> For me, the chief attraction of the app is its editing functions.
> I definitely do not want or need the database functions. Frankly, it's a mystery to me why they are still included...
Well ThumbsPlus is an
image management solution for your pictures (and movies and PDF files...). What does that mean in real life? It is supposed to (1) help you organize your stuff and, to a lesser extend, (2) touch them up a bit - pretty much in that order.
> 1. Is Pro V. 8 the right version for me, or is there a more
> lightweight version that leaves out the database bloat but retains
> the very useful batch editing capabilities?
ThumbsPlus v7 is still a very capable solution, and there are mostly minor improvements in the area of editing in v8. Nevertheless, v8 has a vastly refreshed code base that will work on more systems, with the most up-to-date functionality. Please take look at the [link=http://www.cerious.com/release_notes8sp1.shtml#general]v8 Release Notes[/link] to see all the improvements that happened in v8.
> 2. Is there a way to just switch off the persistent database
> thumbnail storage in V. 8 and force the app to read the directory
> structure and generate thumbnails on the fly when I point it at a
> particular directory?
No, not really - this is a core feature since v2. But to be honest: creating Thumbnails on-the-fly costs you the same time as creating it once and then load that folder the second time in a split second. There is NO performance penalty for making Thumbnails!
> 3. I noticed as I used the app that it retains obsolte directory
> references even after i've deleted directories from the system. This is bizarre.
> The program seems to assume that users' systems are more static
> than they in fact are. I have lots of USB sattelite drives and
It's in the nature of ThumbsPlus to gobble everything up and make Thumbnails - until you decide to dump it. ThumbsPlus calls Thumbnails of files that are no longer available
Orphans. There are a number of ways to get rid of them, the best way is to start by adjusting the base setting under preferences (F9):
Set the check box so that
orphans are not shown and also that they are
automatically removed. If you already have a bunch of orphans (i.e., on deleted folders, removable volumes such as USB sticks or CDs) that show on your folder tree, use the context menu to get read of them:
This way, you can keep your ThumbsPlus database small and squeaky clean, without any orphans.