Getting Started

Upon launching London Drugs PhotoLab Home Edition, you will be offered five options:

• Create New
• Open
• Import
• Export
• Delete

Select the option that fits your need. The next window that opens will depend on the selection you make here.

NOTE: If you would like to create cards or calendars quickly and with amazing ease, why not give our new Calendar Wizard feature a try.

Creating a customized calendar

Upon selecting Create new, you are taken through an 11 step process. You can switch back to the standard method of creating a calendar on Step 6 by clicking Skip to Design. The software comes with templates in the following sizes:

• 12" x 18 - Bound at the top
  Each 12”x18” page is single-side printed and bound at the top.
  
  
• 11" x 17 - Center Fold
  Calendar measures 11" x 17" when open, 8.5” x 11” when folded at the center binding. Each 8.5” x 11” page is printed on both sides.
  
  

Next, select a template: Select the month and year you want the calendar to start on
Select the National/International/Religious holidays that you would like to appear on your Calendar. You do not have to pick any as this is optional Choose the images you would like to use from your computer or media card Drag the photos between the months to organize. Add captions Display Thumbnails of previous and following months Enter Personal Events Your Calendar will be created for you to review and adjust once you click Finish

Navigation

Use the scroll bar at the top of the page to find the month you would like to work on, and then simply click on that month. Or use the arrows beside the current month to scroll through the months one at a time.

Customization

• Add images
• Add graphic elements
• Add text
• Add and edit cell contents

Each of these options allows customization in a variety of ways:

Images – The quickest way to add the digital photos that you would like have appear on your calendar is to click the + icon on the bottom of the screen. Go to where you have the images saved and click OK. Then simply drag the image from the below to the month you would like the image to be in.

Once you have added an image, you can now manipulate it in a variety of ways. First click the image to select it. The Image Management Controls appear: Using the Image Management Controls, once you select an image you can:

• Add borders to an image.
• Rotate an image.
•  Round the corners of an image.
• Fade an image.
• Crop an image. A cropping box will appear over your image. Resize the image as you’d like and click outside of the cropped area to complete the cropping.
• Resize an image to fill the page.

Text:You can add text to your calendar and customize it in all of the standard ways. Using the Text Management Controls, additional customizations become available. You can:

• Add borders and fill.
• Round the corners of borders and/or fill.
• Rotate text. Don’t worry about making mistakes here – the reset rotation button will always undo undesired rotation of text.

Cell Contents:Every aspect of the actual calendar grid can be customized: text, images (you can drag an image to any spot on the grid), cell shape – even the grid itself! Click on any text on the calendar grid and the following Cell Management Controls appear: Events can be added & edited to the day cells by using the Personalize Events menu items or by double-clicking on a day cell. You also have the option of adding clip-art: That’s really all there is to designing a calendar.

There are still some things left to discuss, such as what do you do with your calendar after you’ve finished the design process. We’ll get to that, but first we will discuss some basics. Feel free to skip ahead if you come upon information that you already know.

Toolbar and Menu Commands

As with all software applications, London Drugs PhotoLab Home Edition has a standard Toolbar and menu arrangement, as well as aspects that are unique to this application. For the sake of brevity, we will discuss in detail only those toolbar buttons items and menus commands that are unique to Calendars.

Toolbar Buttons (left to right)

Send to London Drugs: This will send your calendar project to our facilities for professional printing and finishing. When printing at London Drugs, your calendar will be printed on high quality image quality paper. We use the latest in digital printing technology to produce professional quality results. The calendar will be bound and ready for pick up at a London Drugs store within a few days, hassle free!

Menu Commands

File Menu

• Send to Print at London Drugs
  This will send your calendar project to our facilities for professional printing and finishing. When printing at London Drugs, your calendar will be printed on deluxe image quality paper. We use the latest in digital printing technology to produce the finest professional results. The calendar will be bound and ready for pick up at a London Drugs store or shipped to your home address within a few days, hassle free!
  
  
• Preflight/Preview...
  This will check to see if your calendar photos are of adequate resolution. Photos whose resolution is considered to be too low (less than 300 DPI) will be listed on a resolution status screen that will come up. This screen will only come up if at least one photo has a resolution below 300 DPI.
  
  
  

Edit Menu

• Undo Template Change

This allows you to change the font, size, color & style of any or all calendar text at once.


• Global Font Change

This allows you to change the font, size, color & style of any or all calendar text at once.


• Layout

This allows you to re-order the elements on the page (photos, graphic objects, text). The options are: Bring Forward, Bring To front, Send Backward, Send To Back.
• Grid

This allows you to place a (non-printing) grid over the calendar to help facilitate the design process.

• Show Grid
  Displays the design grid as an overlay on the calendar.
• Snap To Grid
  This will cause dragged or resized images, objects, and text to align with the nearest grid line. Great for achieving uniform alignment of multiple objects.
• Preferences
  This allows you to change the interface language and to choose Image Enhancement
  

Personalize Menu

• Select Template... : This brings up the template selection screen, on which you have the option to switch from your currently selected calendar template. NOTE: If you decide to switch templates mid-or post-design, please carefully review your calendar to be sure that your design scheme and new template choice are in harmony with each other.
  
  
• Calendar & Holidays... :The will bring up a screen where you can specify a starting month & year, a week start day, as well as the sets of holidays that you would like to have appear on your printed calendar.
  
  
• Events...
  
  • Manage Events...
    This brings up the Events management screen where you can edit and delete existing events.
    
  • Insert Events...
    This brings up the Insert Events screen where new events (with images & clip-art included) can be easily added to your calendar.
    
    NOTE:You cannot delete predefined events (such as national holidays). If you do not want an event to appear on your calendar, use the “Visible” checkbox to hide it. You can also go back to the Calendar & Holidays customization screen (Personalized Calendar & Holidays…) and remove an entire set of holidays.


• Insert Month Thumbnail
  This allows you to add a thumbnail-size calendar to a previous, current, or next calendar month – or any combination of the three. These can be added to specific months or to all months at one time. You can also resize the month thumbnails, and they can be dragged to any location on the calendar page. Even more modifications are possible using the Month Thumbnail Settings screen (just double-click on the thumbnail to bring it up). Below are the menu items that you will see under Insert Month Thumbnail:
  • Add To All Months
  • Previous Month
  • Current Month
  • Next Month


• Localize

This allows you to set the language of static calendar elements to the language of your choice as long as the language is supported by your computer’s operating system.

• Add New Picture...

This brings up an Open File dialog from which you can select an image. Acceptable image file types are: JPEG, TIFF, BMP, PNG, and GIF.


• Replace Selected Picture...



• Insert Object


• Picture...
  This brings up an Open File dialog from which you can select a image. Acceptable image file types are: JPEG, TIFF, BMP, PNG, and GIF.
• Text...
  This adds a text object (default text: “Your Text Here…”) to your calendar page. Please see the Text Management Controls section above for information on editing text.
• Graphics Object...
  This adds a graphic object (default: square, frame only) to your calendar page. Please see the Object Management Controls section above for information on customizing graphic objects.
• Clip Art...
  This brings up a clip art selection dialog where you have the option of choosing from an array of clip art images. The clip art that you select will be added to your calendar page, and can be resized & relocated.


• Image Commands


• Load Picture...
  This allows you to replace a selected image or clip art object with an image from your computer. Acceptable image file types are: JPEG, TIFF, BMP, PNG, PICT, and GIF.
• Resize Picture to Fill...
  This allows you to enlarge a selected image or clip art object so that it fills the entire calendar page, side-to-side & top to bottom.