<page xmlns="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/" type="topic"
id="gthumb-importing">
  <info>
    <link type="guide" xref="index#importing" />
    <link type="topic" xref="gthumb-date-formats" />
  </info>

  <title>Importing From a Camera</title>

  <p>On most systems, <app>gThumb</app> will automatically launch the 
  import dialog when a digital camera is connected to the computer, 
  or a memory card with photos is plugged into a card reader.
  (It does this because it is registered as the default handler for
  x-content/image-dcf and x-content/image-picturecd mime types.)</p>

  <p>To manually launch the import dialog, use 
  <guiseq><gui>File</gui><gui>Import From</gui><gui>Removable Device</gui></guiseq>.</p>

  <figure>
    <title>The Import Dialog</title>
    <media type="image" mime="image/png" src="figures/import.png" />
  </figure>
  
  <p>The import dialog shows thumbnails of the photos available on the
  selected device. The user can select one of more photos using
  normal keyboard or mouse techniques (for example, Ctrl+click to
  add a photo to the selection, or click and drag the mouse over the
  desired photos.) If no photos are explicitly selected, all will be imported.</p>

  <p>Tags may optionally be associated with the imported photos, using the
  <gui>Tags</gui> control below the thumbnail window. Click the 
  drop-down control to see the predefined tags.</p>

  <p>An event name may also be optionally associated with the photos.
  This event name can be used to generate an automatic subfolder name
  (possibly incorporating a date) as described below. For example, 
  if the base destination folder is "/photos", and you enter
  "Wedding-Jennifer" in the <gui>Event</gui> field, you can configure 
  generation of automatic subfolders like "/photos/2010-07-31, Wedding-Jennifer".</p>

  <figure>
    <title>Standard Date-Based Subfolders</title>
    <media type="image" mime="image/png" src="figures/import-pref-auto-folder.png" />
  </figure>

  <p>As mentioned above, subfolders for imported photos can be automatically generated
  based on event names and dates. This is enabled or disabled by clicking on the
  destination foldername in the import dialog. This opens a second dialog, where
  the base folder for imports may be selected (the <gui>Destination</gui> folder).
  To generate automatic subfolders, select <gui>Automatic subfolder</gui>.</p>

  <p>You can select either the <gui>File Date</gui> or the <gui>Current Date</gui> to
  use as the basis for subfolder naming. (The <gui>File Date</gui> examines the dates
  embedded in the file metadata to determine when the photo was taken.) A variety of
  standard date formats are available (<gui>year-month</gui> for example). The
  <gui>as single subfolder</gui> checkbox controls whether a "deep" or "shallow"
  hierarchy of files is made (for example, with <gui>year-month</gui>, you can have
  year subfolders with month subfolders under them, or all subfolders can be at the
  same level in the filesystem, with the year and name both the folder name.</p>

  <p>It is not necessary to use the predefined date formats. If you select
  <gui>custom format</gui>, standard date codes can be used. Click on the 
  help icon to the right of the custom format field for a list of format codes.
  "%E" is a special code that will embed the <gui>Event</gui> name defined in the
  main import dialog.</p>

  <p>See <link xref="gthumb-date-formats"/> for more date format codes.</p>

  <p>If you use automatic subfolder naming, the <gui>Destination</gui> field in the main
  import dialog will show the automatic portion of the folder in red. (For date-based
  formats, dummy data may be shown in the red portion.)</p>

  <figure>
    <title>Using Custom Formats</title>
    <media type="image" mime="image/png" src="figures/import-pref-custom-format.png" />
  </figure>

</page>
