Configuring FotoStation to prefer SMB over FWP

In the Miscellaneous section of the program configuration you can control whether FotoStation should use FWP or SMB when delivering files to an external application via drag and drop.

By default, when a user drops a file from FotoStation into an external application, the file is downloaded over FWP and then delivered as a drop to the application. This has the benefit of not being dependent on client access to the actual document folders on the server, as network communication goes between FotoStation and Index Manager over FWP.

However, there are some cases in which getting the SMB path to the original asset is required: For example, when dropping files from FotoStation to an application which creates a link to the original object (such as InDesign), you want to give that application the SMB path to the original asset. 

A similar scenario is if you want to open a picture e.g. in Photoshop, and when saving the file you want Photoshop to write the changes back to the original file on the network.

To make this possible, FotoStation has a setting in the Miscellaneous section in the program configuration: Require network file access (SMB) for interaction with external applications. When this option is enabled, FotoStation will send the file's SMB path to external application to allow that application to modify the original file directly.

Note that for this to work, the client needs to have sufficient access privileges on the network share, and Index Manager needs to be configured to provide the SMB path to the original asset.