Tutorials


When browsing or viewing files in any iView catalog, it’s likely that you may want enact upon a file in some way outside of the feature set that iView provides - such as file editing or compression. To assist you, iView has a function called "Open With."

The way it works is simple: Select any file (or group of files) in the catalog and open it with a "Helper" application. Using Helper applications keeps you from having to launch an application, navigate through the Finder and locate the file.

Helpers are defined in the Preferences dialog box (see figure below). This panel will let you choose media editors, utilities or viewers so that you may quickly access them via the pull-down menu in the application toolbar or through a contextual menu.

 

How to add a Helper: Go to the Preferences dialog box, and click the Add button. Navigate to the application through the Finder and select it. When first launched, iView will automatically scan your Applications folder for Helpers, but you may want to add or remove some later.

Note: This list cannot be reordered, so think about which applications you may want to use most frequently and add them to your list first. Having them at the top of the list will make them easier to access in pull-down menus.

Ideas: The possibilities are limitless for using Helper applications in your workflow. Here are some ways Helpers can assist you:

Email: You can add any file, direct from iView, as an attachment to an email in the Mac OS 10.2 Mail application or to Entourage, Microsoft’s mail client. Simply select the file, then choose either mail client in the Helper application pull-down and the file will automatically open as an attachment to a new email. Results may vary depending on your mail client and operating system.

Image editing: Assign applications such as Adobe Photoshop, ImageReady, Graphic Converter or PixelNhance as Helpers for editing photos. When browsing an iView catalog with images, you can quickly access an image that you want to edit, open it in the application, then save it. When you get back to the iView catalog, execute a "Rebuild Thumbnail" command (CMD-B) to see the change reflected in the thumbnail.

Edit anything: The same technique for editing images can be applied to just about anything - desktop publishing files such as InDesign and Quark; graphics files such as Freehand or Illustrator; even audio, video and text files. Just assign the appropriate application for the file and execute the "Open With" command.

Compression and Packaging: Assign Aladdin Systems' StuffIt, DropStuff or DropZip tools to compress or create self-expanding files for Mac and Windows. Excellent for packaging a group of files for email, backup and burning.

Previews and Players: While iView is an excellent viewer for almost every file, you may want to view your files in another application such as the OS X Preview app, browsers such as Internet Explorer or the QuickTime player. If you use other players, such as iTunes or Audion, set them as Helpers. This will make it easy for you to add a particular MP3 to the iTunes database.

Font management: For OS 9 users, you can assign ATM Deluxe as a Helper for a quick, efficient way to add fonts from an iView catalog to ATM's active Sets & Fonts window. This means that making any font active in your system only one click away.

CD-Burning & Backup: Assign Roxio's Toast Titanium CD and DVD-burning application as a Helper and add files to a new disc image ready for burning. Of course, this action is similar to, but not exactly the same as, iView's Backup command.

Applets and Droplets: Any AppleScript that has been saved as an executable is viewed by your operating system as an application. This is helpful for integrating droplets created by Adobe Photoshop or ImageReady. A "Rotate 90 Left" Photoshop droplet or "Make JPEG (quality 60)" ImageReady compression droplet will save you a ton of time when used as an iView Helper.