Welcome to the Pictavo help center at YearbookLife. In order to help our Pictavo users, YearbookLife has put together some helpful articles that will help you learn more about how to use the Pictavo yearbook design software.
Maximizing the Power of Pictavo
Control User Access
- Assign users to only the specific pages you want them to work on
- Control what and who uploads images into your book to avoid image overload
- Encourage users to immediately submit any finished page(s) to the Admin for approval so that the page cannot be inadvertently altered
Communicate Efficiently
- Use chat and sticky notes to stay connected with your team
- Continually keep the decision makers informed of your book’s progress
- Let users know which pages you expect them to complete and when you expect them to be done
Manage Workflow
- Make sure you know your deadline and what book options are available to you
- Plan your book in advance using the Ladder
- Set project milestones and track the status of each page to make sure that your book does not fall behind schedule
How To’s
Setting Up Users and Controlling Access
- What is an Admin and what can the Admin do that a regular user can’t?
- How do I access the user preferences and what kind of preferences can I set?
- How do I create a user?
- What is a group and why would I want to set one up?
- How do I create a group and assign users to it?
- How do I change a user’s password or permissions?
- Is there a limit to the number of users that can be set up?
- How do I assign users to pages?
- How can I prevent certain users from editing a page?
- How do I assign different privileges to users after they have been created?
- How do I see previous chats or look at sticky notes?
- How do I see a quick overview of which users are assigned to which pages?
Pictavo Community
- What is the Pictavo Community?
- How do I start using the Pictavo Community?
- How do I set up my school’s Upload Settings?
- How do I set up my school’s Shop School Settings?
- How do I set up my school’s Shop Product Settings?
- How do I track my sales?
- How do I add orders that were paid by check or cash (not online)?
- How do I move images uploaded by a Pictavo community member into my book?
- How do I receive and use an ad that was purchased through the Pictavo community?
Building Your Cover
- What’s the difference between a stock cover and a custom cover?
- How do I switch from a custom to a stock cover or vice versa?
- How do I add endsheets to my book?
- What size should my cover be?
- How do I add inside cover printing?
- How do I submit my cover?
Working With Templates
- How do templates work?
- How do I place a template on a page?
- How do I create and save my own template?
- How do I edit a template?
- How do I remove a template from the page?
- How do I remove a stock template from the book entirely, so it is no longer an available choice?
- If I do not use a photo box or a text box, do I need to remove it before my book is printed?
Working With Text
- How do I add a text box to a page?
- How do I create text boxes that line up?
- How does spell-check work?
- How can I adjust the spacing between letters (kerning) in a text box?
- How can I adjust the spacing between lines (leading) of text?
- How can I adjust the size of text in a text box?
- Can I have multiple sizes of text in a single text box?
- What is the ruler at the top of the text box?
- How do I add a tab?
- What type style options do I have (font styles, bold or italic)?
- How do I select a text box that is on top of a candid?
Working With Photos
- How do I add a photo box to a page?
- How do I change the shape of a photo?
- How do I crop a photo so that only part of the photo appears on the page?
- How do I rotate a photo that’s been placed on a page?
- How do I rotate a photo that’s in Images before it has been placed on a page?
- What kind of special effects can I add to an image and how can I add them?
- How can I distort the proportions of an image on a page?
- How do I ensure my photos have enough resolution?
- How do I move a photo within a photo box?
Creating Pages
- How can I plan my book and indicate what content should go on which pages?
- How do I add a background to a page?
- How do I remove a background from a page?
- How do I flip a background on a page?
- How do I make a candid or piece of clipart transparent?
- Why do my images sometimes appear blurry?
- What do the red and green lines and the yellow border surrounding my pages mean?
- How do I ensure photos line up?
- How do I make an item easily line up to a ruler guide when I move the item near it?
- How do I bring an image in front of another image or send an image behind another?
- How do I place a photo across two pages?
- How do I change the unit of measure?
- How do I switch between single-page and two-page view?
- How do I draw a line?
- When a page is complete, how does it get submitted to the publisher?
- How do I change the location or design of my page numbers?
- How do I add pages?
- How do I delete pages?
- How do I move pages?
- How can I see if any of my pages have images with low resolution or other quality issues?
Page Approval Process
- How does a page get submitted to the adviser (Admin) for approval?
- How does the adviser (Admin) approve a page?
- Is it necessary to have all pages approved by the Admin before my book can be submitted for publishing?
- How can I edit a page after it has been approved or sent to the adviser (Admin) for approval?
- How can I share a page with someone who doesn’t have access to Pictavo?
Portrait Upload
- How do I upload my portrait database?
- Do I need to verify every student during the portrait database upload?
- What format should my portrait database be in to ensure that it uploads properly?
- What can I do if I cannot get a compatible portrait database from my school photographer?
- What size and format should individual portrait images be?
Editing the Portrait Database
- How do I make changes to my portrait database once it’s uploaded into Pictavo?
- Do I have to press Save Changes after making every change to my portrait database?
- How can I tell whether a portrait has been flowed onto a page?
- What size and format should retake portrait image be?
- How can I flow someone with a different class?
- How can I delete a person from the portrait flow or the portrait database?
- How can I place someone in two separate portrait flows?
Portrait Flow
- How do I flow portraits onto a page?
- How do I change a portrait flow?
- Can a portrait image be made into a shape?
- How do I make a portrait flow with open spaces where portraits would typically be flowed?
- How do I change the font and size of portrait flow text?
- How can I place someone in two separate portrait flows?
- How can I flow someone with a different class?
- How can I delete a person from the portrait flow or the portrait database?
- How can I make the teacher’s portrait appear larger than the student’s on a page?
- How can I place teachers in two places—once with their class and once with the other teachers?