SlideTour Managing Instructions 
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The "Manage SlideTours" page is where all published SlideTours are sent once they are created. This page allows you to do a number of things such as: editing, deleting, and organizing published SlideTours; adding, editing and deleting notes, music or narration; accessing URL's for different display templates; accessing the compressed, resized images in a SlideTour; creating sub-folders and/or sub-users in your account; and submitting published SlideTours to craigslist and eBay listings.

The Manage SlideTours page is laid out in a row/column format with each published SlideTour occupying a row in the main or root account folder with accessible tools, links and indicators under each column description. Below the main section, you will find the Recycle Bin and any sub-folders or sub-users you have added to this account. This root folder is named the same as the name on the SlideTour account. The sections below describe the different features on the Manage SlideTours page:
     
  • Editing published SlideTours


    • Published SlideTours can be edited in a variety of ways, including: editing the number and arrangement of images and editing the title, notes, music and narration. Some editing can be done directly from the Manage SlideTours page while other types of editing, (images for instance), must be done by re-accessing the Publish SlideTour page.

    1. Changing Images/Title- To add or delete, change the arrangement, edit the title, and make individual edits to the published images, click on the Edit ST link. This Edit ST link can be found in the first column, to the left hand side of your published SlideTour thumbnail, under the SlideTour number. Note: The Edit ST link will not be shown for a SlideTour that has locked. SlideTours are only editable for 48 hours (what does this mean?)


    2. SlideTour Notes- There are several different ways to add or edit a note attached to a SlideTour:

      1. Notes can be input at the time of publishing on the SlideTour publishing page.


      2. Notes can be added after publishing by clicking on the "Add" link on the Manage SlideTours page in the same row as the SlideTour you wish to add a note to.


      3. Notes can also be edited by clicking on the Edit ST link (editing by Edit ST link only available during the 48 hours after publishing). This will take you to the Publish SlideTour page where you can make your change in the note field and then click "Publish".


    3. Audio Narration- There are two different ways to add audio narration to a SlideTour:

      1. Using the phone number (408-988-7007), found under the column heading "Voice" and the PIN number listed in the row of the SlideTour you wish to add narration to, follow the voice prompts on our phone system and add up to 5 minutes of narration. Changing or editing this narration is as simple as dialing into and using the features of our phone narration system. (Audio narration is not editable after 48 hours of publishing).


      2. Clicking the "Add Voice" link next to the SlideTour you wish to add narration to will bring up a page that describes how to select and upload an MP3 format sound file created by the user. (Audio narration is not editable after 48 hours of publishing).


    4. Music- To add music to your SlideTour, find the column labeled "Music" on the Manage SlideTours page and click on the link labeled "Add Music". Clicking this will take you to the same page you viewed when clicking on "Add Voice" in the Voice column. Here you will find instructions on how to upload your own MP3 format music track or you can use one of our pre-selected tracks from the pull down menu. Please follow the instructions on this page for adding music and mixing the music track with your audio narration track.




     
  • SlideTour URL's and Stills


    1. URL's- Published SlideTours can be viewed in three different design templates. The default template (individual image thumbnails on right side, running vertical) can be viewed by clicking on the thumbnail image on the Manage SlideTours page. There are two other styles that can be accessed by customized URL's by clicking on the "URLs" link under the "ST URLs and Still" column. #1 is the recommended or default template view. #2 template version has the thumbnails running across the bottom, horizontally. Finally, #3 template choice shows the SlideTour window by itself with no thumbnails showing and no extra white bordering on the page. It is important to note, that only the default #1 template can be published to eBay at this time.


    2. Stills- When a SlideTour is published, the images are automatically resized and compressed from their original size and embedded in the SlideTour presentation. You can access these compressed, resized still images by clicking on the "Stills" link under the "ST URLs and Still" column. Clicking this link will open another page showing you a list of the images published to the SlideTour and their file sizes after compression/resizing. The images can be downloaded to your computer individually by clicking on the chosen image first, then right clicking your mouse on the opened image and selecting "Save Image as" from the pop-up menu. Alternatively, you can download a zipped folder of all the images in the SlideTour, unzip them and save them to your hard drive. IMPORTANT! - As 3cim's SlideTour system is not designed as a typical hosting service, it does not allow user access to any high-resolution images that have been published in a SlideTour. Only the compressed and resized images are available for download. It is therefore strongly recommended that the user retain or back-up their original high resolution images either on their local computer or on some sort of back-up media.




     
  • Managing and Organizing your SlideTours


    • Action tools- The Manage SlideTours page shows a column labeled "Action". In this column you will find: A checkbox, a green/grey sphere icon and a lock/unlock. The presence and changing of these icons also show at a glance, the present status of the SlideTour in your account. A legend that briefly describes what these tools are, what they do, and what they indicate is located near the top of the Manage SlideTours page.

    1. Checkbox - The first tool shown in the "Action" column is a standard checkbox. Checking this box on a particular SlideTour(s) is a way of selecting the SlideTour(s) for: deleting, Hiding or Showing on your PWP, extending 6 months or moving to another sub-folder within your account.

      1. To use the Checkbox for deleting SlideTours, click on the Checkbox next to the SlideTour(s) you would like to delete, then go to the top of the list of SlideTours and click on Go next to Delete (this will send your SlideTour(s) to the Recycle Bin, but not delete them completely from your account. To delete SlideTours permanently from your account to avoid charges, you must empty your Recycle Bin with the designated SlideTours in the Recycle Bin within 48 hours of publishing). IMPORTANT! - If you do not intend to keep a SlideTour and do not wish to be charged for the images and/or audio published to it, you MUST delete the SlideTour completely by moving it to the Recycle Bin and emptying the Recycle Bin, BEFORE the end of the 48 period. Otherwise, your account will be debited for the number of images and/or audio published in the locked SlideTour. If you wish to remove locked SlideTours from your main account folder in order to reduce clutter, simply create a sub-folder called "To be deleted" and move the unwanted SlideTours to this folder. SlideTours left in this folder and not extended will automatically be deleted after the end of the 6-month hosting period (6 months from the date they were published).


      2. To use the Checkbox for Hiding and Showing your SlideTours on the PWP, click on the Checkbox next to the SlideTour(s) you would like to Hide or Show, then go to the top of the SlideTours and click on Go next to Hide/Show PWP. This will change the icon sphere next to each SlideTour you selected to either be Hiding (grey) or Showing (green) on your PWP.


      3. To use the Checkbox for extending SlideTours, click on the Checkbox next to the SlideTour(s) you would like to extend, then go to the top of the list of SlideTours and click on Go next to Extends 6 months. Clicking Go will bring up a pop-up window that asks you to confirm you wish to extend the SlideTour. If you click "OK", the SlideTour hosting period will be extended for another 6 months from the original date of publishing. This will extend each SlideTour you checked for an additional 6 months (after the initial 6 months period, for which a SlideTour lasts). By clicking extend you are agreeing pay the $1 fee per SlideTour associated with extending the SlideTour by 6 months. For each 6-month period you extend a SlideTour, your account will be charged $1.00. (This is shown on your Account Summary on your account in the "# extra hosting column"). Example: Say you create a SlideTour and wish to keep it active on our server for one full year. You would want to click the Extend link once to extend it an additional 6 months. Each time you click the extend function; you add another 6 months to the total hosting period.


      4. To use the check box action for moving SlideTours to subfolders, click the checkbox next to the SlideTour(s) you wish to move, then go to the top of the list of SlideTours and find the pull down list that says, "Move to a different folder". SlideTours may only be moved between folders within an account. They cannot be moved to sub-users within the primary account.


    2. Lock/Unlock icon- This icon shows the status of your SlideTour. If you see an Unlock next to your SlideTour it means that you are still within the 48 hours since you published your SlideTour and the SlideTour is still eligible for changes or to be deleted. At the end of the 48 hours hours since publishing the Unlocked icon is replaced with a Locked icon to indicate the SlideTour is locked and the images and title are no longer editable.


    3. Green Sphere icon - The next icon in this column is shown as a green sphere. This icon is used to hide or show the selected SlideTour on your Personal Web Page (PWP). Clicking this icon will hide the individual SlideTour from view on your PWP and the green sphere will change to gray. You can un-hide a SlideTour simply by clicking the sphere icon again. Hiding/Showing a SlideTour in this way only hides it on the PWP. The SlideTour is always visible on the Manage SlideTours page in the folder you have placed it in. To Hide/Show multiple SlideTours at once, use the Checkbox to select multiple SlideTours and click on the Hide/Show PWP at the top of the SlideTours. (For more information on using your PWP, click on the menu bar link at the top of any Main account page labeled "Personal Web Page".)






     
  • Sub-Folders and Sub-Users


    1. Sub-Folders - Both sub-folders and sub-users can be added to your account. When you create a SlideTour account, a main or root folder is created and is named the same as the user name on the account. Once sub-folders have been created, you can publish directly to a sub-folder by selecting the desired folder during the publish step, (see Step #3 on the Publish SlideTour page), or move a SlideTour to any sub-folder after it has been published. To create a sub-folder, click on the link near the top of the Manage SlideTours page labeled "Add New Sub-Folder". This will bring up a title and description field so you can name the folder and enter a short description to help identify it's contents. Created sub-folders can be found at the bottom of the main SlideTour listing area on the Manage SlideTours page just above the Recycle Bin. To delete a sub-folder, click the trashcan icon to move it to the Recycle Bin. In order to delete the folder completely, you must first delete all (in the case of editable SlideTours) and/or move all (in the case of locked SlideTours) out of the sub-folder to be deleted.


    2. Sub-Users - The SlideTour account holder can add sub-users to his/her account. To do this, click on the link at the top of the Manage SlideTours page labeled "Add New Sub-User". This will bring up a page that asks you to enter the sub-user account information including a unique email and password. The sub-user's email and password must be different than the primary account holder. A sub-user can log into their own account and publish SlideTours to their folder or their own created sub-folders as well as adding their own sub-users if desired. All sub-users of a primary user account publish using the primary user account's charge plan. They do not have their own charge plan and any published images in locked SlideTours are counted against the primary account. The primary user can view all sub-user accounts and their enclosed published SlideTours. However, sub-users cannot see other sub-users or the primary user's account information or published SlideTours. Sub-users may be deleted by the primary user account once all published SlideTours within the sub-user account are deleted to the Recycle Bin. If the sub-user's account contains locked SlideTours and the primary account holder tries to delete the sub-user account, the account will not be deleted but instead de-activated. De-activated sub-user accounts cannot be logged into. Sub-user accounts can be re-activated by clicking the pencil "edit" icon on the sub-user account, changing the account to "active" using the radio buttons and clicking "Submit".




     
  • Publishing SlideTours to Craigslist or Ebay


    1. Craigslist - Once SlideTours have been published to an account and reside on the Manage SlideTours Page either in the main folder or sub-folders, they can be submitted to eBay listings or Craigslist or embedded into other web pages. On the Manage SlideTours page in each row of any published SlideTour, there are columns with links for publishing to both Craigslist and to eBay. Submitting to Craigslist.org involves copying and pasting the SlideTour html and Javascript code into the description field provided when creating a Craigslist listing. Information on how to do this "Copy Code Method" is provided on the page, which opens when you click the link labeled "Click Here" under the Craigslist column for the particular SlideTour you wish to submit.


    2. eBay - Published SlideTours can also be embedded on an eBay listing in the item description by using any of three different methods provided on the Manage SlideTours page. SlideTours submitted to an eBay listing cannot be edited or removed from the listing once the SlideTour has been submitted to an eBay listing. On the last column on the right on the Manage SlideTours page, there is an eBay submission column with three links shown and a SlideTour can be submitted to an eBay listing in any of these three methods (for more information, please read the help page link at the top of the "Publishing SlideTour-eBay" column on the Manage SlideTours page.)

      1. Using the eBay item number(s) - SlideTours can be submitted to an eBay listing previously created on eBay using the eBay item number. SlideTours can be submitted either individually by clicking on the "Single" link our in batch by clicking on the "Batch" link. Clicking on either will bring up a page with instructions on how to submit a SlideTour or SlideTours using this method. This method requires that you create an eBay listing active on the eBay web site first.


      2. Copy Code Method - The "Copy Code Method" works in the same way as the copy code method for Craigslist. Clicking on the link labeled "Click Here" opens up a page that describes how you do this and where to paste the copied code on the eBay listing. This method requires that you create an eBay listing active on the eBay web site first.


      3. New eBay Listing - A new eBay listing can be created from scratch via this method. Simply create a listing just as you would on eBay's site and the SlideTour will automatically be attached during the listing process. 3cim is an approved eBay developer and provides most or all of the listing enhancements and categories provided by eBay.


     
  • Still Need Help?


    • If you still need help with the Manage SlideTour features or have any questions, feel free to email us at support@3cim.com or call us on our toll free number: 1-888-588-3246 (Monday-Friday, 8:30-6:00, US Pacific Time). We will respond to your inquiry as soon as possible.