Attaching Media

Collectify Home Inventory enables you to work with images and many other kinds of media files. It is easy to import or scan images into CHI using one of three methods: Drag and Drop, Editor Import, and Editor Scan.

Drag and Drop

A useful method for either creating new objects or attaching media to existing items is Drag and Drop.

First, select an Object, Room, Insurance Policy, Claim, or Beneficiary.

Open Windows Explorer while CHI is open. Resize the Explorer window so that you can see CHI in the background. In Windows Explorer, browse to the image or file you want to include in your inventory and select it (select multiple images by using the CTRL and/or SHIFT keys).

The destination for these files depends on whether you wish to create a new object or attach media to existing items.

Attaching Media to Existing Items

While holding down the left button on the mouse, drag the image or file into CHI and release it over the image area in Details View. This will add additional images to the  item's details. For example, if you wish to add pictures of a room from different angles, you would drag the image files to the room's detail area.

Drag and drop into Details View

Alternatively, while holding down the CTRL button, drag the files to the item's thumbnail in Browse View.

Creating New Objects

To quickly create new objects from the image files, drag the files anywhere in the Browse View.

Drag and drop into Browse View

You will be prompted to choose the room for the new object(s). Please note that this selection can be modified afterwards - see Moving Objects for more information.

Unless you are dragging and dropping a single file into a room's browse view (eg. Living Room Browse View) - in which case, you will not be prompted to choose the room.

To complete the process, choose whether you would like to create one item with each image or create one item with all images stored in that item. The new object(s) can now be modified if you so wish.

Editor Import

Open any one of Collectify Home Inventory's editors. Each editor is separated into two parts: Details and Media.

Use the Media Manager on the right of all CHI editors to import media files from elsewhere on your computer by clicking on the Import button.

Click to import

The Import Media window will appear.

Navigate your folders to locate the desired file (see below for information on types of files you can attach). You can attach multiple files by using the CTRL and/or SHIFT key while making your selections.

Click Open to complete the import.

Editor Scan

Use the Editor Scan to interface with your scanner and digital camera.

From the Media Manager on the right, click the scan button.

Click to scan

A dialog will appear for your scanning device. Follow your device's instructions.

Using images and other media files in Collectify

You can use images and other media files in many useful ways.

In fact, any document on your computer can be saved as media in CHI – text documents, spreadsheets, databases, Adobe Acrobat files, etc. These files can even be dragged and dropped into CHI from Windows Explorer.

Types of Files Compatible with Collectify Home Inventory

Any media file can be saved with CHI. If the file you import is a supported image file (see the table below), then a thumbnail of the image is displayed. If the file is not supported, then an icon representing the file is displayed.

Examples of common image formats include Bitmap (.bmp file extension), Graphic Image File (.gif) and JPEG (.jpg). CHI can display image files in these and many other common image formats. Image files also come in many color modes (or bit depths). The color mode determines the number of colors or shades of gray used in the image.

Note that Collectify Home Inventory will make its own copy of the media files you attach, so the size of the files will impact the total size of your inventory. Recognized image files will be converted to JPEG (.jpg) format and clipped to a maximum size, so you should always keep a copy of the original files elsewhere on your computer, just like any other digital image.

The table below lists the image types supported by CHI.