This is a file School Annual Publishing uses with the portraits that allow you to use the Portrait Flow tool. The index file links student and staff names with their portrait picture. It lets us know how to organize your portraits, whether it be by grade or homeroom, and allows us to tag them for you!
2. How do I know if I have one?
If you used an SPOA (formerly PSPA) Photographer (School Photographer of America), then your portrait disc already contains an index file. It will be listed in the data on the CD as "index.txt".
If your photographer is not an "SPOA" photographer (School Photographers Of America ), they may provide a CD of pictures, but those pictures do not have that mapping.
Don't panic!! If you have a few students (less than 100), it's VERY SIMPLE (and probably quicker) to name your students in the Image Library.
3. I have a lot of students and no index.txt file!
No worries, you can create your own file!!
4. Creating an index.txt file.
The easiest and quickest way to create the index.txt file is using a spreadsheet program, such as Excel or Google Sheets. You can also create the file using Notepad, but it may take a bit more effort.
Start by labeling the columns in your spreadsheet. For the index.txt file to work correctly you must follow the proper structure. If you are using Notepad, you must use a tab between each section!
These are the minimum fields for the Index file:
- Image File Name
- Last Name
- First Name
- Grade AND/OR Homeroom AND/OR Teacher Name
Don't have all of that information? No worries, you can skip columns by leaving them blank in your spreadsheet, or by tabbing twice in a text file.
Take a look at an example index file in Excel. Notice how some of the categories are left blank, that is okay!
If your images are separated into different folders, such as Grade 1, Grade 2, etc, those Folder names should be listed in the Folder column. If all of your images are in one big "lump", then you won't need a Folder name.
If you happen to have two teachers with the same last name, simply type their first name initial after their names, such as "SMITH B" AND "SMITH M". Do not use parenthesis. For instance, if you have Kindergarten AM and Kindergarten PM, those labels are fine. Kindergarten(AM) will be ignored by the upload software and you'll be missing a class.
5. Saving your Index File.
When all the student names have been entered, save the file as a "tab-delimited text file" and name it INDEX.TXT. If you're creating a CD that includes your portraits, include this index.txt file on the disc as well.
(If you're using "Numbers" on a Mac, use Share > Export > Excel and it creates a file that a Windows user can open in Excel.)
Tip: Remember to "close" your CD when you are finished with the burn. It is a good idea to "test" your image CD on another computer (if available) to make sure you can see the images.
This is what it should look like once it has been saved as index.txt. Notice how the Tabs separate the columns.
