4.0

CREATING A NEW COLLECTION
5
5-3
IMAGEAXS PRO MACINTOSH USER’S GUIDE
CHOOSING A
C
OLLECTION
F
ORMAT
A collection's format defines how many data fields it contains for
describing your files, and the type of data that can be entered in each
field. This format is established when you first create the collection
(see Step 3 above).
Data fields should contain information that applies to all of the files
in a collection (such as "Photographer's Name" for a collection of
photos). When you choose a format, think about how many
categories of this type apply to the files you want to organize, and
choose or create a format with at least that many data fields.
The standard collection formats are as follows:
• Compact
This collection format contains 8 text fields (up to 128
characters allowed), 2 numeric fields, and 2 date/time fields.
• Pro
This collection format contains 16 text fields (up to 256
characters allowed), 4 numeric fields, and 4 date/time fields.
• ImageAXS 2.x
This collection format contains 7 text fields (up to 80
characters allowed). This format matches collections created
by earlier versions of ImageAXS.
• IPTC
This specialized collection format contains 16 text fields of
varying length and 2 numeric fields. This format is
compatible with Adobe Photoshop file information.
Each of these formats can be edited before you create a collection,
and you can also create your own formats. The process of creating
and editing collection formats is explained in the next section.
N
OTE
Although formats can be edited, your changes will only affect collections you
create from that point on. Previous collections created using formats that
you edit will remain unchanged.
If you create a collection and later decide that it needs more fields, you must
create a new collection with a different format, then drag the records from
the old collection into the new one (see “Copying Records” on page 11-1).