Operational Documentation

You can currently do the following with your digital picture frame

  • Add your own pictures with the thumb drive or from a CD each time you do this, it will create a “set” which will have (not necessarily) the current date as the name of the set.
  • Show the names of the pictures in a specific set
  • Show the names of all sets and the status of each set
  • Enable, disable or delete individual sets of pictures that you have added.
  • Enable, disable or delete ALL sets of pictures you have added.
  • Enable or disable (but not delete) the included pictures.

Quick start

The digital picture frame is ready to use. Simply plug in the AC adapter and press the power switch. In a minute or two it will start showing pictures, which change every 5 minutes.

Adding pictures

You can add hundreds of your own pictures to the digital picture frame using either of the methods below. The pictures will be scaled down to fit within the screen of the picture frame, so be sure that you keep a good copy of any pictures you put on the digital picture frame.

Using the USB thumb drive (or other USB storage device)

Copy your pictures to the thumb drive, plug the thumb drive into the digital picture frame and power it on. The pictures will be imported automatically.

  1. Plug the USB thumb drive into your computer. It should assign the USB thumb drive a drive letter such as E: or F:, etc.
  2. Open the thumb drive in your My Computer window and drag pictures into it from folders on your computer.
  3. Properly eject the thumb drive before removing it from your computer to avoid damaging the pictures on it.
  4. Power off the digital picture frame by pressing the power switch and wait for it to shut down.
  5. Plug the thumb drive into the digital picture frame and power it back on.
  6. The digital picture frame will detect the thumb drive and import the pictures automatically.
  7. Jot down the name of the set for your records. You may also wish to list the pictures in that set for later reference
  8. When the digital picture frame is done importing the pictures, it will tell you it is safe to remove the USB thumb drive.
  9. Remove the thumb drive any time after the import has finished. It is safe to leave the thumb drive in the digital picture frame.
  10. Once you remove the thumb drive from the digital picture frame, delete ALL the files from the thumb drive so that it’s ready to use the next time you want to import pictures.

NOTE: If you want to import more pictures, you may do so after deleting all files on the USB thumb drive. But all pictures imported on the same day will be placed into the same set, this allows you to re-import pictures that you may have modified and would like to replace.

IMPORTANT: Once the digital picture frame has imported all the pictures on the thumb drive, it will leave a file on the thumb drive called “this-set-imported” to prevent accidental double-importing of pictures. This file must be deleted before you can import any more pictures.

From a CD

Burn your pictures to a CD, insert the disc into the CD drive while the digital picture frame is starting up. The pictures will be imported automatically.

  1. Power on the digital picture frame.
  2. Open the CD drive by pressing the eject button.
  3. Snap the CD onto the tray spindle.
  4. Close the drive gently by pressing it until you hear it click and spin up. (If the CD drive opens upward, be careful to not drop the tray closed or it could damage the drive.)
  5. The pictures will be imported and the tray will be ejected when it is finished.
  6. Jot down the name of the set for your records. You may also want to list the pictures in that set for later reference
  7. Remove the disk from the drive and close the drive.

NOTE: If a thumb drive is inserted in the digital picture frame at the same time as a CD, the frame will not detect the CD.

IMPORTANT: When importing pictures from a CD, the digital picture frame can not detect if the pictures have already been imported. As a result, if you leave the CD in the drive and the digital picture frame reboots for any reason, it will import the pictures again.

Managing pictures

Enable, disable, delete or show individual sets

You can enable, disable or delete a set, or show the names of the pictures in a set with the “manage-sets.txt” file. When you disable a set of pictures, they will no longer be displayed, but still reside on the hard disk.  Enable a disabled set to see those pictures again. When you delete a set, those pictures are removed from the hard disk. You must use the thumb drive or a CD to re-import pictures that have been deleted if you wish to see them again on the digital picture frame.

1. Place a text file on the USB thumb drive called “manage-sets.txt”.

2. Within the text file add lines that have a command, which will be either “enable”, “disable”, “delete” or “show” (no capital letters), followed by a comma and the name of a set. Do not put any spaces in the line. You may add as many ‘command,set’ lines as you wish. They will be executed in order. (Be aware that too much info on the screen will scroll of the top of the screen and you won’t be able to see it.)

For example:

enable,2007-11-26

disable,2006-05-17

delete,2005-12-02

show,2007-06-24

3. Save your changes and exit

4. Eject the USB thumb drive properly to avoid damaging data on it.

5. Plug the USB thumb drive into the digital picture frame and power it on.

6. The digital picture frame will find the text file and act upon it automatically during startup.

Enable, disable, delete or show ALL sets

You can enable, disable or delete all sets at once, or show the list of sets with the “manage-all.txt” file. When you show the list of sets, it will also show whether each set is enabled or disabled. When you disable all sets of pictures, they will no longer be displayed, but still reside on the hard disk. Enable one or more disabled sets to see those pictures again. When you delete a set, those pictures are removed from the hard disk. You must use the thumb drive or a CD to re-import pictures that have been deleted if you wish to see them again on the digital picture frame.

1. Place a text file on the USB thumb drive called “manage-all.txt”

2. Within the text file add the command, which will be either “enable”, “disable”, “delete” or “show” (no capital letters).

For example:

show

3. Save your changes and exit

4. Eject the USB thumb drive properly to avoid damaging data on it.

5. Plug the USB thumb drive into the digital picture frame and power it on.

6. The digital picture frame will find the text file and act upon it automatically during startup.

Enable or disable the included pictures

You can enable or disable (but not delete) the pictures that were pre-loaded onto the frame with the “manage-included.txt” file. When you disable the included pictures, they will no longer be displayed, but still reside on the hard disk. Enable the included pictures to see them again.

1. Place a text file on the USB thumb drive called “manage-included.txt”

2. Within the text file add the command, which will be either “enable” or “disable” (no capital letters).

For example:

disable

3. Save your changes and exit

4. Eject the USB thumb drive properly to avoid damaging data on it.

5. Plug the USB thumb drive into the digital picture frame and power it on.

6. The digital picture frame will find the text file and act upon it automatically during startup.

NOTE: You can combine various management text files and photos on the USB thumb drive. The digital picture frame will execute them in a specific order and may require a restart between tasks. Each time it finishes a management function, it marks that funtion complete to prevent running it twice.

For troubleshooting or advanced topics regarding your digital picture frame, please see http://www.chesterfamily.org/projects/digital-picture-frame.