angore
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What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Feb 14, 2021 20:34:19 GMT
I like using EditPad Lite to edit files initially then tweak in AE editor. You can save snippets and reuse them easily as much of the information in repetitive. It also has a robust search and replace.
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brightonpete
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Post by brightonpete on Feb 14, 2021 21:40:51 GMT
Personally, I like BBEdit to write letters, code, snippets etc etc etc.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2021 16:02:12 GMT
Hey Clive. I’ve been working on a “Philatelic History of Football/Soccer” album combining PowerPoint and Steiner pages but I’m going to have a go at Album Easy today and let you know how it’s working.
Cheers, Dave
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Post by clivel on Feb 15, 2021 22:40:30 GMT
Hey Clive. I’ve been working on a “Philatelic History of Football/Soccer” album combining PowerPoint and Steiner pages but I’m going to have a go at Album Easy today and let you know how it’s working. Cheers, Dave Hi Dave (@lemaven) , I look forward to seeing your album, whether produced with AlbumEasy or not, but I must admit that Rugby is more my cup of tea
Please feel free to contact me with any questions, either via this forum, or the contact form on my website. Clive
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Post by clivel on Feb 15, 2021 23:32:33 GMT
Personally, I'm getting used to navigating around the PDFs. I tend to make a small change to the AlbumEasy file, then generate a pdf and check it. On challenging pages like the Standing Lion that I've been working on, I might do this 50 times or more. For various reasons I have long since given up on Windows and currently use Linux Mint instead. One of the advantages of LInux when using AlbumEasy, is that one doesn't have to close the PDF viewer when generating a new album.
I have AlbumEasy open on one half of my screen, the PDF viewer open on the other half, and I have set the AlbumEasy option to NOT prompt to save any changes when generating the album.
So, checking for changes requires just a single button press - just press generate, the album is generated which causes the PDF viewer to automatically refresh when it detects the changed PDF file and the changes are displayed almost immediately. Clive
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madbaker
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What I collect: (Mark) General worldwide collector (to 1975 or so) with a soft spot for Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
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Post by madbaker on Feb 16, 2021 2:18:37 GMT
clivel, I'm with you re:Linux. I don't have the guts to convert my Dell laptop though. I should've purchased a more open machine; I keep reading about issues getting things to work unless you buy the 'linux only' Dell machines. I have an old PC that I should really reformat as a Linux machine and try that for a month or so. Then take the plunge.
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Beryllium Guy
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What I collect: Worldwide Stamps 1840-1930
Member is Online
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Post by Beryllium Guy on Feb 16, 2021 13:34:30 GMT
Just wanted to give this new thread a bump for ease of finding it. It turns out that there were actually three separate threads on AlbumEasy, starting with its early trials in Aug-2019, and then others introducing new releases of the software. In agreement with Clive ( clivel), all of these have now been combined into one comprehensive thread on the subject. Many thanks to all for your understanding.
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madbaker
Member
Posts: 693
What I collect: (Mark) General worldwide collector (to 1975 or so) with a soft spot for Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
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Post by madbaker on Feb 16, 2021 18:27:11 GMT
Once again you are proving the mystical, magical, information organizing powers of Beryllium, Chris. I can't believe I spent my entire life thinking it was just another useless ol' rock. (Thanks for doing this, Beryllium Guy!)
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angore
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What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Feb 24, 2021 14:12:40 GMT
I had looked at how to automate creating Album Easy syntax using simple Microsoft Excel Formulas. I have all my Machin data in Excel and noticed the repetition of retyping a lot of information from Excel into AE. The example I am shown is a crude but seemed to work. I am no wizard with Excel and not using macros. 1. There is the data in Excel. 2. I composed a sample line of text in a new sheet (note to see formulas, you can use "Show Formulas). I had added a hint on which column had desired data. Now, if your stamp boxes are different sizes you would have columns with that information and then added formulas. 3. This is the same view with resolved data. This is checking the logic. 4. I created a new sheet for the final resolved data. I referenced the fixed information from the other sheet (used absolute values) and then referenced the changing information (relative values) from source sheet. 5. Example of first row 6. You can then use the Drag to Fill function to create the data. It may look like duplicate information but they are unique. To filter out undesired rows you would create a separate filtered view to use as your source. You can then paste in AW. My attempt was just to see if it was possible.
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Post by clivel on Feb 24, 2021 20:46:02 GMT
That looks great angore, It could make it a lot quicker to create AE pages if the data is already in a spreadsheet. Clive
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madbaker
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What I collect: (Mark) General worldwide collector (to 1975 or so) with a soft spot for Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
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Post by madbaker on Mar 14, 2021 22:52:02 GMT
I'm curious about using tabs in an albumEasy paragraph. If '\n' works for a new line, why won't '\t' work for a tab? At least, I can't seem to get it working. Just trying to get my columns to line up on a table of facts on my title pages. For example: Area: 400,000 km2 Population: 10 million
I know I could use spaces, just curious if there's another way.
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Post by clivel on Mar 15, 2021 5:42:32 GMT
I'm curious about using tabs in an albumEasy paragraph. If '\n' works for a new line, why won't '\t' work for a tab? At least, I can't seem to get it working. Just trying to get my columns to line up on a table of facts on my title pages. Unfortunately tabs in paragraphs are still on my to-do list. Hopefully I will get to them soon-ish, but with the limited number of hours in a day, stamps to play with and the necessary evil of earning a living, I am not currently in any position to commit to a timeline but it is something I would like to add sooner, rather than later. Clive
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madbaker
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What I collect: (Mark) General worldwide collector (to 1975 or so) with a soft spot for Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
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Post by madbaker on Mar 15, 2021 16:21:43 GMT
Thanks Clive! If it doesn't do it now, then I wouldn't worry about it. I asked more to ensure I wasn't missing an existing trick!
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wakeybluenose
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Posts: 282
What I collect: GB to 2000 (but definitives to date) / Ireland to 2000 / General WW classics & definitives / ASFEC / SciFi & Fantasy Literature / Local History
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Post by wakeybluenose on Jun 10, 2021 14:23:37 GMT
Just wanted to jump on here and offer my thanks to Clive ( clivel) for creating AlbumEasy! I've been using it for the first time this week, albeit at first to adapt & cannibalise an existing Ireland album, but now I have been adding my own additional pages and have found it to be intuitive and very easy to use. Looking forward to seeing what I can do with it. Congratulations Clive and thanks again! Kevin in London
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brightonpete
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On a hike at Goodrich-Loomis
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Post by brightonpete on Feb 17, 2022 20:46:39 GMT
What I miss about Album Easy is doing something like this...
(it does look better printed out, as this is just a lo-res jpg!)
I like the ability to add stuff anywhere on the page, so that I am not splitting one set of stamps into 2 pages, like this one. I initially made this in AE, then opened it in graphic, and ended up re-doing the entire page with Graphic. I was surprised by all the separate bits that I was presented with on opening it in Graphic. The frame was in two pieces, each letter its own entity. It went from uncountable bits to 7 shape and 9 text boxes.
Some pages will be done in Graphic, most though in Album Easy.
Whoops, this is the 3rd in the series, not the 2nd!
Peter
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angore
Member
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What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Feb 17, 2022 21:09:16 GMT
I have seen this with some PDF editors. LibreOffice Draw usually preserves words (not individual characters as element) but Scribus breaks it down into individual characters (a pain) so abandoned Scribus for PDF modification.
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Post by clivel on Feb 17, 2022 21:25:42 GMT
What I miss about Album Easy is doing something like this...
Hi Peter, Actually, the next version of AlbumEasy, due out in a few weeks, depending on how busy I am at work, has a completely new column mode.
The width of the two columns and the padding to the left and right of each column can now be specified independently which should allow you to create a page similar to your illustration. Of course the old column mode is still supported for backwards compatibility to ensure that it doesn't break existing albums. Clive
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brightonpete
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Post by brightonpete on Feb 17, 2022 21:49:23 GMT
Actually, the next version of AlbumEasy, due out in a few weeks, depending on how busy I am at work, has a completely new column mode. The width of the two columns and the padding to the left and right of each column can now be specified independently which should allow you to create a page similar to your illustration. Clive Wow, that sounds great! I couldn't fit the souvenir sheets in half a page here!
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angore
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Posts: 5,360
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Feb 18, 2022 11:59:17 GMT
The comment about ghost user prompted my memory. Here is a note something that I reported to Clive and said he would correct.
In Windows 10, if you install fonts there are now two possible locations: one location is for all users and another is for an individual issues. The default now is local user. When AE does a font search, it does not look in this second local user folder.
The workload around is reinstall the font for all users (right click option, requires admin privileges) or add it to the special Album Easy fonts folder in the Programs Files (x86) folder.
The above seems to only apply on new Win 10 installations and not an installation that migrated from Win 7.
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angore
Member
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What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Aug 4, 2022 10:55:07 GMT
As mentioned earlier, when doing bulk editing I use a separate text editor (EditPad lite). It has powerful search/replace and other customization features. I especially like the customized dark backgrounds (easier on my eyes) and the orange text is a throwback to the old orange phosphor CRTs, Or one could go with green from the old IBM 3270 days. The clip board feature is shown on the right side for saving repeated code snippets. Once I do the mass entry, I switch to AlbumEasy editor to debug the code and proof it.
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brightonpete
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On a hike at Goodrich-Loomis
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Post by brightonpete on Aug 13, 2022 13:28:30 GMT
For Mac users and iCloud:
Since moving my Documents to the cloud, I was unable to use Album Easy. It would read files fine, but spit out a long error message on trying to save (Generate) them. Two long chat sessions with Apple yielded no fix.
But, I noticed the Downloads folder for some reason, is not moved to the cloud. I moved my Album Easy folder to Downloads, and all is good once again. I'm back to making pages with Album Easy!
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Jens Madsen
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+++++
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What I collect: Slesvig Plebiscit stamps and related banknotes and postcards. Coin and banknote on stamps. Formel 1 on stamps.
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Post by Jens Madsen on Aug 13, 2022 19:35:27 GMT
For Mac users and iCloud:
Since moving my Documents to the cloud, I was unable to use Album Easy. It would read files fine, but spit out a long error message on trying to save (Generate) them. Two long chat sessions with Apple yielded no fix.
But, I noticed the Downloads folder for some reason, is not moved to the cloud. I moved my Album Easy folder to Downloads, and all is good once again. I'm back to making pages with Album Easy! National chars æøå in folder name is not working when using MacOS. Mr AlbumEasy is aware of that.
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brightonpete
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Post by brightonpete on Aug 13, 2022 20:18:45 GMT
It's not the folder name on my part. The folder name was, and still is "Album Easy". The file name pointing to the cloud copy was huge, which may have been the problem...
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angore
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What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Aug 14, 2022 9:37:33 GMT
In Windows, the file names on the Microosft OneDrive is simple \OneDrive
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brightonpete
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Post by brightonpete on Aug 14, 2022 14:09:13 GMT
I'm a dummy when it comes to the cloud. I wasn't sure how the folder structure worked. I'm slowly learning.
I moved all the files from the Documents>Documents - Peter's iMac up one level to the Documents folder in the cloud. I didn't know if it would be safe to do that, but of course it is. So now Album Easy works just fine. Phew! At least now I can use either desktop or laptop to do all my stuff on. Everything is available everywhere, even iPhone and iPad. Easy-peasy! Why couldn't Apple have just said so in the first place. I never did get an answer to that query.
All is done, I'm happy! No more futzing around, time to get back to stamps!
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Post by clivel on Aug 17, 2022 4:02:07 GMT
National chars æøå in folder name is not working when using MacOS. Mr AlbumEasy is aware of that. And I am planning of fixing for the next release Clive
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Post by clivel on Aug 17, 2022 4:03:14 GMT
I moved all the files from the Documents>Documents - Peter's iMac up one level to the Documents folder in the cloud. I didn't know if it would be safe to do that, but of course it is. So now Album Easy works just fine. Phew! At least now I can use either desktop or laptop to do all my stuff on. Everything is available everywhere, even iPhone and iPad. Easy-peasy! Why couldn't Apple have just said so in the first place. I never did get an answer to that query.
All is done, I'm happy! No more futzing around, time to get back to stamps! Great that you have it working now Clive
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brookbam
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APS 236261
Posts: 226
What I collect: US...everything until I decide what I don't want to collect! And now thanks to a TSF give-away I'm adding Space topicals!
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Post by brookbam on Feb 12, 2023 23:36:51 GMT
I'm a bit surprised I'm the first message in this since 16 Aug 2022...but here goes... How does everyone handle pages? Obviously stamp albums are multiple pages long. Do you use the PAGE_START and just keep going and have code that can be hundreds of lines long (if not thousands?) Here is how I think I am going to go about setting up my albums...at least tentatively unless you all give me some different ideas: US Mint Commemorative US Mint Definitive US Used Commemorative US Used Definitive US Mint Plate Block With the Definitive I plan on starting at Scott #1 and working my way forward. With the Commemorative I'll start at #230 (if my research isn't off...) and move forward...but where do I cut off the code and start a new page of code in AlbumEasy so I don't have to scroll through 100s of lines of code to find that one stamp to change? I just downloaded one of the example txt files and loaded it into a spreadsheet. 1683 lines! Oh...btw...I like that idea of using a spreadsheet to generate the code that angore posted. And maybe this is just one of the side effects of generating your own albums..having 100s or 1000s of Publisher pages stored or 1000s of lines of code stored. I just want to determine the best way to do this. I'll probably have more questions so stay tuned. Same Bat channel. Same Bat time. Mike
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angore
Member
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What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Feb 13, 2023 11:54:34 GMT
Yes, one can have a lot of page start commands. Given that the syntax is text, you can have files with many lines but still small so easy to work with. My custom Machin page file has about 1700 lines but that includes lots of blank lines to make it easier to read. To break up pages or sections, I may add something like this to help me know where I am in the file. These are notes me since do not print. I like using a clipboard to save repeated commands so save typing syntax.
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BermudaSailor
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What I collect: British colonies, primary Bermuda
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Post by BermudaSailor on Feb 13, 2023 14:05:41 GMT
In order to keep my sanity and to keep things neat, I generally set up my pages issue by issue. That is set by set. I name each file according to the country and set, and then store the files in a country folder on my desktop. Keeping each file relatively small means that I have been control over the appearance of each page and can be satisfied before I move on to the next set.
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