Modified:
May 30, 2010
Created:
May 30, 2010
Views:
15927
Author:
JH

Sharing Data between computers - Overview

Sharing your ProSelect setup between different computers in your studio can be done in a few different ways.

There are two main area of information used by ProSelect on your computer:

  1. The job specific information is saved in each ProSelect Album file with the .psa file extension.  These files contains low res images, created layouts & books,  selections, orders etc for that job/client .
  2. ProSelect setup information including registration information, preference settings, prices, templates and hi-res support files.

Sharing ProSelect Albums

ProSelect Album files (.psa files) can be easily be copied between computers across a network or by flash (thumb) drive or CD.  You should not open an album directly from a flash drive or CD rather copy the album file to your local hard drive first.  

If you have a high-speed network, you can open the album files from a common network location such as on a specific computer or server. A ProSelect album can only be opened for updating by one copy of ProSelect at a time. 

See the article Which computer should Production be run on? with suggestions on the best computer to create albums on.

Sharing Setup Data

There are three areas of setup data that ProSelect uses:

  1. ProSelect_Data file: This is an XML text that defines all of your template designs, mats designs, book designs, rooms, logos, stamps, frames & prices. Any hi-res images associated with any of these are referred to in the file but not included in the file. Instead, these image files are saved in the ProSelect Resources Folder (see below).

  2. ProSelect Resources Folder - this folder (and all the folders within it) is used to store the hi-res images referenced in your ProSelect_Data.xml file.

  3. ProSelect Preferences file - this a XML text file contains your current ProSelect preferences settings, registration information and recently opened album list. This also includes window location, recently open files, music file locations etc.

In the following sections, we explain both the simple way to and the more sophisticated ways to share this data between computers in your studio.

1A. Simple

If you only need to occasionally transfer a copy of your latest ProSelect setup information onto another computer, you can manually copy the ProSelect_Data.xml file AND the ProSelect Resources folder between computers.  

You will find information on where these files are located in Transferring or Backing up your Prices and Templates.

Or for a visual tutorial, the short movie Manually transferring ProSelect Setup Data to another computer will walk you through the steps to backup/transfer your ProSelect data.

Further information on how to do this can be found in the Backup & Sharing section (Sharing Data between Computers) in the ProSelect Reference Manual (quick access under the Help menu in ProSelect).

1B. Sharing with a few computers

You can share your Prices & Templates and Resource folder Data between computers in two other ways:

  • Shared Folder
  • ProSelect Network Server (see more "More Sophisticated" section below)

The Shared Folder method is best for installations with a small number of ProSelect users who rarely make changes at the same time. You can select this "Sharing" option under the Preferences --> General Settings --> Sharing (tab).

Information on how this option works and setting up and using a Shared Folder and more can be found in the Backup & Sharing section (Using a Shared Folder) in the ProSelect Reference Manual (quick access under the Help menu in ProSelect).

There are also short Demo movies on the Tutorials & Quick Tips web page (under the Training menu on the TimeExposure web site) to assist with your setup:

  • Backup & Sharing - What you need to know
  • How to setup & use a Shared Data Folder

Important Note:

When using any data sharing options, you should make sure that all copies of ProSelect are the exact same version. Otherwise, an older version of ProSelect may delete part of the data that only a newer version knows about.

1C. More Sophisticated Sharing

You can share your ProSelect Setup Data automatically between computers using the free ProSelect Network Server software. The ProSelect Network Server method is best for installations where there is a need to control which users are permitted to make changes to the data file. This is best for a studio with 3 or more ProSelect users.

This does require a good understanding of how it works and more details in the Backup & Sharing section (Sharing Data between Computers & Using ProSelect Network Server) of the ProSelect Reference Manual (quick access under the Help menu in ProSelect) and in ProSelect Network Server Section of the KnowledgeBase.

You can select this "Sharing" option under the Preferences --> General Settings --> Sharing (tab)

 

Important Notes:

When the ProSelect Network Server option is used,  you should make sure that all copies of ProSelect are the exact same version. Otherwise "ProSelect" and the "ProSelect Network Server" may not see each other to share the data, or possibly corrupt the data.

The network location must be accessible (ie the shared volume must be available/mounted) on each computer before you start ProSelect on that computer.

2. ProSelect Resources Folder

As mentioned above, each copy of ProSelect looks for hi-res setup files in the nominated ProSelect Resources folder. The location of this file is set in ProSelect's Preferences and you will find more details of its location in the Finding the ProSelect Resources Folder article.

If you are sharing the ProSelect_Data.xml file AND you are using template overlay images, mat background images, style images, room images, frames etc, then you should also copy your ProSelect Resources folder on a shared location on your network and set the Preferences in each copy of ProSelect to use this location for the resources folder also.

This is under "Sharing" option under the Preferences --> General Settings --> Sharing (tab).

More detailed information on these options can be found in the Backup & Sharing section (Sharing Data between Computers) of the ProSelect Reference Manual (quick access under the Help menu in ProSelect).

3. Copying the ProSelect Preferences data

Your Preferences settings contain the last used operational settings for different parts of the program as well as the actual Preferences area. Your last window positions and sizes, recent albums and registration data is also saved in your Preferences file.

You can access Preference data from a shared location, or save a copy of your Preferences file on one computer and load it on another computer. Both options are available in the "Sharing Preferences" section of Preferences window in ProSelect.  Computer-specific data such as Recent Albums, Photoshop actions, window positions etc. are not transferred.

More detailed information on these options can be found in the Backup & Sharing section (Preferences) of the ProSelect Reference Manual (quick access under the Help menu in ProSelect).
  


KnowledgeBase Article: Sharing Data between computers - Overview