The User / Client Variables dialog is useful when working on different jobs and with different clients when you wish to make sure images are easily trackable. By defining these variables you can use any of this data in the same way as normal variables. User/Client Variables are found at the bottom of the normal Variables pop-out list.
The User/Client dialog checks for changes on Cancel and warns on changes.
If you have a group of regular clients you could fill in this form for each one, using the Snapshot button to save each set of data. Each time you do a job for a client you can reload the form in two clicks by clicking the Snapshot button again and selecting the client from the list. This will populate all the fields as you last saved them. The User/Client dialog stores/loads the Job name with the Client snapshots.
Having done that you can now use the variables to, for instance, create folder names based on the client's company name or more powerfully, to add data into the Metadata Template. Inserting {clientname} {clientcompany} and {clientphone} into, say, the Special Instructions field will tag all the files with your clients name, company and phone number.
Think of User Variables as user-defined text strings that save having to repeatedly enter identical info about you or your clients.
You can get to this dialog by using the “Set User/Client Variables...” command on the Edit menu, or while in the Ingest dialog by clicking on the “Job...” button.
The ‘Job...’ button appears in multiple dialog boxes and menus. You can also get to this by navigating to Edit: Settings: Set User/Client Variables… You can use User/Client variables to quickly label photos related to specific clients or jobs. You can also save snapshots in cases where you have several different regular clients or outlets.
Once defined, User/Client variables behave like other Photo Mechanic variables. Fill out as many or as few fields as you need. The first section applies to anything you want to label as “client.” The second for anything you want to label as “user.” Each field corresponds to a single variable, such as {username} or {clientaddress}.
