JPEG Saver's config dialog — Main tab
The main tab is where you can choose how JPEG Saver picks the images to display, how often to change the image, and which transitions to use.
- Folders tab
- Position/Resize tab
- Background tab
- Styles tab
- Items tab
- Change delay
- Change mode
- Random start checkbox
- Resume checkbox
- Reverse checkbox
- Interactive checkbox
- Interactive options button
- Video checkbox
- Video options button
- Video only checkbox
- Transitions button
- Transitions preset
- More controls button
- Slideshow options button
When the configuration dialog starts up, the first thing you see will be this tab. Apart from the controls within the tab, there are a few other items outside the tabbed area:
- The dialog title bar, which displays the version number and the name of the current config file.
- The “File” menu, where you can choose to load an existing config file, save the config as a new file, choose a file from the recent file list, or use the “Find current” option, which opens Windows Explorer with the current config file selected. There is also an option to clear the database - use this if you think that JPEG Saver is failing to find some of your images - and an option to defragment the database, which does just that.
- The “Set default” button, which is enabled when you edit a config file that is not the default used by the screen saver. Pressing the button sets the loaded config file as the one that will be used when the screen saver starts up.
- The “Preview” button, which saves a temporary copy of the current configuration and database files and runs the screen saver using them to try out your changes.
- The “OK” and “Cancel” buttons, which save or abandon your changes.
The rest of this page describes the controls on the Main tab.
Change timer
This input sets the time between images changes. The time is shown in hours, minutes and seconds, and can be set to any value between one second and 24 hours.
You can type in a time in seconds or minutes and it will be converted to the HH:MM:SS format, for example typing in “90” will be converted to “00:01:30”, and “120:00” will be converted to “02:00:00”.
Mode
This drop-down box lets you choose the order that images are shown in. When the mode name contains a slash, the part before the slash is the folder mode and the part after is the file mode.
- Sequential
- Images are displayed in alphabetical order within each folder. Folders are traversed in the order that they are listed in the folders list.
- Alphanumeric
- All the images are shown in order by filename, ignoring folders.
- Chronological
- All the images are shown in order by the file creation time, ignoring folders.
- Alternating
- Images are displayed starting with the first image in alphabetical order from each folder, then the second, and so on.
- Random
- Images are displayed at random from the whole list of images available. The random mode has no memory of what it has displayed, so the same image can appear twice in a row, or similar images might appear one after the other.
- Shuffled
- A shuffled list is made of all the images available, and images are picked from this list in sequence. Each image will be displayed once. After the whole list has been shown it is reshuffled before images are picked from it again.
- Alternate/Random
- Similar to the alternating mode, an image is picked from each folder in turn. Instead of selecting the images in sequence, one is picked at random from each folder.
- Random/Sequential
- A folder is picked at random, then all the images within the folder are displayed in alphabetical order. After the images in the folder have been shown another folder is picked at random.
- Random/Shuffled
- A folder is picked at random, its images are shuffled and displayed, then another folder is picked at random, etc.
- Sequential/Chronological
- All of the images in a folder are displayed in chronological order before moving on to the next folder.
- Sequential/Shuffled
- The list of images in each folder in sequence is shuffled and displayed before moving on to the next folder.
- Shuffled/Sequential
- The list of folders is shuffled this time, with the contents of each folder being displayed in alphabetical order.
- Shuffled/Shuffled
- The list of folders is shuffled, and the list of images within each folder is shuffled. This means that all the images in each folder are shown in a random order, and all the folders are shown in a random order.
Random start
This checkbox is enabled when the mode selected has some kind of order to it, and when checked chooses the first image shown at random instead of using the first image in the sequence.
Resume
JPEG Saver stores the details of the last image shown when it exits. This option is enabled when the mode is not completely random, and enabled restarting from the last image shown.
Reverse
For modes that have an order, this option reverses it.
Interactive
Checking this box enables the interactive controls, which allow you to navigate through the images and perform some other useful functions. Moving the mouse will not exit the screen saver when this option is enabled - you must click a mouse button or press the “Escape” key.
Interactive options
This button opens the interactive options dialog, where you can configure how JPEG Saver behaves in this mode, and also how the Windows Explorer integration works.
Video
The video checkbox enables loading video files - with it unchecked these files are ignored. JPEG Saver recognises many file extensions as video files, but whether it can load them or not is down to the Windows Media Foundation codecs installed on the system.
Video options
How JPEG Saver handles video files is configured in the video options dialog.
Video only
This option can be used to prevent JPEG Saver loading non-video files.
Transitions
The transitions button opens up the transitions dialog, where you can configure which are enabled and how quickly they run. You can also set up and edit your own presets there.
Transitions preset list
The drop-down list contains all the presets JPEG Saver has saved in the config, including user-defined presets and the predefined list. There is also an entry at the top of the list for reverting to the previously used list of transitions, whether it is a preset or not.
More controls
This button opens another dialog with a few options that would not fit on the main tab. They are described in detail on this page.
Slideshow
This button opens the Windows Explorer slideshow options dialog. The details of that dialog are covered by this page.