Using the ACDSee Activity Manager

The ACDSee Activity Manager allows you to monitor and manage background activities including:

Queued Activities:

  • Import
  • Export
  • Resize
  • Convert File Format
  • Apply Develop Settings
  • Features that run using the Activity Manager are shown in the menu with a + next to them.

Idle Activities:

  • AI Keywords
  • Face Detection
  • RAW Image Previews.

Opening the Activity Manager

To open the Activity Manager do one of the following in Manage mode:

  • Click Panes | Activity Manager.
  • Click the Activity Manager icon in the Status bar.

Queued Activities

View your imports and other running activities from the Queued Activities section of the Activity Manager.

When an Activity is queued, it will begin immediately, or may start in the Queued state if you already have activities in progress. The bar represents the Activity progress, while the number represents the number of images left to scan.

Activities that are currently running can be paused by clicking the Pause button.

Activities that are currently paused can be restarted by clicking the Play button.

Activities that are either running or paused can be canceled at any time by clicking the Cross button.

Pausing an Activity will cause the next Queued Activity to start right away, unless Pause All Queued Activities has been selected.

Multiple Queued Activities can run concurrently with a maximum of 6. The number that can run concurrently depends on your CPU.

When clicking the Play button for a Queued Activity, one or more running Activities will pause, and the Activity that was clicked on will immediately jump to the top of the list and begin.

Completed Activities can be found in the History section where you can view a list of files completed by each Activity. For more information see History.

To see a list of options available in Queued Activities, click on the gear button to the right side of Queued Activities. See Queued Activities Options.

Currently running activities will always be at the top of the list in Queued Activities. As these activities are completed and move to History, the next Queued Activity will move to the top of the list and begin. Paused Activities can be dragged and dropped within Queued Activities to rearrange the order that they are processed in.

Paused Activities cannot be dragged above any currently running Activity.

Preventing Conflicts or Loss of Data

Because activities run in the background, ACDSee Ultimate uses specific methods to prevent file conflicts when multiple activities access the same files.

  • If an image is queued for an activity and is taken to Edit or Develop mode, the image is skipped by the queued activity.
  • Multiple activities that modify the same files cannot run at the same time.
  • Activities that create new files cannot run alongside other activities on the same folders.
  • Commands that read or write files in Manage, View, or Media mode pause activities until the command is complete. Paused activities then resume automatically.
  • Options or commands that restart ACDSee Ultimate (such as resetting the layout) are blocked while activities are running.
  • Database and licensing commands require you to cancel activities before ACDSee Ultimate restarts.

Notifications

Activity Manager notifications appear in the bottom-right corner of the screen when activities are queued and completed.

  • Click Show to open the Activity Manager.
  • Click Browse to open a new tab to the folder containing the activity’s output files.
  • To customize which notifications are muted, go to Tools | Options… | Activity Manager.
  • Each notification includes a More Options ... menu next to the X, allowing you to adjust notification settings directly from the notification.
  • Notifications will display the activity Status. For more information about Activity Status please see History.

Notification Status

There are 4 possible Notification Statuses:

  • Completed: If an activity completes successfully, the notification will display Completed.
  • Completed with errors: If an activity completes, but there is an error for any of the files, the notification will display Completed with errors.
  • If an error occurs in an activity, the notification will always display error, even if files produce a warning, or are skipped.

  • Completed with skipped files: If an activity completes, but one or more files have been skipped, the notification will display Completed with skipped files.
  • If a file is skipped by an activity and no error has occurred, the notification will always display as skipped.

  • Completed with warnings: If an activity completes, but there is a warning for any of the files, the notification will display Completed with warnings.

If any activity completes with errors, skipped files, or warnings, a Caution icon will display on the notification.

Idle Activities

When assets are being scanned for AI Keywords, AI Face Detection, or while RAW Image Previews are being generated, their progress can be viewed within the Idle Activities section of the Activity Manager. Here, you can see the current status, how many assets are left to be completed, and quickly disable each tool with the switch on the right side.

RAW Image Previews are created automatically after developing RAW images for fast viewing. RAW Image Previews cannot be disabled.

Idle Activity States:

Idle Activities can be in one of four different states:

Waiting:

When in the Waiting state, the number of assets remaining will increase as files are added to the queue. This occurs while browsing, cataloging, or importing files.

Scanning:

When in the Scanning state, the tool is actively detecting AI Keywords or Faces, and the remaining number will decrease as files are completed.

Disabled:

When in the Disabled state, the tool has been manually deactivated and will not run until turned back on.

Completed:

When in the Completed state, the tool has finished its queued files.

To see a list of options available in Idle Activities, click on the gear button to the right side of Idle Activities in the Activity Manager. See Idle Activities Options.

History

When a Queued Activity has been completed, or an Advanced Search has run, it will appear in the History section of the Activity Manager.

For Advanced Searches that have run, click its entry in the History to open the Advanced Search pane with the criteria preloaded.

The History section will be cleared automatically when Ultimate is shut down.

For Queued Activities that have completed, click the Details View button to view a comprehensive list of assets for each completed Activity.

The Details View for each History entry shows the following fields:

  • Status: Status includes 4 possible states: Success, Error, Warning, and Skipped.
    • Success: The action has successfully completed.
    • Error: The action has completed, but one or more files have not been created/modified due to an error.
    • Skipped: The action has completed, but one or more files were skipped due to being in use elsewhere.
    • Warning: The action has completed but one or more files have a warning issued.
    • Activities that complete with either errors, or files skipped, will display the Caution icon in the History.

  • Filename: Displays the source file's filename.
  • Details: Displays the outcome of the action.
  • Source: Displays the source location of the file that was modified.
  • Destination: Displays the destination location of the file that was modified.

Export and Apply Develop Settings include a few different fields in Details View:

  • Export: includes an additional Preset field between Filename and Details. If multiple Export presets are used, the preset used for each output file is shown.
  • Apply Develop Settings: does not include a Destination field, as the destination is always the source file.

Clearing History

Items in History can be cleared either individually, or all at once.

To Clear One Item at a Time:

Click on the Cross to the right side of the item in History.

To Clear the Entire History at Once:

Click on the Clear Activity History button on the right side in History.

Activity Manager Options:

Click on the gear icon to the right of Queued and Idle Activities to display the list of available options:

Queued Activities Options:

Pause/Resume All Queued Activities

Pauses or resumes all activities within Queued Activities.

Pausing all activities with Pause All Queued Activities will disable the Play button for each activity until Resume All Queued Activities has been enabled.

Clear All Queued Activities

Clears Queued Activities of all active or paused activities.

Idle Activities Options:

Disable/Enable AI Keywords and Face Detection

Click to disable or enable the AI Keywords and Face Detection tools. AI Keywords and AI Face Detection can also be manually disabled or enabled by clicking the switches from on to off or vice versa.

Clear AI Keywords Queue

Removes all items from the AI Keywords queue.

Clear AI Face Detection Queue

Removes all items from the AI Face Detection queue.

Clear AI Keywords and Face Detection Queues

Removes all items from the AI Keywords and Face Detection queues.

See also: