra pages to your Book beyond the 20-page minimum:
- Select the Add New Page icon on the bottom right side of your screen. Then select the Page Type or Page Layout for that new page.
- Repeat the process until you have completed your Book.
Make Book Screen Layout
The top portion of the screen displays the photos that you have selected for your Book. On the top-left corner of the screen you can choose between photos view or pages view.
Photos view — this displays all the photos you have selected to use in creating your Book. Each time a photo is put into your Book, it is removed from the photo tray. Photos cannot be used more than one time. If you want to use a photo twice, just add the photo twice during Get Photos. When a photo is removed from a page or a page is removed, the photos are placed back in the photo tray for future use in your Book.
Pages view — this displays the pages that have already been created in your Book. In Pages view you can move the photos around on the pages and switch the order of the pages.
The center of the screen displays the gray design mat with a generic cover.
NOTE: You’ll choose the cover color in Step 4 - Purchase The Book cover color you see in the MyPublisher program is just an example.
In the upper right hand side of the design mat, there is a drop down menu with your library of Books (scroll down to view full list).
Directly below the design mat is the tool-bar. This includes 1-Page, 2-Page or All Pages view buttons, page layout and book options buttons, the settings button (which includes the single- or double-sided printing option,) undo and redo buttons, and the add or remove pages option. See below for descriptions.
At the very bottom of the MyPublisher window are the 4 steps for creating a Book.
Make Book Toolbar
This toolbar beneath the design mat contains the following controls, from left to right, to navigate your Book design process.
- Book Views — 1-page view, 2-pages view, all pages view (shows all pages in the Book at one time)
- Zoom In — Allows you to take a close up look at the photos you have placed on the pages of your Book. Click on the Zoom In icon (magnifying glass with the + symbol) to enlarge your photo by 20%. Repeat this option multiple times to continue to magnify your pages by 20% increments.
- Zoom Out — To return to a normal size view and continue designing your Book, click on the Zoom Out icon (magnifying glass with the - symbol).
- Book Options — You can choose the Book Size (Classic, Deluxe or PocketBook) the Book Style (Bestseller, Modern, Storyteller, Just Photos, Wedding, Travel, Baby Boy or Baby Girl).; and the Cover Style (A Book Jacket or a Picture Window cover)
- Settings— Includes the following options:
- Default Font Control: set a global font for the entire Book
- Default Background Color: set a global background color for the entire Book
- * These defaults can be overridden on individual pages after a change has been applied
- Footers: Puts a footer on each page, except full-bleed pages.
- Page Numbers: Puts a page number on each page, except full-bleed pages.
- Single-sided or double-sided printing: Single-sided prints on only the right-hand side. Double-sided prints on both left and right facing pages.
- Page Type — Allows you to choose how many photos or what type of page you want (1 photo, 2 photos, etc., text only or cover).
- Page Layout — After you select a page type, the page layout palette opens. Here you choose a layout for the photos on the page by double clicking on one of the layouts.
- Enhance Photo — Gives you access to MyPublisher's photo editing tools. You also can access these tools by clicking on a photo that has been placed on a page. A small editing toolbar will appear above the photo. See Enhance Photos Section for more information about these tools.
- Autobuild — The Autobuild feature has been moved to the ‘Make’ menu, which you’ll find at the upper left corner of the MyPublisher window. Autobuild lets MyPublisher build your Book for you. It takes all the photos you have chosen for your Book and lays them out on each page automatically. You have the option of choosing how captions are used, as well as the number of photos per page. After your Book has been built, you have the ability to modify or change any of the pages.
- Undo — Allows you to undo a change you have made to your Book. You can go back multiple steps.
- Redo — If you undo any changes, then change your mind, redo allows you to retrace your changes step by step.
- Add New Page — Adds a new page. You must select the page type and page layout for this page.
- Remove Page — Removes the page from your Book and puts the photos back in your photo tray for use later in the Book.
- First / Last and Back / Next Arrows — Allow you to navigate back and forth between pages in your Book.
Book Style and Page Layouts
Book Options and Page Layout options are located in the Make Book toolbar directly beneath the design mat.
- To select your Book Style, make sure you're in Make Book mode, then click on the "Book Options" button and select your desired theme using the drop-down menu.
- When you choose a Book Style for your Book, it is applied to your entire Book. Multiple Book Styles cannot be used in one Book. The Bestseller style offers the most flexibility in photo and caption layouts.
- The placement of the pictures and captions on the page as well as the background elements move as you select your Book Style and Page Style combinations. This is displayed in the Book representation area in the design mat. If you change Book Styles or Page Layouts during the design of a Book, please be sure to Preview your Book before purchasing.
4. Preview
The Preview step allows you to view your Book exactly as it will appear in print. It is necessary to Preview your Book before ordering since MyPublisher cannot edit your Book once it has been uploaded.
In order to preview your Book, click Step 3 - Preview button below the design mat. You can either preview your Book in a slideshow format or manually page by page.
- Preview each and every page of your Book by scrolling through the pages of your Book using the Next and Back arrow buttons. To start previewing from the beginning of the Book, click on the First button below the design mat. To preview as a slideshow, click on the Slideshow Start button in the bottom left corner of the screen. You can end the slideshow by clicking the Slideshow Stop button.
- Make sure all photos, captions and layouts appear exactly how you want them.
- If you need to correct any page, go back to Make Book mode, locate the page or photo you wish to correct, and make the necessary changes.
- Once changes have been made, be sure to Preview your Book again to make sure all changes have been made and that changes you made did not alter any of the other Book pages.
5. Purchase
When you are satisfied that your Book appears exactly how you want it within the Preview step, you are ready to move on to Step 4 - Purchase. Click Purchase from the toolbar beneath the design mat. This will connect MyPublisher shopping cart where you will be able to publish the Book that you created.
MyPublisher has a great new feature to help ensure your Book is free of errors prior to publishing. If there are any blank pages, text errors or low-resolution photos, you’ll see a message after you click the Preview button. You can then click on the Review These Issues Now button to see the errors. The window will display links to the affected pages so you can easily jump to the errors and fix them. After you’ve fixed any errors, you can close the error window and click the Purchase button again. You will be asked to confirm that you have previewed it.
If you are ready to publish your Book, check the box indicating that you have previewed your Book, then click Continue to Purchase. You will be asked to Sign in to your Account. If you have already set up an account, enter your log-in info, then click Next. If you are a new customer, click the Create button under New Customers on the upper right side of the shopping cart window. This will take you to an account creation page where you will be asked to supply additional information to set an individual account. For further information regarding accounts, please see the Your Account section.
Once you have signed in to your account, you will select your Picture Window cover color and Book size (for Classic and Deluxe) on the following page. On the successive pages, you will be asked to indicate your shipping address, choose your preferred shipping method and confirm payment information. The final step in Purchase is clicking on Upload where your Book file will be transferred to MyPublisher for printing. Upload time varies based on the length of your Book, size of your image files and your internet connection speed. Once the Book is fully uploaded, an Order Confirmation page will appear in your browser and you also will receive an Order Confirmation email.
