Q1) Is there an annual subscription fee to continue using Photo Mechanic?
A1) There is no annual subscription fee. When you purchase Photo Mechanic, it includes one year of software updates. The last version of Photo Mechanic that you are able to register will work indefinitely, and there is no time limit on when you have to purchase a new year of upgrades. Upgrades include all versions of Photo Mechanic posted within that year. When that year ends, you can either continue to use Photo Mechanic with the last version allowed within your upgrade period, or purchase an additional year of upgrades by contacting Camera Bits. You are welcome to demo any new version when released to see if you want to purchase an additional year of updates.

Q2) I have set the path to the Photoshop application but I still can’t get my photos to open in PS CS. Photoshop opens but never displays the images. What setting did I miss?
A2) This sounds like the Photoshop application needs to be re-installed. Try this quick test to make sure. Quit both Photo Mechanic and Photoshop CS. Locate a JPEG file on your Desktop and drag its icon to the Photoshop icon in the Dock. If Photoshop launched but never opens the photo, then you will need to re-install Photoshop CS.

Adobe's TechNote: http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/329996.html

Q3) I am a bit apprehensive about upgrading my Photo Mechanic v3 to the latest version 4 because it seems so different. I have tried the demo and I can’t make it work like Photo Mechanic v3. Do I have to learn a new set of commands for the new version?
A3) Photo Mechanic version 4 can be made to run almost like version 3. Most new Photo Mechanic 4 users find that they cannot double click a thumbnail and have it open in Photoshop. There is a preference setting on the Preview preference page that will let you double-click a thumbnail and have it open in the secondary editing application (Photoshop). This is called double-click Edits / Option double-click Previews. It’s the rightmost, bottom radio button on the Preview page. The Preview window no longer requires the Command key to be used to enable the shortcuts. Just the single key is used for most preview window shortcuts. Hit the E key to send the image off to the secondary editing application. There are a few keys that have changed. The + and - keys are now used to Zoom in and out. You will need to use the T key to toggle the Tag status in Photo Mechanic V4.

Q4) I have seen other Photo Mechanic users work with PSD files in v4. When I try to browse my PSD files, all I see is a blank thumbnail box. Is there some patch or plugin I need to install?
A4) Photo Mechanic uses QuickTime to display Photoshop PSD files and movie files. If the PSD files are not saved from Photoshop with the Maximize Compatibility option enabled, then you will see a blank thumbnail. If you do not see the Maximize Compatibility dialog open in Photoshop when saving a new PSD file, then go to Photoshop’s preferences on the File Handling page and set the Maximize PSD and PSB File Compatibility to either Ask or Always.

Q5) When I try to register my demo, it comes up as invalid. Do I need to re-install the Photo Mechanic application?
A5) Photo Mechanic’s registration dialog is very strict about the text entered. You must type the text in exactly as shown in the email or on the registration certificate. One out of place character will invalidate the password. If you have copied the text from the email, then you could have pasted in hidden characters that will also invalidate the password. Photo Mechanic will, remember these hidden characters the next time you try to register it. The solution is to clear the registration dialog fields first and then type in your registration info. To clear the field, just use the Tab key or Shift Tab to backup one field. When the field is highlighted, hit the Delete key and then type in the required text. If your registration info does not have a department, then make sure to leave that field empty.

Q6) I am trying out the Photo Mechanic demo and some images say Expired in a black thumbnail box.
A6) The Expired Thumbnails will be displayed any time the capture date of the photo is beyond the expiration date of the Photo Mechanic demo. Have your photographer check the date setting in his camera.

Q7) I am using the Ingest utility to copy my Flash card photos to a folder on the local hard drive. When I click the Ingest button I see a small dialog open for just a second and then disappear. I have checked the box to open contact sheet during Ingest but all that opens is a blank gray window. Where are my photos?
A7) If you have selected the “Copy Locked files Only” menu item in the Ingest dialog, then Photo Mechanic will only copy the files that have been locked by your camera. If you have not locked any files, then nothing will be copied by Ingest when this box is checked.

Q8) I started up Photo Mechanic this morning and all of my Toolbars are missing. I reinstalled Photo Mechanic but they are still gone. What do I do to get them back?
A8) If you are using a Mac, then click on the oval button at the top right of the window frame. This will toggle the Toolbar status on and off. If you are using a Windows machine, then you will need to quit Photo Mechanic and then restart it. Hold down the Shift key as soon as you launch Photo Mechanic. Hold the Shift key down until the Splash screen is gone. This will restore all of the menus to their original settings.

Q9) I am using the Ingest utility to copy and rename all of my photos to the hard drive and make a secondary backup. The Ingest progress bar starts to move as normal and then I see a bunch of copy errors list in the dialog. What could be the problem?
A9) If you do not use a rename string that will generate unique names for all of the photos, then Photo Mechanic will append a letter (A~Z) to the end of each new file with the same name until all 26 letters are used. All the remaining files will now flag a copy error since you are not allowed to have two files with the same name in the same folder. The solution is to use the Sequence variable somewhere in the rename string. Most people place the sequence variable at the end of their filenames. Make sure to Set the sequence variable to the correct value before renaming your photos. Make sure to allow enough leading zeros to cover all of the photos. Don’t set the sequence value to 01 if you have more than 99 photos to copy. If you do that then once the third digit is added to the sequence value, you’ll find that sorting by Filename will not display the photos in the correct order.

Q10) How do I change the default dictionary used by the Spell Checker?
A10) (Mac OS X) In System Preferences>International>Language make sure that the desired language (e.g., Canadian English) is in the list of languages. If it isn’t, click edit and edit the list. This controls what dictionaries are available as choices for spell checking. (But it does not select the language used for spell checking.) You can also edit the language list order so that the one you always use or use most is at the top of the list. Close system preferences. Start Photo Mechanic. Open a contact sheet with some images. Put the cursor over an image and click its info button. Put the cursor in the Caption area and click to make Photo Mechanic think you are about to enter some text it should spell check. Click Edit>Spelling>Spelling... In the spelling popup window select the language you want. Close the windows. Close Photo Mechanic. Run Photo Mechanic again and you should have your desired spelling dictionary as the default. (Thanks to Roy Smith for this solution.) On Windows, you can change the dictionary from the IPTC/XMP tab of the Preferences dialog. Please note that the spell checker built into the Windows version is currently incompatible with Unicode characters and if enabled, it may interfere with some languages. Turn off the spell checker if you experience difficulties

Q11) When searching for keywords, Photo Mechanic does not find images located on my external hard drive.
A11) Photo Mechanic’s Search utility (Macintosh 10.4+ only) uses Spotlight to locate metadata. It could be that Spotlight has not indexed the files located on this external drive. From the Terminal, you can force Spotlight to index your external hard drive.

Enable indexing for a volume:

sudo mdutil -i on /Volumes/drive_name

To turn off indexing:

sudo mdutil -i off /Volumes/drive_name

Q12) I used to be able to send my photos from the older Photo Mechanic version off to Photoshop but the new version doesn’t seem to work. What do I need to do?
A12) Photo Mechanic is no longer tied to the full versions of Photoshop. You can use any image editing application now. The path to the secondary application will be set in the Preferences on the Launching page. Photo Mechanic’s preferences can be accessed from the Photo Mechanic menu (Mac) or the Edit menu (Windows ) Select the radio button at the top section to Assign default application and then click the “Choose...” button to the right of the field. This will open the Application picker dialog so you can locate the Photoshop application. See the path below for a default install location of the Photoshop application. Windows : C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop xx\Photoshop.exe Mac : Macintosh HD : Applications : Adobe Photoshop xx : Adobe Photoshop xx.app Highlight the PS application and then click on the Open (Mac) or OK (Windows) button to set the path and return to the Photo Mechanic preferences. You should now see the path displayed in the field.

Q13) (Mac) How do I add or remove a person's contact information from Photo Mechanic's Email utility?
A13) (Mac) Open the Macintosh Address Book from the Dock or Applications folder.

Add:

• Click the plus sign (+) button below the Name column to create a new contact card.

• Enter the person's contact information in the designated fields. Example.

• When finished, choose Save from the Files menu (Command-S).

Remove:

• Click on the contact person's card from inside the Name column.

• Choose Delete Card from the Edit menu.

Q14) (Windows) I did something to lose the main menus (File, Edit, Image, View...) across the top of the window. How do I get it back?
A14) To restore the Menus on the Windows version of Photo Mechanic, you will need to do one of the following:

• 1. Hold down the shift key directly after launching the program, until the Contact Sheet opens.

• 2. Remove the "WorkspaceState" registry folder using "regedit", located in: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Camera Bits, Inc.\Photo Mechanic\

Note: Please exercise caution when using the Registry Editor. If you don't know how to use the Registry Editor in a safe manner, then please contact Support before entering the Registry Editor.