Uploading Images

There are three ways to add images to your Alkaline library: drag-and-drop, input select, or direct upload.

Drag-and-drop

Choose Library > Upload. Drag images from your computer—either from a folder or from most applications (including Aperture, Bridge, iPhoto, and Photoshop Lightroom)—and drop them in the grey retaining block. The upload will begin automatically. A progress bar will appear to reflect your total uploading progress.

Input select

Choose Library > Upload. Click Choose File. Select the images to upload. A progress bar will appear to reflect your total uploading progress.

Direct upload

Using a file transfer application—via FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, or any other protocol—connect to your Alkaline installation, select the images from your computer and copy them to your /shoebox/ folder. Direct upload is recommended for uploading more than a hundred files.

Processing images

After uploading images, choose Library > Shoebox. Alkaline will process your new images by reading metadata and generating thumbnails. You can edit these images as soon as they are processed. Remember, by default, your images will not be published (and available to outsiders) until you add a date to their Publish Date field. You can change this behavior in your user preferences (Dashboard > Preferences).

Alkaline can publish images at dates in the future as well as the past. To publish the image immediately, type “Now”. You can also use relative dates, such as “+2 months”, which will publish the image two months from the current date.