Preferences Wizard

The Preferences Wizard will help you enter the most important settings in Spectra so you can get up and running quickly. However, don’t forget to go back later and set all your company and user preferences. There are many settings available to you in the Spectra Maintenance menu which allow you to customize how Spectra works for your studio. For more information, see the "Spectra Maintenance" chapter in the user guide.

The Preferences Wizard should start automatically the first time you open Spectra, but you can use the wizard at any time to re-set these preferences.

1. Click Maintenance > Preferences > Preferences Wizard to start the Preferences Wizard.

2. After the introduction screen, click Next and modify your company information. This is the information that will print at the top of your reports, invoices, and receipts. NOTE: Don't enter your company name! Spectra will automatically add that at the top of the report header. Just enter the rest of your contact information. Select a company logo image file. We recommend a 300 dpi, 1x2 or 1x1 inch image.
   
   

3. Next, add and modify your users. Type their names and initials and click Next.

WHO KNEW? What is a user? A user is anyone who uses your studio (or any other work area), such as a photographer or salesperson. A user is also any employee for whom you may need to schedule sessions or appointments. How many users can I have? The number of users you create is not restricted by your software license. For example, you can create five users even if you have a two-user Spectra license. Your license will limit the number of users that can be logged in to Spectra at the same time.

4. Next you will set up resources. Resources can be areas within your studio or other resources and equipment that you want to maintain a schedule for. Think about your various camera rooms, framing area, consultation rooms, special cameras, or even a van or trailer. In order to schedule these areas and equipment you’ll need to define them. Enter your resources and click Next.
   
   

HERE'S A FLASH FOR YOU! Have you noticed the Enter More button in the Preferences Wizard? Click Enter More if you would like to create more entries. This will bring you to a more detailed page where you can create additional entries and add details. These "maintenance" pages are also available in the Spectra Maintenance menu.

5. Use the drop-down lists to select your studio's open and close times for each day of the week. NOTE: This will simply determine the shading that appears on your calendar – you will still be able to schedule appointments “after hours.” For days that your studio is closed all day, set the open time the same as the close time. Click Next.
   
   

6. Next, type in names for your client groups. Think of all the different ways you may want to categorize your clients. A client can belong to more than one group. A client may be a "Portrait" customer, a "Wedding" customer, and also a member of your "Newsletter" group. A high school student could fall into in the "Jefferson High" group, the "Class of 2012" group, and so on. Click Next.
   
   

PATHWAYS TO SUCCESS Client groups help you manage information, analyze profitability, and market your services. Be creative! Think about your customers in various ways. Set up a group labeled "Prospect" for people who might only require a phone call or a couple of mailings to become loyal customers. How about “Animal Lover” for people who might be receptive to the idea of having a portrait taken with their beloved pet? Or, use a group titled “No Contact” for clients who don’t want to receive marketing materials or phone calls.

7. Type the names of any lead sources you have. Lead sources are the various ways people find out about your studio, such as advertisements, the yellow pages, customer referrals, or social media. Click Next.
   
   

8. Enter the types of sessions your studio offers, such as “Portrait” or “Senior Deluxe.” Set the default amount of time (in minutes) that each type of session takes. Select a calendar color for each session type. Click Next.
   
   

WHY DO I NEED DIFFERENT SESSION TYPES? Different session types appear as different colors on the calendar. Different session types have a default duration/length. Different session types can display different prices.

9. Now enter the different types of appointments you have, the duration (in minutes), and the color they should appear on the calendar. Click Next.
   
   

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SESSION AND AN APPOINTMENT? Session - Any time you will be actually TAKING photos of a client. Appointment - Anything else placed on the calendar, such as a wedding consultation or staff meeting.

10. To use Spectra's digital workflow features, enter the path for the Photoshop EXE (or other photo editing software). Click on the browse button to search for it. You will also need to enter the path of the folder where you want your digital images stored. For more information on Spectra's digital workflow see the "Working with the Digital Workflow" chapter of the user guide. Click Next.
    
    

HERE'S A FLASH FOR YOU! Storing Digital Images Think through how you currently store (or how you want to start storing) your image files. Here’s our recommendation: 1) Create a folder for your images and label it "Images." 2) Link that folder to Spectra by entering the path in the Preferences Wizard (or enter/modify the path later in Maintenance > Preferences > Studio Preferences > Digital.) For each session, Spectra will automatically create a sub-folder in the "Images" folder, naming it to match the session. Spectra will also create five sub-folders in each session folder – one for raw images, one for hi-res images, one for preview images, one for retouched images, and one for rendered images. Note: These sub-folders can be renamed if desired.

HERE'S A FLASH FOR YOU! Storing Digital Images on Networks If you're using a network, make sure your digital image folder is on your shared drive and all computers use the same drive mapping to the shared folder.

11. Enter your default sales tax information by selecting the state from the drop-down list and typing in the rate. Enter your state sales tax rate as a percentage (e.g., 7½% should be entered as 7.5). If your default sales tax is a state sales tax, leave the city blank. If the default is a city sales tax, enter the name of the city. To add more sales taxes and more locations go to Maintenance > Preferences > Studio Preferences > Invoicing and click Sales Tax Maintenance. For more information refer to the "Spectra Maintenance” chapter. Click Next.
    
    

12. Finally, enter the primary labs or vendors you purchase from.
    
    

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