The Print Module

Caution! When you are creating a project, the photos used are not stored in the project. The project only stores links to the photos’ locations. If you change the location of a source photo, or its name, or overwrite it with another photo, it will not be possible to upload that photo for printing. Photo data is not uploaded until the order is sent off.

Use the Print module to present your photos via photo products and more. It contains seven types of projects (Photo Book, Calendar, Canvas Print, Collage, Print Photos, Magnets, and Contact Sheets) are used for preparing printing jobs. Before creating a photo product, we recommend that you visit the folder with its intended source photos in the Manager.

Click a project type in the left panel top open a small menu with a Create New Project item, as well as items for any projects in progress that you may have. Hovering the mouse over the name of a project in progress displays additional buttons to the right of the project name – Ikona. Duplicate, Ikona. Rename, and Ikona. Delete. Every project in progress has a time stamp informing of the time and date of its creation and last changes. This information is shown when you run the mouse over the name of a project in progress. Commands for creating, renaming, and duplicating projects are also available in each project’s header, to the right of New Project.

Multi-page print projects (Photo Books, Calendar, Print Photos, and Contact Sheets) have two display modes – Ikona. Pages and Ikona. Preview. These display modes can be changed in the top bar next to the zoom level slider and the buttons for Normal Size and Zoom to Fit.

In Pages mode, you can see all of a project’s pages at once. In Preview mode, you can only see one page of a project, but it is shown in full detail, and the pictures on the page can be clicked and edited individually. A small control panel is shown  with buttons for switching between the Change Crop and Replace Photo modes. There are also options here for rotating the picture, restoring default settings, and deleting the picture. The top part of the control panel shows the name of the file. Click and drag a photo to change its position, size, or rotation.

If the bottom of the window shows the warning message Check your photos’ resolution, then hovering the mouse over the file’s name in the top part of the small toolbar  will show details about this warning. A warning can be either orange or red depending on severity. If it is in orange, then the DPI has dropped below 300, and if it is in red, then the DPI has dropped below 150 (or 200 for calendars). In both of these cases, printing is still possible, but high-quality printing cannot be guaranteed.

Use the arrows Ikona.Ikona. to move among pictures that have these quality warnings.

In the Side Panel on the right, beneath the symbol for the selected function, there is a drop-down menu for choosing one of the predefined sizes for the selected project. For projects of types where it’s possible to order photo products (Photo Books, Calendars, Canvas Prints and Print Photos), price information is shown under the choice of basic format. If the green “Add to Cart” button is not lit and no price is displayed, then the dimensions you have chosen cannot be ordered as a photo product; however, you can still print the project with these dimensions on your own printer (if your printer allows it) or export it.

After this is a toolbar with these buttons:

  • Ikona. Undo (Ctrl+Z) lets you go one step back.
  • Ikona. Redo (Ctrl+Z) lets you move one step forward.
  • Ikona. The text Changes to the project are saved automatically is there to let you know that any changes you make to projects under the name in question are saved automatically; you do not need to do anything. The list of saved projects is on the main page of the Print module under individual projects.
  • Ikona. Print prints to a connected printer.
  • Ikona. Export to Bitmap saves every page as an individual bitmap image. You can set the target folders, names, and counters for these picture files. Set image sizes either via DPI or by setting specific dimensions directly.
  • Ikona. Export to PDF creates a standard PDF file. Various text information about a file such as its name, subject, author, and keywords can be entered in the export window. The option for automatically opening the PDF file in a browser is on by default.
  • Add to CartAfter you click this button, the project’s data is processed and the order is added to the Cart.
  • Shopping Cart – Multiple orders can be added to the cart at once. The number of items ordered can be adjusted for each individual order. Individual projects can also be removed from the shopping cart. Click the Ikona. button for this.
  • Order the production of photo products. For this variant, print data is sent to the company that prints and makes the products. A shipping and invoicing address need to be filled in and payment need to be made during this process. The payment is made in a browser window. After the product is produced, it is sent to the shipping address. A working internet connection is needed in order to complete the order.

The toolbar with buttons for work with pictures and text:

  • Ikona. adds all pictures in the folder to the project template.
  • Ikona. – removes all of the pictures from the project template.
  • Ikona. – adds a freestanding image to a project page. Only available for Photo Book, Calendar, Canvas Print, and Collage.
  • Ikona. adds a freestanding text frame to a project page. Only available for Photo Book, Calendar, Canvas Print, and Collage.

A Warning When Designing Photo Products

Some printing functions have special limitations due to the professional printing process for photo products, which can hide part of a photo in certain areas. For example, calendars have a ring binding sewn in at the top. For photo books, there’s the book’s spine and the area in the middle of a photo that’s spread across two pages. Canvas prints have similar spots at the edges, which are stretched around the edge of the frame in the finished product. We do not recommend putting anything important in these areas!

How Projects Are Handled in ZPS X

  • Projects in ZPS X are tied to individual PCs.
  • Projects are created in user folders (Windows users profiles) – specifically C:\Users\user.name\AppData\Local\Zoner\ZPS X\CreatePresets\
  • NONE of the materials used in a project are copied into its folder. Projects are always created in the form of files that simply point to the exact locations of the materials used in that project and contain a record of its edits.
  • This method of handling projects saves hard disk space while also placing smaller demands on your computer’s performance.
  • ZPS X cannot find source files if they have been deleted or renamed, or if their location or disk path has changed. Such files will not be used/displayed in the project.
  • Projects cannot be transferred among computers.