With fotoBiz 2.0 we tried to keep the basic working style the same as it was in the original version - by adding features out on the edges of things that you can call on when you need them - but the basic overall function will stay the same. So there will be no need to relearn the program for those already familiar with it.

This update was four years in the making. The bulk of our programming time went into the imageLog, including an all new keywording feature.

Assignment Delivery Memo
There is now an Assignment Delivery Memo in fotoBiz. Use it to submit your images and check them back in, and to print all necessary forms. You can also customize and use this Worksheet as a general all purpose Delivery Memo to submit and to track portfolios that you send, check film out to a lab, track cameras that are out for repairs, or any other use where you need to track items that will be returned.

Setup Buttons
All of the fotoBiz Worksheets now have a blue Setup button. This is so you can make changes to many of the items that print as boilerplate text on the different Worksheets without needing a copy of FileMaker Pro. This is an very powerful new feature.

Calendar
The Calendar section lets you view your contacts via a daily, weekly or monthly view. You can also create a To Do list from the Calendar section. Print out a weekly or monthly Schedule or a blank Planner.

Mass mailings
Use the Mass Mailing section of fotoBiz to quickly find a whole group of customers to send a mailing or email to. Photographers often send a series of mailings a few weeks apart to make the strongest impression. The Mass Mailing section of fotoBiz 2.0 automates this process for you.

Backing Up
In this version of fotoBiz there is a backup button to simplify this process for you. Backup often and save the entire backup folder to multiple CD's or an external hard drive.

Screen Magnification
In the Main Setup screen you can now choose to increase the magnification of your screen to Large (150%) or leave it at Standard (100%).

Email Letters
You can now email your letters directly from the fotoBiz Communications screen. A new history field lets you view the letter history for each client.

Digital Signature
You can now import a digital signature that you can use to "sign" Assignment Estimates and Letters before printing or creating PDF's to email*.

DescriptionBuilder
You can now add a description of the job on your Worksheet. The DescriptionBuilder is a new fotoBiz feature that lets you store and recall templates for different types of job descriptions on your Assignment Estimate.

Customize what prints on Estimates
Many photographers like to estimate their jobs by writing text only, for example "this is a job for such and such and I'm going to do this for you", etc. You can select Description Only in Setup if you want only the Description that you wrote to print on your Estimate, instead of any line items or Rights Granted.

Change Order
There is now a Change Order in fotoBiz. The Change Order is a document that is used for changing an agreed-to assignment estimate; usually adding additional expenses and shooting requirements, and getting the client to agree to pay for those changes ahead of time.

Advance Invoice
You may need a way to collect payment before your job invoice is created. You can now create a dummy invoice from the Assignment Estimate Worksheet.

Void Invoice
You are now able to Void an Invoice. In the past you would have to delete the entire Invoice and leave a gap in your file.

Print Profile
Print a profile for a client that prints notes and history items on a client.

Product Line Items
The way fotoBiz handles the Products section has changed. You can change or add to the Product description in the line item.

Big Page
At the very bottom of the Assignment and Stock Delivery Memo there is a button called Big Page. Use this page to simplify the process of adding a long list of items to your Delivery Memo.

Paste Duplicate Business, Title, Company, City
When you click on any of the words above on the Main Contact screen an Index box will appear and you can select the name you want and then Paste it into the desired field. This comes in handy when you have multiple clients in the same company or city.

Duplicate Contacts
A new feature in fotoBiz lets you create a new record and duplicate the company information for a selected client. This saves you time when you have a few clients working at the same company.

The ImageLog
There are so many new features in the imageLog it is like having a whole new program built into fotoBiz 2.0. We tried to keep everything working the way it worked in the past. So if you don't deal with digital images or don't want to get into any of the new features, you can still use the imageLog exactly the way it was used in the past. The main screen, the Log View, is almost identical to the previous version of fotoBiz.

Digital View
The biggest changes to the imageLog, are the new digital features, the keywording section and thumbnail submissions. All very powerful tools to help you manage and find your digital images.

The Digital View lets you:

• Import entire folders of images.
• Batch caption folders of images.
• Create thumbnails in two sizes.
• Import IPTC and EXIF data to be used to create keywords.
• Refresh all the information about the image.
• You can enter or modify the image description, a convenient way of captioning digital images.
• Create notes to remind yourself about important information about the image.
• Create Commercial Thumbnail Proofs for your Clients.
• Open Original image in Photoshop or most other image editors.
• Copy the thumbnail to the clipboard to send to your client.
• Rotate your thumbnails.

The List Views
There are four List View screens in fotoBiz 2.0, Standard, Digital, Thumbnail and Edit. All are designed to help you work with groups of images. An edited list of what you can do in them is outlined below.

• Show, Find and Sort earnings.
• Search for images with licenses set to expire and automatically create an email to send to your client giving them the option to renew the license. This can be a good source of revenue with little effort on your part.
• Search for a group of images by keyword.
• Search by almost any field.
• Display digital images with a stored path to the original.
• Sort your list.
• Create thumbnail submissions, including a digital delivery memo.
• Create contact sheets.
• Create and log copyright submissions.
• Go directly to the KeywordComposer.
• Sort by path, size, and file.
• Delete images from the imageLog.
• Open your original image in Photoshop or most other image editors.
• Quickly open your original image in the imageLog viewer. It is a fast and easy way to view your image on the full screen. Clicking on any thumbnail in the Digital or KeywordComposer screen also opens your original image in the Viewer.
• Re-import your digital image without creating a new record. Refresh the path to an image and the thumbnails. Re-import the IPTC information and recalculate the image's size and other statistical information. This is a useful feature if you have edited, or moved your original.
• Make a copy of your original image for a submission. You can keep the same file format or convert the image from one format to another as the copy is being made.

Keywording, A Great New Feature!!
Creating keywords in fotoBiz is simple. FotoBiz automatically builds keywords for your images using all existing data for the image: captions, descriptions, as well as any IPTC captions/descriptions and keywords that are already embedded in your images. Then you refine your keywords using fotoBiz's unique KeywordComposer. You can edit your keywords and add new ones, including synonyms. Search for images using these keywords. You can quickly open these digital images in Photoshop or other image editing software with a click, or simply view originals in the fotoBiz Viewer. Also, create thumbnail submissions, including digital delivery memos, or make copies of the originals to send to clients.

Thumbnail Submissions
Now more than ever, copyright is of critical importance to photographers. The imageLog in fotoBiz 2.0 makes it easy for you to automatically create and log copyright submissions with pages of thumbnails. You can also quickly create thumbnail submissions and contact sheets to send to clients.

License Expires
Search for images with licenses set to expire within a certain time period. This valuable feature not only finds the images for you, it also helps you quickly create an email to your client. You can remind the client that the license is about to expire and give them the option to renew it. This can be a good source of revenue with little effort on your part.

fotoQuote Pro 5
The latest version of fotoQuote is built right into fotoBiz 2.0 and has over 80 new categories. For this latest version of fotoQuote Pro we spent another 7 months researching prices. Markets are changing considerably and it was necessary to review every category from the start, taking into account the impact of Corbis and Getty, Royalty Free and the new ways that photos are being used.

We scoured all of the available online pricing that we could find, looking for new patterns and checking to see whether or not there was any consistency in those patterns or if they seemed to be a quick and dirty solution to the new pricing situation. We worked with a pile of our own email requests for help from users looking for pricing solutions that were new to the industry and finally we monitored stock photo news groups to see what kind of pricing problems photographers were having and the possible solutions that were being offered. Finally, after building a greatly updated pricing model, we started calling industry sources to check the prices we came up with. As a result, we "rewrote the book". You won't find the pricing information in the new fotoQuote anywhere else.

Please read the fotoQuote section of our website for more detailed information.

*The Mac has the ability to make PDF's built into the operating system, Windows users may need to use a utility that creates PDF's to take full advantage of the digital submission features build into fotoBiz. There are free or low cost utilities available on the web if your version of Windows doesn't include a PDF builder.