Edit page is used to add, update, view and delete database records. Every database record corresponds to a single photo. To add a record to the database, you should drag some photos to the file list first. Then select any file in the file list and you will see that "File name" field in the edit page has changed to the name of the selected file.
The first time you build your database it's recommended to add all your photos at once in a batch process with "%DateTimeOriginal%" shortcut in the Datetime field to set date and time automatically when possible. This first-time process may take several minutes because Enot have to calculate CRC32 for every file.
Enot tries to make your work as simple as possible. Many fields have buttons next to them to fill the field quickly. All fields can import data from exif and iptc metadata. To do it, set up "favorite exif/iptc tags list" and click right mouse button in the edit field each time you need to insert the value of the tag. The fields also support clipboard, so you can select the text, press Ctrl-C to copy it or Ctrl-V to paste it.
File name.
This field is filled up automatically when you select a file in the file list. When it is not empty, it corresponds to a record name that will be updated when you click [Update record] button or deleted when you click [Delete record] button. Next to this field you can see a green or a red sign. The green sign shows that the database record corresponds to an existing file. The red sign says that the record corresponds to a file that was renamed, moved or deleted. If you know that you deleted this file, you may safely delete this database record, but if you renamed or moved the file, you should run "Photo migration tool" to reassign all invalid database records. Alternatively, you may use context menu of the file name edit field to reassign only this record manually (you will be asked to find the file on your computer).
Description.
This is simply the explanation of what the image shows. Can be anything like "My cat and me", "Climbing the Alps with my friends" or whatever. Actually, this field is not really needed because it rarely increases the relevance of the search results, but still it is supported to import data from "description" exif tag (if you used other photo cataloging software before, it's likely that you may find a piece of your data in this tag).
Comments.
This field is used to keep any information that you want to remember when you look at the photo, ranging from "it was toooo cold that day" to "don't forget to increase brightness before printing". You can also add some useful info like "there is a nice cafeteria near this place, don't forget to go there when you visit the place next time!". Additionally this field is used to import information from "usercomment" exif tag. Most cataloging software use this tag to keep your comments right inside the photo. This field rarely increases the relevance of the search results, so it's OK to leave it empty. If you're not sure where to put your info - to "description" or "comments" field, it's better to use "comments": you should keep in mind that in many software the length of "description" field is limited while the "comment" field can usually store not less than 255 chars and sometimes its length is not limited at all. In Enot, neither description nor comments are limited in length, but other software may truncate them if you ever decide to convert Enot database to another format.
Keywords.
Keywords can often increase the relevance of the search results, especially when a lot of similar photos belong to one and the same group and location. Keywords are used to add some difference to such photos. For example, if you went to the Querk Forest and made a shot of a squirrel, and if you think you will ever need to find this squirrel photo, you can add "squirrel" to the keywords field. Thus, when you look for the photos taken in the Querk Forest, you'll find hundreds of photos, but when you look for Querk Forest photos with "squirrel" keyword, you will find only one photo - the one that you need. If you want to add several keywords, separate them with a comma and a space, like this: "squirrel, old tree, bigfoot, strange lake".
Datetime.
It is used to store photo date and time. As time goes by, people tend to forget things. "When did we go there? 14 years ago? Or maybe 18? Oooh, these memory holes are getting me!". To prevent such thoughts in the future, it's a good idea to set all dates now, while you still remember at least something! As most modern cameras save the time when the photo was taken, you can simply click the button nearby to fill this field automatically. If it is not possible, you should fill this field manually in the following format: "YYYY:MM:DD HH:MM:SS", for example, "2006:03:25 16:57:12" (25 March 2006, 4:57 pm). If you don't remember the precise date, set at least what you remember. For instance, if you remember that the photo was taken in the 1960's set "1960:01:01 00:00:00". It is very important because the photos without datetime field are ignored by "date range" and "search by season" search methods.
Location.
Very often you will want to see photos taken in a certain place, that's why it's highly recommended to fill this field for all photos or at least for the photos taken in the places that have some importance to you. There are three main ways to fill this field, you should select one at the very beginning and always stick to it later.
If your database already has a record with the required place name, click the button near the edit field to fill the dropdown list with all available location names and chose what you need from the list.
GPS.
Although this field is not as important as "location" field, it can give you more freedom in search. You will be able to find all photos taken nearby a certain place, even if these photos belong to different locations. Very rare (and expensive) devices save GPS coordinates right to the exif record. If you're the one who has such a device, simply click the button nearby to fill this field automatically. If you have a GPS set or a Pocket PC with a GPS module, it's not a problem for you to learn coordinates. Otherwise you'll have to use maps to learn the coordinates of the place. There also exist a lot of scanned electronic maps and programs to work with them. The most powerful one is called OziExplorer; it's so popular that it's piece of cake to find a map for any country. To learn the coordinates of a place, you just move the mouse above the map and see the coordinates of the place in the status bar.
The native (and recommended) Enot GPS format is N54°59.3800', W34°54.8500' (N/Sdegrees°minutes', W/Edegrees°minutes'). If you don't know how to enter "°" sign, simply press "d", it will be automatically replaced. Enot also understands other coordinates formats, but it's not guaranteed that Google Maps or other GPS applications will decode them properly:
Getting coordinates manually from a map it is a boring work and you won't do it for 100 new photos, so it's easier to get the coordinates of the center of the place (for example, the center of the city, the center of the forest, etc) and batch update all photos that were taken around. The threshold is not limited - it's up to you to decide what precision is more acceptable to you for this or that area. Anyway, 10 kilometers precision is better than no coordinates at all, because the records without coordinates are ignored by "search by distance" search method.
Besides [Auto fill] button, there are two more buttons. One of them shows the position on a world map so you could ensure that the coordinates are entered correctly. The other button calls maps.google.com to show a satellite photo of the place (you will find that some satellite photos are more breathtaking than the photo that you add to your database!).
Impression and Quality fields.
Enot uses two assessment parameters with three grades each to make the assessment process fast and intuitive.
Impression parameter shows how dear the photo to you is. The deeper the feelings it gives you are, the better the impression is. It's recommended to use this field if you always have little time to view your photos and recall "good times". If you sort out only "vivid"-impression photos, you will see only the most interesting photos and it won't take much time. The 'slight' impression is assigned to photos that don't give you any thoughts except "I was there". The 'vivid' impression is set to the photos that you want to see again and again (the experience shows that a single place or group usually has 10-30% of Vivid-impression photos). The 'neutral' impression goes to all other photos. TOP-LEVEL impression is used to represent 1-3 really best shots for a certain place or group. This kind of impression is used when you need to find one photo that can tell more than dozens of other photos about the selected place (it can be also used to chose the best photo of any of your friend or relative). In a word, TOP-LEVEL impression should be set to the photo that represent any certain group.
Quality parameter is additional to the Impression parameter and may be used to further assess the photo by its artistry or by it's physical quality. This parameter is mostly intended for professional photographers and anyone can have his own conception of a qualitative photo. For instance, you may assess your photos using the following rule. Satisfactory quality - blurred, dark, overexposed photos that are no pleasure to view. High quality - your masterpieces that are good enough to put 'em in a frame and hang on the wall. Normal quality - all other images.
Groups.
Groups are introduced in the "Database" page, please read its help. This section only explains how to work with groups.
Each photo may participate in several groups. For instance, if the photo shows a cat sitting on your friend's head, you may assign this photo to "animals" and "friends" groups. The more groups the photo covers, the easier it can be found. At the other hand, the photo may belong to no group at all (for example if you've made a shot of the train schedule that hung on a train station). It's not smart to create a new group for a single photo. In this case you may add a few keywords to increase the possibility to find the photo. In our example "train schedule" will be a good keyword - if you search for "train", "schedule" or "train schedule", the photo will be found.