If you have not installed the Format Publisher for Adobe® Photoshop Lightroom® plugin yet please see our How to install the Format Publisher for Adobe® Photoshop Lightroom® plugin guide first.
The following screenshots are from macOS, but the steps are the same for WindowsOS computers.
Create a new Gallery Page with the Format plugin
Adobe Lightroom Classic needs to be the active application.
Navigate to the Library module
From Publish Services, in the lower-left sidebar hold the 'Control' keyboard button (macOS or 'Alt' button for WindowsOS) and click once on your websites’ name listed under the Format Publisher dropdown
From the contextual menu select 'Create Page…'
Set the Website and Type of Page to Create
Set: this will display your website Format address (first) then the Website Header) the default page type that would be created is a Gallery Page
Toggle the dropdown
If you were creating a Client Gallery page you would select the indented 'Client Galleries' option (leave set as the top option for a Gallery Page at this time
Add the Title for you Gallery Page
Add the URL, this should match the Title but be all lowercase with a hyphen between words (in this example
travel-gallery)Toggle off the 'Hide' checkbox
Click 'Create'
The newly created Gallery Page will show at the bottom of the list of Gallery Pages
OPTIONAL: Switch to your Format account in your web browser
Navigate in the left sidebar to the Portfolio > Pages pane
The new Gallery Page you created in Lightroom will appear in the NOT IN MENU list
Return to the Lightroom Classic application.
Select images for adding to the Gallery Page
From the left sidebar, locate the Folder with the images you are wanting to publish
Select the images
Click-and-drag until you are hovering the Gallery Page you are wanting to publish the images to (in this example, the Travel Gallery page). Your original images will stay in this location, only an alias will be copied to the Format Publisher Gallery Page for publishing
Selection of images that wil be added to the Gallery Page. Release mouse button when over the correct page
Image counter will show the number of images that will be published
Your original images remain in their original location (they have not been moved or edited)
Metadata can be published and used with your images but requires setting prior to publishing. Please see the section below on 'How to add specific metadata'
'Publish' button with information showing the path to the selected page within your Format website
Second 'Publish' button option
How to add specific metadata
In addition to any camera or photographer metadata that you may have already included or prepared for embedding with your images, you can also add a Format Caption which will appear in the Image Caption field, and also Format Alt Text, which will appear in the Image Description field (to assist those with visual impairments).
This is accessible from the Library module and right-side tools panel under Metadata
Locate and open the 'Metadata' pane using the triangle toggle (far right)
The dropdown selector may be showing 'Default' Click to activate list in dropdown
Select 'Format' from the bottom of the Metadata settings dropdown
Individual image selected
Format Caption and Format Alt Text added to fields (repeat for all images)
You do not need to include a Format Caption for each image if you don't want this to be displayed when your site is viewed, but we do recommend that the Format Alt Text field be used (we understand that it is hard, and time-consuming to accurately describe an image with a limited number of words (255 maximum recommended).
For more information on why having alt text is important please see our Adding Image Descriptions to images guide.
Check the Format plugin Image Settings before Publishing
Because it is not possible to save different 'presets' for how images will be published using the plugin we recommend that you review the options set prior to publishing to your Gallery Page.
If you are also using to publish to Client Galleries, you may have different options configured.
Right-click on the main 'Format Publisher' Publish Services name to get the contextual menu to appear
Click 'Edit Settings…'
Gallery Page with images currently unpublished
Recommended Image Settings for publishing to Gallery Pages
1. File Naming: Rename with Custom Settings optional
2. Add Custom Text to any area of the file name, or completely replace the original file name
3. Start Numbers can be set to add sequentially to each image
4. Quality set to 95
5. Image Sizing: toggle on 'Resize to Fit: Width & Height and set W: 2,500 and H: 2,500 pixels
6. Toggle on 'Don't Enlarge'
7. Set to 300 pixels per inch (this number doesn't really matter though)
8. Sharpen For: Screen with Amount: Standard
9 Include All Metadata, you can turn off (or keep) the Person and Location info
10. Save
One-way synchronization
The Format plugin only UPLOADS images from Lightroom to your Format website. Any images already added to Gallery Pages do not get downloaded or added to your Lightroom Collection/s.
Publishing the images for the first time
With the Publish Settings checked, you are now ready to click 'Publish'
This will now process in the background (similar to how importing or exporting images works), and these will be published to your Format Gallery Page.
You can continue working on other tasks in the meantime. Depending on how you have your Lightroom settings configured, you may get a sound notification at the completion of successful publishing.
Any errors or unsuccessfully published images will be displayed.
Checking the images in the Page editor
Switch to your Format account in your web browser.
Navigate to the Portfolio > Pages area and Edit your new Gallery Page
Gallery view showing the image thumbnails
The Captions and Descriptions area allows you to view and edit all metadata
Number of items on the page
Scroll down to see more images
Imported Captions and Descriptions Metadata
Captions and Descriptions area shows the Metadata (Format Caption and Format Alt Text) added from Lightroom in one location
Caption
Image Description (Alt Text)
Option to 'Clear All' metadata
'Save Changes'
Modified photos to re-publish
You can edit any image and it will be displayed in an area named 'Modified Photos to Re-Publish' (the image example above has been converted to black-and-white, cropped to square and repositioned to the top-right corner).
Click either of the two 'Publish' buttons to re-publish
If you remove a photo, re-publishing from Lightroom will remove it from your Format Gallery Page.
Updating Published Collections progress indicator bar
Viewing the Format Editor window will show the original image has been replaced with the re-published image
Troubleshooting
If you delete an image from a Format Gallery Page when you are accessing and editing from the Portfolio > Pages > Edit Page area you will not be able to 'Re-Publish' this from Lightroom as the file link will be broken. Attempts to upload will show an error message.
Still have questions? Reach us on our live chat or email us at info@format.com We’re here to help!
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