FTP and send via e-mail in one step ? (2 step workflow)

[hsaphoto]

Hello at Camera Bits,

Our photo team at La Presse newspaper in Montreal have been requested to file pictures during the NHL playoff in 2 formats.

The usual FTP files are hi-res and used for the next day iPad/paper edition.

But during the game, reporters on site at the press gallery are live blogging and we want to send low-res images to a ScribbleLive address so that some pictures can be used in the liveblog.

Our first test worked last week as follow : (but with a small glitch)

step 1) CMD-U of selected pictures to our FTP server (usual tested and working workflow)
step 2) SHIFT-CMD-E of the same selected pics to the ScribbleLive address (via a preset snapshot with code replacement in the body of e-mail)

Our concern is as follow : we realized that only the caption of the FIRST picture is seen in the body of the e-mail, not the different captions from different pictures sent in one e-mail.

( Using seperate e-mails to send many pictures is not an option right now )

So, my questions :

A) is there a way to insert the varied captions of different pictures in the body of ONE e-mail ?
B) in a lesser manner, could we do this in ONE step ? (FTP + email)

Thanks for looking into our workflow concerns,


Hugo
photographer, La Presse, Montreal

[Mick O (Camera Bits)]

I am going to offer a workaround for the issue of sending rich email with multiple captions. I don't know if this is the best solution, but it may work for you -- depending on what email client you use.  The method I just tested used Thunderbird.

To email multiple images with a separate caption for each image,

1. select the images and then hit  command-control-x (Export)
2. select "PM Classic" export template
3. You can ignore most of the settings in the template, but scroll down to the "Thumbnails" section. Make Max Width and Max Height something suitable for your ScribbleLive application. 1200x1200 is what I tried. (EDIT: Also you should change the number of columns to 1)
4. Add {caption} to the Title field for thumbnails
5. Click "Export"    PM will ask you where to Export to.  I suggest creating a new folder somewhere.

(Once you set these different options, they will be the default and you wont need to set them all up again. You could save it as a snapshot with the lightning bolt icon as well)

In many email clients, you can set an HTML file as "stationery" for your email.  In Thunderbird this is in the upper right corner of the compose window. If you navigate to the folder you created in the Exporter, use the index.html file there as your stationery.  The email then has all your photos with captions. 

In my tests, this was actually pretty fast once i had everything set up.   Every time I use the PM Classic exporter, I just overwrite the previous export. Thunderbird remembers the index.html as a choice in the stationery menu so i don't have to look for it every time.   This worked great for me using Thunderbird, I don't know about other email clients.

Let me know if i can explain any better.  Theoretically, you could customize and fine-tune this by creating templates using the HTML exporter as well. Then you would use the exported HTML from that as your email stationery.
http://wiki.camerabits.com/en/index.php/Web_Galleries_and_Export#HTML_Template_Exporter

Mick

[hsaphoto]

Mick,

this set-up looks pretty sweet, I got your workflow right, it's pretty straithforward but I will need to test it on my end and see how it ends up at the end of the worklfow (ScribbleLive platform).

I'll stay in touch with the results.

Thanks again for the lenghty and precise reply !

Best regards,

Hugo

[hsaphoto]

Mick,

I tested your proposition and your workflow worked to a certain point. First of all I had to install a free Add-On for Thunderbird to manage the stationery.

Up to that point all is perfect, the only drawback I see is that Thunderbird blocks outgoing images from the html file, I have to manually unblock every file so it gets included in the email, this is not an option on a quick deadline during an NHL game.

If you have any idea how to disable the image blocking pref I'd be happy to read your reply but as of now I'm at a lost.

I'll try finding alternate solutions, thanks again !

Hugo

[Mick O (Camera Bits)]

Hi Hugo,

I had forgotten that I had added the Stationery add-on myself a long time ago. I should have mentioned that too,

I did some digging and it appears this (requiring approval of images in outgoing email) is a behavior that just started in Thunderbird 52. In fact I only got that update today. (Bad timing, eh?)   From what I have read, there is no setting yet that can fix this.

I don't know if downgrading to TB version 45.8 is an option for you, but if you did then it should work.  Sorry I don't have a better solution at this time.

-- Mick

Background:

(Mozilla support is also weird lately. This is a cached discussion from just a few days ago that discusses the problem, but the discussion seems to have disappeared from their servers.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Yln3jzfsZeoJ:https://support.mozilla.org/t5/Thunderbird/TB52-blocks-images-in-signatures-on-outgoing-mail/td-p/1387484+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=safari

One comment reads:

Re: TB52 blocks images in signatures on outgoing mail

Agreed -- TB52 is a non-starter (to the point where I've downgraded to 45.8 on all my machines), until the devs come up with a way to allow (or, restore) insertion of *local* images into the compose window -- either via templates (which seems to be broken), signatures (ditto), and add-ons that generate and image that said addon inserts (or, trys to) into the message (absolutely broken).  I'm sure there were compelling reasons to change the way TB handles graphics, but TB52 seems half-baked in this regard, with not regard given (it seems) for *local graphics*. The changes seem to think everything is out the in "the internets" somewhere.