Help with My Album
Overview
Albums are your personal collections at Maine Memory Network that only you and those you invite can access. It is easy to save items for later use in an Album, add your own text, email an album, or make an album into a slideshow. You can create as many albums as you want.
Albums offer the opportunity to save a group of images and, if you choose, to provide your own commentary to go along with those images. Albums can be especially useful for:
- Teachers to save collections of historic source documents for classroom use
- Students to create online school projects
- You to email collections of images to friends and family
- You to save historic that you like want to refer to frequently
- Groups to collaborate projects that require historic imagery
Login First!
You must be logged in to access the My Album function so we can save your changes for you. If you do not yet have a free account, you can create one on the registration page.
Youll know you are logged in if your name appears at the top of the page. Click here for help with logging in or registering for a free account.
The My Album Toolbar
After you have logged in, the My Album toolbar should appear on the right side of your screen. Note the eight buttons at the top of the My Album toolbar that let you Add items, Edit the album, Preview the album, Create a New album, Email an album, Rename an album, Delete an album and Hide the entire My Album column.
If you hide the My Album column, you can always display it again by clicking on the My Album link at the top right of the page.
Creating a New Album
Be sure youre logged in, and that your album is showing, then click on "New" in the My Album tools in the right column.
On the right column, you should see "MyAlbum 1."In the center of your screen, you will also see "MyAlbum 1" and "0 items."At this point, you album is empty.
Adding Items to Your Album
Be sure youre logged in, and that your album is showing, then click on "Add" in the My Album tools in the right column.
To add items to your album, you must locate an item first. Clicking "Add" on the My Album toolbar or "Search" anywhere it appears on the screen to go to the search page. (Go to Search Tips to get help with searching for items.)
Search for an item to add. After your item appears in the search results, click on the "My Album" link to the right of the image. The page will refresh and the item will appear in the My Album column on the right side of your screen.
Continue adding items in this way. You can come back to this album later and add more items, if you choose.
The "My Album" link will accompany most thumbnails on the site, allowing you to add an item to your album anytime you see it. If you see a thumbnail for an item without the "My Album" link, you can always click on the thumbnail or the "info" link to go to the More Information About This Item Page, where you can find the "My Album" link.
Additionally, from the Exhibits, Lesson Plans, Document Packets, and other areas of the site where collections of images are presented, you can click on the "Add all items to My Album" link, and a new album will be automatically created in your account, filled with all the items in the collection.
Deleting Items from an Album
Be sure youre logged in, and that your album is showing.
You can delete items from your album by clicking on the "delete" link next to the item in the right column. Please note that clicking on the "delete" link in the album toolbar will delete the entire album.
Getting More Information on Items in your Album
Be sure youre logged in, and that your album is showing.
You can get more information about the items in your album by clicking on the "view" button next to any item in the My Album column at the right of the page. Clicking on "view" will take you to the More Information About This Item Page where you can read a descriptive paragraph, catalog record, and other information.
Naming or Renaming an Album
Before performing other editing tasks, you should to give your album a name.
Be sure youre logged in, and that your album is showing, then click on "Rename" in the My Album tools in the right column. The page will refresh to the Edit My Album Page.
In the input box at the top of the content area, you can remove the existing name (something like "MyAlbum-1") and type in a name for your album.
Be sure to click the "save all" link or the "Save all Changes to My Album" button before leaving this page, otherwise your changes will not be saved.
Editing an Album
Be sure youre logged in, and that your album is showing, then click on "Edit" in the My Album tools in the right column.
The page will refresh to the Edit My Album Page. You can perform all album editing functions on this page, including changing the order of the items and adding and editing your own text.
Be sure to click the "save all" link or the "Save all Changes to My Album" button before leaving this page, otherwise your changes will not be saved.
Changing the Order of Items in an Album
Be sure youre logged in, then click on "Edit" in the My Album tools in the right column.
To rearrange the order of the items in your album, you have two options, moving an item one position at a time, or re-numbering the order of all items in an album.
Clicking the "up" or "down" link next to a thumbnail will move that item one position at a time.
To renumber the entire album, simply change the numbers in the small boxes to the right of the thumbnails then click "save all."
These numbers do not have to be consecutive. You can assign order numbers like "10," "20," "30," "40," and so forth. The advantage of numbering in this way is that you can later place items in between these numbers without having to renumber all the items.
When you click the "save all" link or the "Save all Changes to My Album" button, the page will refresh with your items organized in the order you have chosen. It will not change the numbers you have entered. If you accidentally give two items the same number, the one you added to the album first will appear before the other one in your album, but they will both retain the number you entered.
Adding and Editing Your Own Text in an Album
Be sure youre logged in, and that your album is showing, then click on "Edit" in the My Album tools in the right column.
You can add your own text to every item in your album. Type the desired text into the "myText" input box to the right of each item. When you have finished adding text to all the items, or before you leave this page, click the "save all" link or the "Save all Changes to My Album" button to save the text. Any of these links or buttons will save all changes you have made in all the input boxes.
The album will not recognize indentations (tabs or spaces). To create paragraphs, hit the "enter" or "return" key twice. This will leave a space between paragraphs.
We discourage the inclusion of HTML code in the myText input boxes.
Previewing your Album
Be sure youre logged in, and that your album is showing, then click on the on "Preview" link in the My Album toolbar at the right of the page.
The album will first be displayed in slideshow view, which lets you view one item at a time with your text, in the order you have chosen. While viewing as a slideshow, click "next" to see the next image. You can also click "previous" to see the last image viewed, or "start" and "end" to go the beginning or end of the slideshow.
The other view option, list view, is especially useful for printing an album, as it allows you to view all the items in your album with your text on a single page. To access this, click "List View" from the View Options area on the left side of the screen.
Adding or Linking to your Album from your Website
Be sure youre logged in, and that your album is showing, then click on the on "Preview" link in the My Album toolbar at the right of the page.
Highlight and save the URL in your browsers address bar. You can then copy it into your website.
Emailing an Album
Be sure youre logged in, and that your album is showing, then click on the on "Email" link in the My Album toolbar at the right of the page.
You can email your album to a teacher, friend, or colleague by filling in the appropriate fields and clicking the "Send My Album" button at the bottom of the page.
If you want the recipient to be able to edit your album, check the box labeled "Allow recipient to edit My Album." If the box is unchecked, the recipient will not be able to make changes.
Switching Between Albums
Be sure youre logged in, and that your album is showing.
If you have more than one album, you can work with a different album by clicking on the drop-down menu below the My Album tools in the right column.
The drop-down menu will display of the albums in your account, and can select on the one you want to use.
You can also view a list of all your albums by clicking on "My Account" in the left navigation bar, then on "My Album list" below it. When you click on any album name that appears in the My Album list, your right column will switch to that album.
It is important to remember that any items you add to an album, or other changes you make, will only affect the album showing at the right of the page, any of your other albums in your account. If you want to add items or edit another album, you must switch to that album first.
Deleting An Album
"delete" button in the "My Album" toolbar. This will delete the album that is visible on the right column. You will be asked to confirm that you want to delete the album.
Hiding and Showing your Album
Be sure youre logged in.
If you do not want the album to appear on the right side of the page while youre logged in, click the "Hide" button in the "My Album" toolbar.
Hiding the album is helpful for people with small monitors or for Contributing Partners working on the administration areas of the website.
When you want the album to reappear on the right, click on the "My Album" link at the very top right of the screen.
Getting More Help
If you require more assistance or are a teacher and want to request a demonstration, please contact us.