Translations by Martin Šácha

Now, if ProPhoto is clearly better, why don't we use it for everything? The answer is to do with <em>quantization</em>. If you only have 8 bits (256 levels) to encode each channel, then a larger range is going to have bigger steps between each value.

Of course, using a 16 bit image is going to leave many more steps and a much smaller quantization error, but this doubles the size of each image file. Most content in existence today is 8bpp, i.e. 8 bits-per-pixel.

Email, chat with, or phone a contact.

Connect with your contact

To email, chat with, or phone someone in <app>Contacts</app>:

The corresponding application will be launched using the contact's details.

Edit the information for each contact.

Edit contact details

Editing contact details helps you keep the information in your address book up to date and complete.

In the case of linked contacts, you can edit a profile by clicking on the profile's avatar.

Combine information for a contact from multiple sources.

Link contacts

Unlink contacts

Access your contacts.

Use <app>Contacts</app> to store, access or edit information for your contacts, locally or in your <link xref="accounts">Online Accounts</link>.

Search for a contact.

Search for a contact

Start typing the name of the contact.

Store your contacts in a local address book or in an online account.

Starting Contacts for the first time

When you run <app>Contacts</app> for the first time, the <gui>Contacts Setup</gui> window opens.

If you have <link xref="accounts">online accounts</link> configured, they are listed with <gui>Local Address Book</gui>. Select an item from the list and click <gui style="button">Select</gui>.

Click the <gui style="button">Online Account Settings</gui> to edit existing account settings.

If you have no online accounts configured, click <gui style="button">Online Accounts</gui> to begin the setup. If you don't wish to set up online accounts at this time, click <gui style="button">Local Address Book</gui>.

You will need to <link xref="shell-exit">log out</link> and log back in for this change to take effect.

Use <gui>Disk Usage Analyzer</gui> or <gui>System Monitor</gui> to check space and capacity.

The information is displayed according to <gui>Folder</gui>, <gui>Usage</gui>, <gui>Size</gui> and <gui>Contents</gui>. See more details in <link href="help:baobab"><app>Disk Usage Analyzer</app></link>.

The screen will automatically turn off after you haven't used it for a while. This only affects the display, and doesn't turn off your computer. You can adjust how long you have to be inactive with the <gui>Turn screen off when inactive for</gui> option.

To set up an external monitor with your laptop, connect the monitor to your laptop. If your system doesn't recognize it immediately, or you would like to adjust the settings:

Make sure <gui>Lock</gui> is switched on, then select a timeout from the drop-down list below. The screen will automatically lock after you have been inactive for this long. You can also select <gui>Screen turns off</gui> to lock the screen after the screen is automatically turned off, controlled with the <gui>Turn screen off when inactive for</gui> drop-down list above.

The <gui>Software</gui> option is slightly different from the others - if the computer detects that there is software on a disk that you inserted, it can try to automatically run the software if you like. This is good if you have an application installed on a CD and want it to start when the disc is inserted (for example, a slideshow).

If you don't see the device or media type that you want to change in the list (such as Blu-ray discs or E-book readers), click <gui>Other Media</gui> to see a more detailed list of devices. Select the type of device or media from the <gui>Type</gui> drop-down and the application or action from the <gui>Action</gui> drop-down.

If you don't want any applications to be opened automatically, whatever you plug in, select <gui>Never prompt or start programs on media insertion</gui> at the bottom of the Removable Media window.

The <em>path bar</em> above the list of files and folders shows you which folder you're viewing, including the parent folders of the current folder. Click a parent folder in the path bar to go to that folder. Right-click any folder in the path bar to open it in a new tab or window, copy or move it, or access its properties.

The GNOME file manager gives you the ability to hide and unhide files at your discretion. When a file is hidden, it isn't displayed by the file manager, but it's still there in its folder.

When you use external storage devices like USB flash drives, you should safely remove them before unplugging them. If you just unplug a device, you run the risk of unplugging while an application is still using it. This could result in some of your files being lost or damaged. When you use an optical disc like a CD or DVD, you can use the same steps to eject the disc from your computer.

If any of the files on the device are open and in use by an application, you will not be able to safely remove the device. You will be prompted with a window telling you that "the volume is busy," and listing all the open files on the device. Once you close all the files on the device, the device will automatically be safe to remove. At that time you can unplug or eject it.

If you can't close one of the files, for example if the application using the file is locked up, you can right-click the file in the <gui>Volume is busy</gui> window and select <gui>End Process</gui>. This will force the entire locked up application to close, which could close other files you have open with that application.

When you rename a file, only the first part of the name of the file is selected, not the file extension (the part after the "."). The extension normally denotes what type of file it is (e.g. <file>file.pdf</file> is a PDF document), and you usually do not want to change that. If you need to change the extension as well, select the entire file name and change it.

On some file systems, file names can have no more than 255 characters in their names. This 255 character limit includes both the file name and the path to the file (e.g., <file>/home/wanda/Documents/work/business-proposals/… </file>), so you should avoid long file and folder names where possible.

You can search for files based on their name or file type directly within the file manager. You can even save common searches, and they will appear as special folders in your home folder.

You can open, copy, delete, or otherwise work with your files from the search results, just as you would from any folder in the file manager.

To remove the search file when you are done with it, simply <link xref="files-delete">delete</link> the search as you would any other file. When you delete a saved search, it does not delete the files that the search matched.

You can select files in a folder using a pattern on the file name. Press <keyseq><key>Ctrl</key><key>S</key></keyseq> to bring up the <gui>Select Items Matching</gui> window. Type in a pattern using common parts of the file names plus wild card characters. There are two wild card characters available:

Locate the file you want to transfer.

The <gui>Send To</gui> window will appear. Choose where you want to send the file and click <gui>Send</gui>. See the list of destinations below for more information.

You can send multiple files at once. Select multiple files by holding down <key>Ctrl</key>, then right-click any selected file. You can have the files automatically compressed into a zip or tar archive.

To send the file to an instant messaging contact, select <gui>Instant Message</gui>, then select contact from the drop-down list. Your instant messaging application may need to be started for this to work.

To transfer the file to a Bluetooth device, select <gui>Bluetooth (OBEX Push)</gui> and select the device to send the file to. You will only see devices you have already paired with. See <link xref="bluetooth"/> for more information.

To copy a file to an external device like a USB flash drive, or to upload it to a server you've connected to, select <gui>Removable disks and shares</gui>, then select the device or server you want to copy the file to.