Exporting with Portraits & Prints

Portraits & Prints was designed to print photos but it can do a lot more than that. When you print using Portraits & Prints, you get a exactly what you see on screen. But what happens if you'd rather export than print? Maybe you only want to export parts of the template. Here's three ways to export instead of printing.
PDF

To get to the PDF option, choose "Print->to Printer..." from the "File" menu. At the bottom of the Print window, you'll see a PDF button. When you click on this, choose "Save as PDF...".

Now you have a PDF file instead of a printout. You can open the PDF file in Preview and change the file type to jpg, tiff, or whatever kind you want. (I'm sure you already know this but you can do this with anything you print on a Mac.)
Export

To get to the Export option, choose "Export" under the "File" menu. Any photos that are in your Catalog document will get exported. Note that only the photos will get exported and not the template. This is handy if you used Portraits & Prints to enhance or modify a photo and want a copy of this new photo.


Print to Disk

Exporting will only export the images and any changes made to the images. It will not export the template. To export the template or part of a template use the Print to Disk feature.

With the Print to Disk option, you can encapsulate certain parts of the template. This option is called a print area. The "Print Area" is the section of the template that will export when you select Print to Disk.

To get to the Print to Disk option, choose "Print->to Disk..." from the "File" menu. Print to Disk will export any Print Areas on the template.

For Print to Disk to be available, one or more print areas must be defined in the template that you have chosen. These define the regions of the page that will be extracted as photographs. If Print to Disk is dimmed, then the current template has no print areas defined.
If there are no Print Areas on the template or the Print Area is not covering the area of the template you want, you can add a Print Area.

 To add a Print Area:
  1. Open the Template Manager ("Template Manager" from the "Window" menu).

  2. Select the template you want to edit and double click it.

  3. print areaThere should be a small window called "Tools" on the screen. This is your Tools Palette. Click on the Print Area tool (it's the second tool on the right side).

  4. Drag the mouse over the template to create a Print Area. The Print Area can be any size and be placed anywhere on the template. You can create multiple Print Areas. You can move, resize, or delete any Print Area.

  5. When finished close the template and save it.

  6. Finally, Print to Disk the template you just edited to make sure the Print Areas export the way you want.

This is a very powerful feature since it allows you to not only export a template but specific parts of a template which makes Portraits & Prints more than just a printing tool.

You can always find help under “Help” on the main menu or by downloading the manual. If you wish to share a tip with us, post it on our comment form.