A list of keyboard shortcuts, arranged alphabetically by operation and key, can be found here

jAlbum

About jAlbum

Opens the About jAlbum window where you can see jAlbum version, java version and also information about your license and account.

Preferences

Opens the preferences, preferences are settings that affects the behaviour of the program. Read more here.

Hide jAlbum

Hides the jAlbum window.

Hide others

Hides all other opened windows on your computer except the jAlbum window.

Show all

Shows all open windows on your computer. If you hid the windows you will get them back by clicking on Show all.

Quit jAlbum

Quits jAlbum.

File

New Project...

Opens the 'New Project' window where you can enter a name, add tags and and write a description. Click on the triangle next to 'More' to reveal a file chooser letting you change the location of the output album.

Project Gallery

Opens a window with previews of the projects in either the 'My albums' folder or the 'Recent projects' list. This makes it easier to identify projects that have names that are not necessarily descriptive of the project. See Project Gallery for further information.

Open project...

You can open an existing project on your computer that is not in the recent projects list. When clicking here the file system opens and you can navigate to the project you want to open. Click on the file called jalbum-settings.jap to open the project.

Open recent project >

Gives you a list off all the recent projects you have worked on. Click on the project you want to open. In addition there is a '<<Clear list>>' choice, should you wish to remove all listed recent projects.

Import >

Settings from project

Imports settings from a local project. The file system opens and you need to navigate to the project you want to import settings from, click on jalbum-settings.jap to import the settings.

Settings from published album...

Imports settings from a published album that includes a jAlbum>Preferences>Projects>Include the lifeboat file. Just enter the URL to the album you want to import settings from and click OK. To import use your web browser to navigate to and select the published album's root folder or it's index.html page, then copy the URL and paste it into the tool's input form. Remember to 'Save' the settings to retain the imported configuration or exit without saving to retain the original settings. it doesn't have to be your own album. Note, personal detail settings, like analytics, social media etc., will not be imported to protect the privacy of other users.

Read more about which settings are and are not imported from published albums here.

Default settings

Imports jAlbums default settings to the current project. The default settings are for example skin and style, image settings, advanced settings and all other settings that affects the project. A saved 'skin default' will, for that skin, override the these default settings.

Import published album...

Allows you to download an album that is uploaded. When you click on Import published album... jAlbum will connect to the server that is selected in upload/manage and show you all folders on the server. Mark the folder you want to download and press Download. You will then be asked 'Do you wish to import this album as a project into jAlbum?'

If you select 'Yes' the published album will be downloaded and the project recreated using the album’s images etc. with titles and comments extracted from the 'album.rss' files, the downloaded album itself will be included with the project as though a 'Make album' has already been performed.

If you select 'No' you will be prompted to provide a download location for the album.

From Camera…

If a camera is detected this option will light up. This option allows you to import images directly from the camera.

From facebook…

Allows you to import images from Facebook. You sign in to your Facebook account and then you can choose between all images and albums on your Facebook account.

From database file…

Imports metadata for project (jpg format only) images from a comma separated, text or XML file. The metadata file must have a field that has the image filename, for example the field 'Name' could contain the image file names and that field would be mapped to 'File name'. For CSV and TXT files, if the fields to be imported contain commas within their text you will need to wrap the text within quotes:

Name,Title,Comment
img0001.jpg,Title example,"This, is a 
comment, with commas in it"

If your file content includes diacritics then ensure your file is saved with the correct encoding e.g. UTF8, otherwise those characters may not be recognised in the import preview. The metadata file can be used from anywhere on your computer, just navigate to it when the import window opens or by drag and dropping the file onto the tool's window (see Select or drop file in imag above).

It will import metadata for images within the project and images that are linked to files outside of it.

You don't need to have the images displayed in 'explore mode', you can import the metadata with the root folder displayed but you will not see the results if you do.

The tool will try to automatically map common column names to their corresponding XMP fields, you can also manually select which fields to import from and how they map to the metadata properties of the images. Fields can be rearranged by clicking on the field header and dragging it to a new location. The number of files with matching metadata will be reported after the tool has run and jAlbum's window will be refreshed to reflect the changes.

Related information: Preferences/General/Write metadata to files, Settings/Advanced/Metadata

Close Project

Closes the project, selects the 'Empty' project.

Save Project Settings

Saves or updates the saved project settings.

Save Project Settings as...

Allows you to save the project settings to a .jap file. By default it saves the file as jalbum-settings.jap in the project folder but you can change both name an location. If the project has been saved with a name other than 'jalbum-settings' the project will appear in the recent projects list under the name of the settings file.

Duplicate Project...

Will take the active project and make a duplicate of it, with the option of renaming it or using the existing project name with '(copy)' appended. If the original project has an 'album' subfolder then that is not duplicated, and after selecting the duplicate project and making whatever changes you require you will need to perform a 'Make album'.

Backup projects...

Lets you select some or all of your projects for backing up to either a disk or another connected computer. Choose the location of your projects, either 'recent projects' or the 'My Albums' folder - usually 'Users/Username/My Albums. The window will then display all of the relevant projects.

Select the backup location using 'folder' icon to the left of the 'Open' button at the top right. Navigate to the disk/folder you want to create your backups in and click 'Open'. The 'open' button will open the folder in your OS' file system. Check the 'Include' linked files' to include them in the backups, if you don't need to include linked originals uncheck it. Now select the projects to backup from the list and click on 'Backup selected', or simply click on 'backup all' if required. Once you have selected a project you can use the keyboard to navigate, type the first letter of a project's name, use the up/down arrow keys and the 'Enter' key to select a project and back it/them up.

The window will list all of your projects, not just those in the 'recent projects' list. It displays the location of the project, when it was last made and when last backed up - or blank entry if never.

Restore projects...

This lets you restore projects that have been backed up. The window and options are similar to the above. If a project of the same name exists in the 'restore to' location you will be asked if you want to keep both or don't replace. Keep both will result in the restored project having a number suffix, like '-1'. Replace will replace old content but not delete content added to the original folder after the backup date. Don't replace will skip the restore for that project. In all cases there is a 'Stop' choice which will stop the restore process for any outstanding selected projects.

Save as default

Saves the current project settings, including the choice of skin and its settings, as the default. Newly-created projects will then use these settings. The default (Preferences) settings are saved as defaults.jap in the configuration directory (Menu/Tools/Open Directories/config directory). Removing or renaming that file will reset jAlbum defaults to the factory settings.

Save as skin default

Save the skin's current settings as the default instead of the skin's suggested defaults, so when the skin is loaded those settings are applied. Hold the ALT/OPT key down to use the skin's suggested defaults. A saved skin default will override the 'standard' default settings for that skin.

Print...

Prints a’contact print sheet’ of either the selected images or all images if none are selected. The images are printed on a grid, the size of the grid is selected in a drop down menu. There are also options to include file names, image dimensions and comments for each image.

Edit

Undo & Redo

Multiple level undo and redo for many operations (move, rename etc).

Add

Opens the file system in order to allow you to add images to the album project. If the new object(s) have the same filename as an existing object in the current folder, you will be prompted to decide whether you should 'keep both, don't replace, stop or replace'. If 'keep both' is selected then the new item will be pasted with ' -n' appended to the filename.

Paste

If you have copied a file it will be pasted in the album project. When an object is pasted that has the same name as an existing object, within the folder, it will be pasted with the name modified, adding ' - copy' and if further objects are pasted then a ‘(n)’ where n is a number will be added.

When objects are copied from elsewhere, that have the same filename as an existing object in the current folder, you will be prompted to decide whether you should 'keep both, don't replace, stop or replace'. If 'keep both' is selected then the new item will be pasted with ' -n' appended to the filename.

Select all

Selects all files and folders in the current folder.

Invert selection

All files and folders that is not selected will be selected while selected files and folders will be deselected.

View

Address bar

The address bar is Turned on by default but you can turn it off by clicking on it. By turning it off you will remove the address bar above the images in explore mode.

Filter bar

The filter bar is turned off by default, by turning it on the filter bar will appear below the images in the Explore mode. The filter bar allows you to filter the images in the current folder. You can filter by star rating, color or keywords.

Large Thumbnails

Large thumbnails is turned on by default, click on it to turn it off. This will make the thumbnails in Explore mode larger and smaller.

Label Type

Here you can change the selected Label Type shown in the upper right corner of explore mode. The image above shows you the label types in explore mode. You can also change label type by clicking the different label types directly in explore mode.

Hide Excluded

By clicking here jAlbum will hide all excluded files and folders in the whole album project.

Zoom

Set the size of thumbnails in explore view. Use CMD/CNTRL + '+' to zoom in, CMD/CNTRL + '-' to zoom out or CMD/CNTRL + '0' to reset the zoom.

Ordering

JAlbum will order the images according to the selected sorting method in the list to the right.

Folder ordering

jAlbum will order folders according to the selected sorting method from the list to the right. These options are only available if "Folders first" is selected.

Update

Refreshes the jAlbum window.

Organize

This menu lets you arrange images in subfolders in various ways.

See JAlbum/Explore/Organize

Album

Make Album

If you click here jAlbum will make the album and then show you a local preview of it. This is the same as clicking the Make Album button. In this and the two options below original images are not touched.

Make in background

Submit the current project for album building as a background process, so you can carry on creating or editing another project without waiting for the album to be made. See Monitor and control progress.

Make and upload in background

Submit the current project for album building and uploading as a background process, so you can carry on creating or editing another project without waiting for the album to be made. See Monitor and control progress.

Force Remake

When clicking force remake, jAlbum will rebuild the whole album, That means rebuilding it will rescale all images even if some are not new or have not been modified.

Make Test

Make Test really for trying out different settings without committing to a full album rebuild, it means that all HTML pages are remade, new images, new comments and new skin settings will be seen but other changes such as image bounds will not. Images are only reprocessed if they are missing in the output directory or if individual images have been updated. Make Test can thus leave your album needing a further ‘Make’ to ensure all pages and images are built with the current settings.

Preview

See Preview page

Upload in background

Submit the current project for uploading as a background process, so you can carry on creating or editing another project without waiting for the album to be uploaded. See Monitor and control progress.

Opens an album preview in jAlbums embedded browser.

Embed album

Generates an embedding code for your album. To embed the album on your website, the embedding code can be pasted in your website's source code. The width and height can be adjusted to fit the size of your album and the space on your website. Don't forget to click update before copying the code to make sure the URL in the code is correct. The embed code shown is the default (for embedding in an iFrame) but skins can provide their own embed code, such as Responsive's javaScript code If you need to change the protocol see Share

Album information

Opens a window with information about your album. You can see sizes, location for local album, images and uploaded album.

Settings

Opens jAlbum settings. Read more about settings here.

Tools

Last tool

Provides quick access, in both explore and edit mode, to the last used tool by selecting from the menu or using keyboard shortcut CMD/CNTRL + L. Tools that are 'remembered' include Area tagging, image editing tools, adjust camera date, List metadata and more. To check the last tool used just look at the first item in the 'Tools' menu.

Review

Opens a fullscreen slideshow with your images. This full screen mode allows you to present an album locally and to approve (rate and exclude) the images in the album. See Review Mode for more details.

Share...

Starts the built in web server which allows you to share your albums with others. The address for the shared album is presented once sharing is turned on.

Multi maker...

Select and make, and optionally upload, multiple albums from the list of the displayed recent projects, in one go. Alternatively drag and drop a text file with a list of paths to the project files to be made. There is also an option to force remake the albums. As each album is being made a progress report is displayed. When all albums have been made click on the 'close' button to dismiss the tool's window.

Upload/Manage

Click here to open the upload/manage window. In this window you can change the upload location, add new account profiles and change advanced upload settings.

Open directories

Here you can open different directories. 'Image Directory' opens the directory where all the images in the album are stored. 'Output directory' is the directory that will be uploaded when you publish the album. 'Skin directory' is the folder that contains everything that belongs to the skin and the 'program directory' is the folder that contains program files and folders. 'Config directory' contains skins and plugins that you have downloaded and installed to jAlbum afterwards, the folder also contains program settings, the recent projects file and some account information among other things.

External tools

Additional tools, downloaded or by creating your own, can be added to the 'tools' folder within the 'config' folder (Menu/Tools/Open directories/config). Information on other external tools can be found here. Note, for Windows and Linux systems, user installed tools are displayed in bold text, bundled tools in plain text.

The following are those that are currently bundled with jAlbum:

Batch rename files

Batch rename files in the directory according to the entered pattern. You can choose if you just want it to apply to links or all files and folders.

Cache image ordering

Greatly speeds up album builds on albums ordered by camera date.

Convert upper case to lower case

Converts file names of objects in the image directory to lower case. This is useful when publishing to ftp servers that only support lowercase characters.

Copy file metadata to xmp

Copies jAlbum specific file metadata to the xmp section of files.

Correct image orientation

Corrects the image orientation of images that haven't been rotated properly by some software (thumbnails appear rotated compared to slides for example).

Import ACDSee metadata

Imports keywords entered in the external application ACDSee. Keywords are added to any already known to jAlbum.

Import comments from rss file

import comments from really old albums built with versions of jAlbum prior to 8.14. It imports comments from a local album, use if you have an old album but have lost your comments for the project.

jAlbum core update

Only use this if told to do so, such as to install critical core updates or service updates, or if you want to help debug new features before they are formally released as they can result in unforeseen buggy behaviour. It Downloads and installs the most recent (unofficial) update to jAlbum's core code (jalbum-core.jar).

Perform garbage collection

Shows you how much free RAM jAlbum has and how much RAM jAlbum has in total.

Rename slide variables

Allows you to rename slide variables for the current album. Enter an existing variable name and then enter the new name to replace it.

Replace spaces with dashes

Replaces all spaces with dashes in the file name of original images, to ease publishing to some ftp servers.

Reset Jalbum to factory defaults

Resets jAlbum settings to factory defaults.

Reset file date to camera date

Reset the file date of all image files under the image directory to the camera (EXIF) date.

Reset folder date to last file date

Reset the date of each folder in your album to the date of the most recent image file or sub folder.

Sample tool

This is an example of beanShell script executed from the jAlbum tools directory. Future tools can automate tedious work for you, like batch-rotating and renaming images.

Show supported file types

Opens a window with a list of supported image file types, for example TIFF and PDF.

Strip xmp data from files

Remove incorrect xmp data from images.

Strip xmp description from files

Remove xmp description from images

Strip xmp title from files

Remove xmp title from files

Zip project folder

Allows the creation of a compressed zip file of the project..

System console

Opens the system console, read more about it here.

Skin developer

The following is for skin developers only, if you are not developing a skin you can ignore this. Section.

Edit skin files

Opens the skin files in jAlbum's text editor. You can edit the code from here and when you save your changes, the skin has been modified and the new changed will be applied to your album at the next album build.

Edit skin properties

Opens a window where you can edit the skin properties. You can for example edit the title, version number and description and much more.

Open empty editor

Opens an empty page in jalbum's text editor.

Reload skin

Reloads the selected skin.

Create new skin...

Lets your create your own skin. You can enter a name and select which of the existing skins you want to base you new skin on. When you press ok a new skin with your chosen name will be added to the skins. Select you skin and go to 'Edit skin files' to start editing your new skin.

Prepare for online and console use...

Prepare the skin for use with online jAlbum (only approved skins are used in online jAlbum) and for when jAlbum is run from the command line. This tool only needs to be used if the skin does not have a compiled UI and does not include a correctly written SkinModel.java file

Pack as .jaskin file

The selected skin will be packaged as a .jaskin file. When the new file is generated it can be found in jAlbum >> Skins on your computer. The file can be used for uploading to your skins page, making it available for use by the jAlbum community.

Delete selected skin...

The selected skin will be deleted. If you want to delete one of the bundled skins you might have to perform this action twice if you have made updates to the skin after you downloaded jAlbum. The reason for this is that the updates are first deleted and the second time the bundled skin is deleted.

Translator

To add a translation for a new language, or for using the auto-translate function, see Adding multilingual text

Translate selected skin

Opens a files with all texts (texts.properties). You can edit this file if you want to change something in the translation or wording save the file and make album to see your changes.

Update skin translation

Manually add texts that are not yet translated to current skin's texts file(s).

Update skin translation (auto-translate)

Automatically add translated texts where no translation exists.

Find skin translation

Find translation file in file system. If the skin is translated to many different languages you can find the correct file to edit here. For example texts_es.properties, texts_fr.properties, texts_nl.properties or texts_sv.properties.

Translate jAlbum

Opens a file in jAlbum's text editor where you edit the translation of jAlbum.

Update jAlbum translation

Manually add texts that are not yet translated to current jAlbum translation.

Update jAlbum translation (auto-translate)

Automatically add texts where no translation exists.

Find jAlbum translation

Find jAlbum translation files, in jAlbum’s configuration directory in the file system. Opens the folder where you can find all translation files for jAlbum.

Help

Search

Search for jAlbum and skin control elements by their labels, files and folders by metadata such as name, title, comment or keyword. Searching for metadata starts in the current directory and includes all of its subdirectories. Metadata searching can be turned on or off under Preferences>Search.

For more information on using the search function see jAlbum>Settings>Search

Help topics

Opens jAlbums help page.

Context help

Opens jalbums contextual help. The help page for the current action will open.

Check for updates

Checks if there are any updates available.

jAlbum on the web

A link to jalbum.net. It will take you to the home page, or if you are signed in, it will take you to your profile page on jalbum.net.

Download more skins

A link to the page on the jAlbum site where you can download more skins.

Supporting jAlbum

A link to the page on the jAlbum site where you can make a donation to us.

License information

Opens the "About jAlbum" window in jAlbum. The window shows you information about your software and license.

Detach license.../Activate license...

This is where you activate your license. If the license is not activated it will say "Activate license..." if you have already activated the license it will instead say "Detach license...". When you click on Detach license the license will be detached.