Hotfolder Prints

Release history

15 September 2022: v1.8.3

  • Added the ability to process video files by extracting a still image from the video
  • Fixed an issue with creating albums when using the SmugMug Uploader

12 July 2021: v1.8.2

  • Added optional background/overlay filename suffix to provide more flexible selection of backgrounds and overlays
  • Added the option to rotate the output to match the EXIF orientation of the first photo
  • Added {field2,n,sep,str} token which allows the field separator to be specified
  • Added {contains,str1,str2} token to test whether str1 contains str2
  • Fixed an issue with the print layout editor crashing if a previously selected printer is no longer available
  • BreezeViewer now supports PNGs as well as JPEGs and animated GIFs
  • Removed the Instagram Hashtag Monitor which is no longer supported due to changes made by Instagram

4 December 2019: v1.8.1

  • Added command line options to auto run and to load XML settings from file when running Breeze Gallery Uploader
  • Added command line options to auto login and to load XML settings from file when running the SmugMug Uploader
  • Breeze Viewer now supports the display of adverts in mosaic modes when displaying animated GIFsB
  • Improved error reporting if a hashtag is not found when running the Hashtag Monitor
  • Fixed an issue uploading MP4 videos using Breeze Gallery Uploader
  • Fixed an issue when auto copies printing when copies set to 0 and output set to print only in Hotfolder Prints

9 September 2019: v1.8

  • Added new Breeze Gallery Uploader for automatically uploading photos, GIFs and MP4s to online galleries
  • PNG logos and JPEG images can now be added to print layouts
  • Improved handling of login access tokens in SmugMug Uploader and added the option to save the settings to file
  • Added {dateLess8h} token today’s date less 8 hours
  • Added ({captionNoURL} token for extracting Twitter captions without the trailing URL

10 January 2018: v1.7

  • Added support for event name and event string tokens shared with other event software from Breeze Systems
  • Additional error checking of hashtags in the Instagram Hashtag Monitor
  • Updated the Instagram Hashtag monitor to work with the latest updates made by Instagram
  • More accurate playback speed of animated GIFs in Breeze Viewer
  • Fixed a problem with photos being auto-rotated using the orientation read from the EXIF shooting data
  • Added a workaround for a Windows bug that was preventing the {uid} and {uid2} tokens from generating random values

24 July 2017: v1.6

  • Added the ability to process PNG images as well as JPEG images in Hotfolder Prints
  • BreezeViewer now supports animated GIFs and adds “mosaic with flip” slideshow transition
  • Updated Instagram Hashtag Monitor following changes to the way Instagram works
  • Added SmugMug upload utility

27 April 2016: v1.5.5

  • Instagram Hashtag Monitor now downloads the high resolution copies of photos if available
  • Fixed a problem with loading saved settings via the command line when running Hotfolder Prints
  • Updated Instagram Hashtag Monitor following recent changes in the way Instagram works
  • Fixed a problem with timestamps using Twitter Hashtag Monitor in different time zones

30 September 2015: v1.5.4

  • Added Twitter Hashtag Monitor for downloading photos from Twitter
  • The “Crop image to fit photo area” option now applies to the custom layout. Unchecking this allows a photo to be resized to fit a bounding box instead of being cropped to fit
  • Now supports up to 12 captions in the print layout, options to change the caption display order and the option to right justify the caption text

17 August 2015: v1.5.3

  • Added the ability to load different overlay.png and background.jpg images according to the orientation of the first photo
  • Minor changes to the way progress information is displayed in Hashtag Monitor
  • Added workaround for Instagram “Unsupported size” bug
  • Fixed a problem which prevented Hotfolder Prints from monitoring folders with non-ASCII pathnames
  • Fixed a problem with Hashtag Monitor when setting the “Max age in hours” to a non-zero value
  • Fixed a problem with the stable time setting in Breeze Viewer

7 July 2015: v1.5.2

  • Added “Mosaic with zoom + bg fade” slideshow transition to BreezeViewer
  • Re-written Hashtag Monitor so that login screen can handle Captcha codes
  • Added {field,n,str} token to make it easier to extract values from strings
  • Fixed a problem with the “Match filename” option not working after adding unicode support in v1.5

19 February 2015: v1.5.1

  • Fixed problems with caption font sizes when using a custom output size in Hotfolder Prints
  • Fixed a problem with reading the hotfolder location when launching Hotfolder Prints with an XML settings file
  • Added configurable polling interval option for Hashtag Monitor (accessed via Configure.exe utility)
  • Added desktop shortcut for Hashtag Monitor for easier launching
  • BreezeViewer now accepts tokens for the date when specifying the folder to monitor

28 January 2015: v1.5

  • New Instagram hashtag monitor for downloading Instagram photos with a given hashtag
  • Added optional color management when printing
  • Added interactive editor for print layouts
  • Added the importing and exporting of photobooth print layouts
  • Added the ability to print QR codes on prints
  • Added unicode support for handling characters in most languages
  • Added the option to leave a space between images when using the mosaic layout option in BreezeViewer
  • Added captions in the mosaic transitions in BreezeViewer
  • Added mosaic zoom transition to BreezeViewer
  • Added the option to crop photos before displaying them in BreezeViewer
  • Added a user definable background color and an optional background image for the slideshow in BreezeViewer

18 October 2013: v1.4.4

  • Added the ability to email images using HTML formatting
  • Added the option to scan subfolders for images to the Breeze Viewer slideshow utility

19 April 2013: v1.4.3

  • Added the option to wait for the XML file and to read the filenames of the images from the XML file
  • Added auto color/B&W option which reads the color/B&W mode from the XML file
  • Added the ability to send emails to multiple email addresses read from the XML file by using the {user_data_emails} token
  • Added the ability to specify the caption text, font, color and placement to BreezeViewer slideshow utility
  • Added “mosaic”, “mosaic with fade” and “mosaic with dissolve” slideshow transitions to BreezeViewer slideshow utility
  • “None” and “mosaic” slideshow transitions in BreezeViewer optimized to run faster on graphics cards without graphics acceleration
  • Fixed a problem which could cause the folder being monitored changing after 60 secs when loading settings from the command line

10 December 2012: v1.4.2

  • Added an option to wait for the XML file, containing data such as the user’s email address, to be written before processing images
  • Fixed a problem with email_image.exe displaying a timed error message when there isn’t an internet connection

9 November 2012: v1.4.1

  • Added an option to automatically create the folder being monitored if it doesn’t already exist
  • Added optional naming of the JPEG copy of the printed output by using tokens in the filename prefix
  • Added notes about automatically uploading images to Facebook and photo sharing sites using DropBox/Google Drive/Box and IFTTT

8 June 2012: v1.4

  • Added automatic print copies option which reads the number of copies to print from the XML summary file written by Breeze Systems’ photobooth software
  • Now has the option to save the current printer settings when saving the settings to file and to restore them when the settings are loaded from file
  • Added information about automatically uploading images to Facebook and photo sharing sites using DropBox/Google Drive/Box and WappWolf
  • email_image.exe no longer displays a timed error message dialog if there is no internet connection

29 February 2012: v1.3

  • Now includes the Breeze Viewer slideshow utility
  • Log email addresses option now also keeps a separate log of failed emails to make it easier to resend them later
  • Added an option to copy JPEG output to a separate folder
  • Added more detailed help on how to upload photos to Facebook and other social networking sites
  • JPEG copy subfolder now accepts absolute pathnames

27 September 2011: v1.2.3

  • Added an option in email_image.exe to save email addresses to a CSV log file
  • Fixed a problem emailing images when the image filename or folder contains spaces
  • Fixed a problem emailing images when the number of retries was set to none

11 August 2011: v1.2.2

  • Fixed a problem reading <user2_data> to <user9_data> tags from the XML summary file written by our photo booth software
  • Now doesn’t run the optional command if it contains {user_data} tokens which aren’t present in the XML summary file (this prevents an error window being displayed when users choose not to email images in the photo booth software).
  • Added the ability to use date based tokens when specifying the folder to be monitored. The folder path is checked every 60 seconds and updated if necessary.

12 May 2011: v1.2.1

  • Now reads multiple user data fields (e.g. names and email addresses) from XML files written by Breeze Systems’ photobooth software when using the touchscreen keyboard option
  • Rewritten the email_image.exe utility to run as a Windows app to avoid having a Command Prompt window popping up when it is run. The email_image.exe utility now has a debug mode, the option to retry if sending the email fails and a send test email button to help with setting it up.

21 March 2011: v1.2

  • Added the ability to read user data (e.g. email addresses) from XML files written by Breeze Systems’ photobooth software when using the touchscreen keyboard option
  • The filename prefix and subfolder where JPEG copies of layouts are saved are now user definable
  • Regular expressions may be used to control which images added to the folder being monitored are processed

10 December 2010: v1.1.1

  • Now appends a number to the filenames of saved JPEG layouts to avoid overwriting existing files
  • email_image.exe command line email utility now has the option to specify the port number of the email server and to use SSL STARTTLS to send secure emails
  • Now includes an email settings dialog to help setup the command line for emailing images

1 October 2010: v1.1

  • Added the ability to specify a custom page size when the output setting is “JPEG copy only”
  • Added an optional command line to run on the JPEG print layout e.g. to allow images to be automatically uploaded to photo sharing and social network sites
  • Now automatically loads settings from a file if the file is dragged and dropped on the Hotfolder Prints desktop icon
  • Now detects images that are added to the folder using a different file extension (e.g. .tmp) and then later renamed to have a .jpg file extension

9 July 2010: v1.0.1

  • Added optional delay before processing images
  • Added option to pause/resume printing
  • Improved the user interface so that controls are no longer disabled during printing
  • Added keyboard shortcuts for selecting B&W/color and the number of copies to print

15 June 2010: v1.0

  • First public release