Adding a routing entry (general procedure)

1. Select Add to open a dialog where you can choose the routing type to apply. 
2. Choose a routing type and a method name. Select Select. 
3. Set your preferences in the dialog that opens and select OK.

All routing entries will be shown in the AutoRouting list. You can change the order of the entries, so that multiple routing methods can be applied within the channel in any order you like.

File Name Prefix

Set the number of prefixes in the file name to route by, and whether the prefix length is fixed or if they are separated by a certain character. You can remove the prefix after routing, or remove it without routing the image, in which case the image will be stored in the channel’s output folder. Finally, set up the associations between prefixes and the folders in which the files are stored. These will be subfolders within the channel’s output folder.

Metadata

Using metadata routing, you can direct files to subfolders based on the contents of any metadata field. Simply choose a metadata field and the string to look for, and associate it with a folder. Checking Add unlisted field values automatically will ensure that separate subfolders are created for any entries not listed.

Day of the week

You can route files by the day of the week on which processing takes place. A default set of weekdays and subfolders has been defined. To change the name of the associated folders, select an entry and enter a new folder name.

Day of the month

Enables routing of files based on the day of the month they are processed. By default, subfolders will be named from 1 to 31.

Year Month and Day

You can sort files hierarchically by processing year, month, and date. Choose between long and short strings for year, month, and day.

Folder Size

When routing by folder size, you can choose between using one or two levels of folders. By default, only one level is enabled, in which case the specified number of subfolders is created within the channel’s output folder. You may set the maximum folder size before proceeding to the next folder, and the required course of action when all folders are full. If you have chosen to start filling the first folder again when all folders are full, select Empty New Folder First to have Color Factory purge the first folder's contents before starting to fill it again. Similarly, folders 2, 3, and so on will be purged when a new folder is needed. When enabling two-stage folder-size routing, enter the name of the base folder (e.g., images-001) and the total number of base folders to create. When the maximum number of folders specified below is reached, a new base folder will be created until the maximum number of base folders is reached as well. Select Set current folder to set the current working folder.

Contrast Quality

Contrast quality routing makes it possible to redirect images that are too light or too dark to a special folder, where they may, for instance, be picked up for manual tuning. By default, images that pass the quality check are stored in the channel’s output folder upon processing, although this may be changed by specifying a subfolder. Images that don’t pass the quality check are by default stored in a subfolder called To be Edited.

To tune the quality-checking sequence, you can enable Add quality analysis to the caption field and run a few images you find too dark or too light through the system, then adjust the lightness/darkness levels accordingly.

Analyze type and color lets you choose which colors should form the basis of the analysis. You can, for example, analyze the grayscale version of the image to identify real white and black areas, since it can be easier to interpret the grayscale contrast histogram. This option makes the contrast analysis less complex and more correct. In this case, a temporary grayscale copy will be created for each image processed in the channel before it serves as the basis for the analysis. The grayscale version is then discarded, and the original image is routed based on the analysis results.

You can select a similar analysis for individual color channels from the dropdown list.

If the images processed in the channel are surrounded by, for example, a colored frame, you can adjust the percentage of the image border that should be ignored to rule this area out of the contrast evaluation. To do so, fill in the percentage value in the Percent of image border to ignore field.

Image Size

Routing by image size lets you route images above or below a certain measure or resolution to subfolders within the channel’s output folder. Specify the maximum and/or minimum size or resolution, and the folder to which images that match the criteria should be moved.

Image Color

This feature lets you sort images with different color modes into separate subfolders. Four folders for Black/White, RGB, LAB, and CMYK images have already been predefined, so you can simply enable the feature to start using them. If you wish to change the names of the subfolders, select an entry in the list and change the assigned folder name.

Search Text

Text Search routing allows you to search the image caption for certain words or phrases and route them to subfolders accordingly. You may specify two folders, one to which images containing the specified text are sent, and one for images where the specified text could not be found. If no folder is specified in either field, the images matching those criteria will be stored in the channel’s default output folder.

You may specify a certain word or a phrase (using quotation marks to indicate a phrase), and combine them with AND and OR operators.

Required fields

To use this function, tick the required fields in the list, then choose a folder for files where the required fields are filled in, and a separate folder for files where they are not. If either folder is not specified, the files matching those criteria will be stored in the channel’s default output folder.

Ticking Discard White Space characters when checking fields ensures that fields that are empty except for blank space characters are treated as empty fields. Color Management – Color Management routing allows you to route files based on the name of the ICC profile embedded in each file or on its out-of-gamut status (RGB images only). By choosing the former, you may also choose a folder where files without an embedded profile should be stored. Choosing the latter lets you select a CMYK profile, a rendering intent, and the number of pixels that must be out of gamut to route the file to the out-of-gamut folder. Note that when using this feature, images without an embedded profile will not be routed.

Color Management

This type of automatic routing will route files to subfolders based on the ICC profiles they are tagged with. You can also specify a folder for files without a profile.

Alternatively, you can use his routing method to route files based on their out-of-gamut status. Choose a profile and a rendering intent, and choose the maximum percentage of pixels you will allow to be out of gamut. Color Factory will process the files, determine whether they are within or outside the gamut scope you specified, and route them to the In Gamut or Out of Gamut folder. This routing will not be applied to files without an embedded profile.

Input File Type

When routing files by their input file type, Color Factory will scan the input folder and try to determine the file types regardless of their extensions. To add a file type, enter either a four-character type code or an extension and the corresponding folder within the output folder to which the file should be routed. The three most common formats, JPEG, TIFF, and EPSF, are predefined in the dropdown list, but you may also want to add 8BIM (Photoshop PSD). By selecting Add unlisted types automatically, file extensions that aren’t already in the list will be added, so you can later associate a folder with the file type.