File collections and download sizes

Recommended reading

• Configuring multiple RF licences
• Linking files to suppliers
• Displaying file sizes, prices etc
• Pricing agreements

Page last updated on 10 March 2022

This page has been updated for changes in version 32.17

Introduction

As described in the article Linking files to suppliers, every file must be linked to a supplier record. The supplier record is – among other things – used to determine in which file sizes you want to make files available by linking suppliers to File collections. You can create collections for RF and for RM files. Usually RF files are offered for fixed prices depending on the size of the file that the user wants to download. You can also use multiple RF licences in which case the price is determined by the licence and the file size. You can specify prices for each size (and licence) that you want to make available. For RM images, you can use the Price calculator so that users can get pricing information based on their intended use (by selecting a number of variables, e.g. use, size, circulation and so on).

• For RF images, collections are used to determine available download sizes and prices for each available size and use licence. You can read about configuring multiple RF licences in the article Configuring multiple RF licences.
• For RM images, collections are used to determine available download sizes only, prices are not affected by the selected size (it is possible to let users buy RF files with a RM licence instead).
• Available sizes may vary per image based on the size of the master file, and a minimum price as configured for a supplier.
• If a user applies a price agreement that is configured for a fixed file size, then the predefined sizes are ignored.
• For information about how you can change which file information is displayed, when and where – read the article about Displaying file sizes, prices etc.

Creating or changing File collections

In the Administrator Dashboard, click Price calculator, then click File collections in the bar on the left. In the toolbar at the top, click New collection. If you use live connections with 3rd party API’s then you need to select the correct API. By default, use the Infradox API setting. If you are creating settings for RF files on your website, then select the RF radio button.

You can define 10 different size settings for each collection. Setting 1 is always for the largest available file (the original or so called Master file). If you don’t want to make other sizes available then deselect all other settings (2 through 10).

By default there are 10 size settings that you can choose from. You can change the sizes that each of these settings will generate (maximum size is 10,000 pixels) separately. More about this in the following paragraph.

In XS version 29, you can create up to five use licences for each available file size. E.g. Editorial print, Editorial online, Personal use and so on. More information in the article Configuring multiple RF licences.

Which settings you need to use depends on the size of the original files that you are connecting to this File collection. For instance, if you have a collection with master files up to 8000 pixels, then the second setting could be 6000 pixels, the 3rd one 4000 pixels, the 4th one 2000 pixels and the last one 1000 pixels 72dpi for web use. E.g.

• 1 Original / Super high res / 300 dpi
• 2 High res . 6000 pixels / 300 dpi
• 3 Medium res 4000 pixels / 300 dpi
• 4 Low res 2000 pixels / 300 dpi
• 5 Web 1000 pixels / 72 dpi

The smaller files are created on-the-fly from the master file. This may affect the quality of the file as a result of compression and re-sizing algorithms.

Pixel sizes of derived files (XS API Size codes)

Smaller image files are created on-the-fly from the master file. Within the context of Infradox XS, such files are referred to as Derived files. The file size in pixels for each of the download size codes (code 2 to code 10) can be changed to suit your specific needs. Code 1 can’t be changed because it’s reserved for the master (original) file.

To change the pixel size for a download size code, click XS API Size codes in the bar on the left. Codes 2 to 10 are listed. Click Edit in the row of the code that you want to change. Then enter a size in pixels and change the DPI setting as required – normally this should be 300 for higher resolution files and 72 for files that are intended for web use.

If you have both very large files and relatively smaller files, then you can for instance use 2 codes for medium res. E.g. change one code to 4000 pixels and select it in collection A as the size for Medium res. And then change another code to 2500 pixels – which you then select as the size for Medium res in collection B. The system will automatically select the best suited file collection depending on the size of the master file if you linked the two collections together (as described further down in this article). In this example, collection A will be used for very large files, collection B will be used for smaller files.

Important Changing the pixel and/or DPI settings for a code affects all the collections in which the code is used. So if a user downloads a file again after you have made changes as described above, the new settings are used.

How available file sizes are determined for an image file

• Available sizes are determined by looking up the assigned collection for the file’s supplier – unless the file is assigned to a specific collection (read the next paragraph for further information).
• If no collection is assigned to the supplier, then the collection that is assigned to the supplier’s group is used.
• If no collection is assigned to the supplier’s group either, then the “Default” collection is used.
• If the size of the master file (longest side in pixels) is less than the largest derived size of the collection, then the attached collection is used instead (see below for more information about attaching collections).
• The available sizes and prices are taken from the collection settings. The first available size is always the master file / original file – unless you have ticked the setting Hide sizes based on the longest side of the file.
• If you tick the setting Hide sizes based on the longest side of the file, then the master file may not be available if it’s smaller than the next available size. This is explained below.
• If the supplier has a minimum price that is higher than the price specified for an available size, then that size becomes unavailable.
• If a minimum difference (Site configuration, Metadata display, Collection file size settings) in pixels is specified, then available file sizes are made unavailable if the difference between a size and the previous version is less than the number of pixels specified. For instance, if the master file is 3400 pixels, the next available derived size is 3000 pixels and the minimum difference is 500, then the 3000 pixels version becomes unavailable.

RF prices

Once a collection (and a use licence if you have configured this) has been selected, the price for each of the available sizes is automatically determined.

• If the price that is configured for a specific size is lower than the supplier’s minimum price for RF images, then that size is removed (i.e. not available for download).
• If the price for the master file is lower than the supplier’s minimum price, then the price will be automatically adjusted to the minimum price.
• If the price is adjusted to the minimum price and the end user has a discount percentage, then the price is raised with the user’s discount so that the final price is never below then configured minimum price.
  For example, if the minimum price is 100 Euro and the user discount is 10%, then the price will be adjusted to 111.11 Euro.
  Calculated as follows: (100 Euro divided by (100%-10%)) multiplied with 100.
  With 10% discount the price will then be equal to the supplier’s minimum price of 100 Euro.
• If you want to display discounted prices for RF files on the preview pages, then go to Metadata display, Collection File size settings and tick the setting Show discounted prices on the preview pages.

Changing prices with price groups

For version 32.17 or later.
There are nine price groups. By default, all files are in group 0. You can change the file group of a file by editing the metadata properties. To change the pricing group of multiple files, use the batch update function. You can also configure a metadata processing rule to automatically change the pricing group if the configured conditions are met.
To edit the percentages and/or amounts of the pricing groups, click on “Price groups” in the side bar of the File collections page. If a collection has a value in the percentage box, then the amount is ignored. I.e. If you want to increase or decrease the price with a fixed amount, then leave the percentage at 0 and enter an amount only.
If a file is part of a pricing group (1 through 9) then it’s price will be decreased or increased. This affects both RM and RF files.

Buying RF files with an RM licence

If you want to allow your clients to buy RF files with an RM licence instead, then enable the setting “Enable optional RM licences for RF files”. You can find this setting here: Site configuration > Cart page > Cart page settings (version 31.2 or later).

Hiding sizes based on the longest side of the file

By default, the largest available file is always available and smaller (derived) sizes can be made available too. If however you want to offer exact file sizes only, then tick the setting hide sizes bases on the longest side of the file. For example, if the collection is configured for the master file, a 4000 pixel file and a 1500 pixel file – and the original file is 3900 pixels, then the original file will be unavailable because it’s smaller than then the next available size (which is 4000 pixels in this example).

Overriding the collection for a single file

You can assign a file to a specific collection and by doing so you will override its default collection settings. To do this, find the file and edit its properties. Then select a collection in the dropdown box. Once you have saved the properties, the assigned collection will be used to determine available sizes, prices, display options and so on.

Displaying file info for the master file and derived files

• Derived files are files that don’t exist on the storage servers, such files are created on-the-fly from the master file.
  Which derived file sizes are available depends on how you have configured the related settings (as explained above).
• File information is automatically created based on the size of the master file and the settings of the collection.
  • Size in pixels e.g. 3661 x 2472 pixels
  • Size in cm e.g. 31 x 20.93 cm (300 dpi)
  • Size in inches e.g. 12.2 x 8.24 inch (300 dpi)
  • Size on disk/compressed file size e.g. 1.0 MB size on disk
• You can hide all file information for any derived file size by “unchecking” the checkbox in the column “Display file info” in the collection properties dialog.
• If you don’t want to hide file information altogether, but just certain properties (e.g. no print sizes), then go to Site configuration, Metadata display, Collection file size settings to configure what you want to display. You can also use CSS. This is explained in the article about displaying file sizes and prices.
• You can choose to display only the master file’s file information on preview pages via Site configuration, Metadata display, Collection file size settings.

Checking the collection used for a file

If you are logged in with an admin account, you can check the collection that is being used by clicking the Admin info link underneath the thumbnail on the cart and order pages, and underneath the label Available files on the preview pages. The information includes the base price, the supplier’s minimum price, the supplier id and the supplier’s group id.

Collection functions

Use the clone to create a copy of an existing collection that you can then edit. Click on either the Suppliers or Groups links in the column on the right to see the suppliers and groups to which a collection is linked. You can delete a collection but if the collection was linked to a supplier or group, make sure to go to Supplier management to assign a different collection.

Attaching collections to primary collections for automatic selection based on file sizes

If you have files that vary considerably in size in the same collection, then you can create multiple collections and you can then attach collections to each other. For example, let’s say that you have a supplier group with two suppliers. Supplier A has files that are 7000 pixels and supplier B has files that are 4000 pixels. If you look at the above example, size 2 would mean that “High res” is 6000 pixels. But the master files of supplier B are only 4000 pixels. By creating an additional collection that you then attach to the main collection, the system will automatically select the appropriate sizes for supplier B but you can still offer the same prices and display the available options with the appropriate names.

So let’s say collection 1 has High res 6000 pixels for 100 Euro and Medium res 4000 pixels for 50 Euro.
And collection 2 (which is attached to collection 1) has High res 3000 pixels for 100 Euro and Medium res 2000 pixels for 50 Euro.
A file from supplier A will use the settings of the primary collection (1) and a file from supplier B will use the settings of the attached collection with smaller sizes.

Important, always link the collection with the largest sizes to a supplier or supplier group. You can attach one or more other collections (with smaller sizes) to a single collection.