TOPIC: Photo resolution in finished report

Actually Bob, if you click on a photo in the insert window, a thumb of it appears on the right side.

Dom,

Yes, that's kind of what I envision. My intitial thought is that it would allow you to rearrange with a icon view of all the photos you took(as opposed to the 2-3 visible on the item pages).  It would be nice to have the same edit, insert, section assigning, etc. that is available on the other pages. Those buttons would have to be tiny though, or also icon based.

Again, this idea may be driven just by how I do my own photos and inspection report(system by system) so some wider perspective may throw a wrench in this idea.  But I do my photos by reviewing them outside of HIP(because the resolution is larger) where I can rotate, crop, delete unusuable ones and so on a lot faster.  Then I batch add to HIP and go from there. THAT'S where the icon layout would speed me up as I assign them and edit them. They appear enlarged in the center if you click them anyway, so an icon of the photo is enough. The arranging would just add a nice touch to that whole process since I could quickly see all the photos in one section and put my biggest issues first or last.

OH, and how about if you could assign your photos and then click a button which would arrange them based on the sections they are assigned to. That would really be slick.

Cameron do you actually think I do not know that?

You want to click all 300 for me to find one?... your hired.

No offense intended, just assumed you really meant there were no thumbs at all.

I use the thumbs all the time to find specific photos. Since the photos inevitably follow the path I took through the home, I click 2-3 and I find the one I need. Having the original photo number somewhere on the page would probably fix that issue. Then you could see the numbers already on the page when you go to insert a different photo.

Maybe something simple like this...

Bob, why would you do anything but batch add when you have 300 photos?

Cameron, aren't your photos already ordered by section just by the fact that you took photos of the same areas at the same time? Right now they get grouped when browsing through the program in the photo slideshow pane.

Only if you do a strict room-by-room style report.  I do a system-by-system style of report and I try to inspect that way as well, but...

1. I'm on the roof and I might take several photos of the gutters, electric service, eaves, soffits, etc.
2. I'm in the basement and I'm looking at plumbing, but I see issues involving structure, electrical or foundation...  more "out of order" photos.
3. And the most common, I do not write each room separately, it's way too redundant for me. I have an Interior page with walls, floors, ceilings, windows, stairs, etc. tabs. So I find electrical or HVAC or many other systems all over the home.

They do get grouped in the slideshow pane, and I rely heavily on that as I write my comments AFTER inserting photos. BTW, don't ever get rid of the slideshow pane, it is invaluable!  But I am stuck(so to speak) with the order they are imported into HIP and I'm only seeing 2 of the photos which I assigned (I have to scroll for the others).  A "zoomed out"icon view and the ability to arrange on that page using section assignments let's me see:

1. The full order they will appear in the report without clicking anything,
2. Any photos I forgot to assign or assigned incorrectly (that happens all the time),
3. Any redundant photos I currently have assigned(again all the time),
4. Any photos I want to re-arrange to emphasize their importance.

You can certainly accomplish all of the above with the current photo pages and the slideshow pane, but it would be much more streamlined on a single page.  It's the way photos are interfaced in just about every photo editing program out there, Picasa, Photoshop Organizer, even a basic folder of photos. They all use icon sized(size varies a bit) interface which allows arranging.  Ironically, when I do want to change the order, I do it by renaming the photos in the windows folder and then do a batch insert.  Or if I'm well into the report, I delete, insert, delete, insert one photo at a time.  I would batch insert leaving the two empty slots option, but then I'm clicking through twice as many tabs.  I'm not sure it would be any faster either way.

BTW, I'm not suggesting getting rid of the current 4-to-a-page tabs, just adding the icon page at the end or start of the tabs.