Catalog on external harddrive - how to access from two Mac?

[Juergen R]

I’m a longtime PM user and am on a Plus trial now.

I’m working on two Macbooks and a number of external harddrives.

I want to do the following: on Mac_1 create and save catalogs on the same harddrive where the images are, and I want be able to access the catalogs on Mac_2 when the harddrive is plugged in there.

So far I have succeeded to create catalogs on Mac_1 but don’t know how to access them on Mac_2 and vice versa. I can see the catalogs in Finder on the external harddrive.

[Kirk Baker]

I’m a longtime PM user and am on a Plus trial now.

I’m working on two Macbooks and a number of external harddrives.

I want to do the following: on Mac_1 create and save catalogs on the same harddrive where the images are, and I want be able to access the catalogs on Mac_2 when the harddrive is plugged in there.

So far I have succeeded to create catalogs on Mac_1 but don’t know how to access them on Mac_2 and vice versa. I can see the catalogs in Finder on the external harddrive.

On Mac_2, plug in the external hard drive.  Once it is mounted and shows up in the Finder, use the Catalog->Manage Catalogs... command in Photo Mechanic Plus.  Look for the "Locate Existing Catalog..." button down towards the bottom of the window.  Choose the catalog folder on the external hard drive.  Then when the catalog shows up in the list of Local Catalogs, click on the triangle to the left of its name.  This will reveal a set of operations that you can perform on the catalog.  Click on the triangle to the left of the Maintenance label.  Click on the "Reintegrate Forgotten Catalog" button.  The operation may take some time if your catalog is large.

That should do it.

-Kirk

[Juergen R]

Thanks a lot, Kirk.

It works! Right now I’m test-driving PM Plus with a small amount of images.
The catalog feature makes it suddenly easy to get a selection of images from various folders into the same contact sheet for specific projects. Just what I need.

Kind regards,
Juergen

[Kirk Baker]

Juergen,

Thanks a lot, Kirk.

It works! Right now I’m test-driving PM Plus with a small amount of images.
The catalog feature makes it suddenly easy to get a selection of images from various folders into the same contact sheet for specific projects. Just what I need.

And if you create a Collection for your project, you can add images to it and even arrange their order so that they play in your desired sequence in a slideshow (for instance).

-Kirk

[Juergen R]

Thanks for the tip!

Ordering by Arrangement didn’t work at first. The image jumped back to its original position.

I tried to order by Arrangement in a folder. There it worked like in PM6.

… and now it also works in a collection. There seems to be some glitch here.

-Juergen

[Kirk Baker]

Juergen,

Ordering by Arrangement didn’t work at first. The image jumped back to its original position.

You were able to try to arrange in a Browse/Search/Filter tab?

-Kirk

[Juergen R]

You were able to try to arrange in a Browse/Search/Filter tab?

Kirk,

Being only on day three of Plus trial, I’m not very familiar with the new functions and have only used the Search tab yet.

I can’t see the Arrangement option in the Browse/Search/Filter tab.
It seems to be only available when in Collection mode.

But it could be nice to have it available in Catalog mode to check how images work as a sequence before presenting.
For slideshows I prefer to save images in a separate folder and rename as a sequence. That seems to be a more simple and robust solution.

-Juergen

[Juergen R]

You were able to try to arrange in a Browse/Search/Filter tab?

Kirk,

Probably I misunderstood your question.

When I’m in the Collection (horizontal tab), Arrangement does work in the Browse/Search/Filter tab (vertical tab).

-Juergen

[Kirk Baker]

Juergen,

You were able to try to arrange in a Browse/Search/Filter tab?

Probably I misunderstood your question.

When I’m in the Collection (horizontal tab), Arrangement does work in the Browse/Search/Filter tab (vertical tab).

The currently selected Organizer tab (the vertical ones) does not have any effect on being able to rearrange the order of photos.  Photos can only be arranged in a Collection tab (horizontal) or in a Folder tab (horizontal).  I think we're on the same page now.

-Kirk