Designer interface

Once a product has been selected for design and a project has been opened in the Designer, a series of tools are available, arranged in the following way.

Top menu

The top menu contains the following tools.

• The Save button saves the article you are designing. If you are logged in, you can choose to save locally or online.
• The Projects button opens the Projects folder, which contains all your saved projects. If you are logged in, both locally saved projects and online saved projects will be displayed.
• The Share button allows you to export your project as a PDF for sharing and export the project file (SSWPRM) to save it offline. Note that you can also share an online project from the website if it is saved online and you are logged in.
• The following are the basic element management tools: Undo, Redo, Copy and Paste.
• The Preview button opens your project in Preview mode. Very important for checking before printing.
• Next are the tools for adding the main objects in the designer. These are Text, Image and Fill Box. Clicking on one of them will create the object in the project.
• The Settings button opens a panel where you can configure several parameters of Saal Design software

Left menu

The left menu gives you tools to search through the folders on your device and to add new images to your project. This menu can be expanded and collapsed by clicking on the arrow at the top of the menu.

Apple Photos

Apple users can access their Apple photos by clicking on the Photos tab in the left-hand menu. Folders stored there will be available for selection, and photos within them will be displayed below, ready to be added to the photo product.

Right menu

Tools for customising your photo product are displayed in this menu. Clicking on the different buttons will display the corresponding menu with its tools. This menu can be collapsed by clicking on the arrow at the top of the menu.

• The Article button offers various options for modifying your photo article, depending on the product you are designing. It is also possible to convert the article into another one.
• The Page button displays all the elements placed in your project, as well as the Grid and Snap tools.
• The Clipart button displays the extensive catalogue of clipart available for use in your project. You can filter by category or use the search engine.
• The Backgrounds button allows you to select different backgrounds for your project.
• The Layouts button provides templates for your project based on the selected design line. You can filter layouts by number of images, save your favourites, change the design line at any time, and more.

Menus arrangement

Not only can the right, left and bottom menus be collapsed, they can also be detached from the main design interface. This is particularly useful if you’re working with dual monitors and want to spread your workflow across both screens. You can also resize the left menu to display more image thumbnails at once.

To detach a menu from the Designer, first expand it. Click and hold on the top grey bar of the menu and drag it out of the main Designer window to detach it. You can reposition the detached menu by clicking and dragging the top grey bar to your preferred location.
To resize a menu, hover over the bottom right corner of the menu until the cursor becomes a double arrow. Click and drag to adjust the menu to the size you want.
To reattach the menu to the main designer, click on the top right arrow of the detached menu.

Bottom menu

In some multiple photo products such as Photo Books, there is a bottom menu where you can find the page information. You can move between pages, add pages, delete pages and change their order by dragging and dropping them to the final position. Pages can also be blocked by right-clicking on them and selecting Lock page.

Object menu

When an object is selected, such as an image, text, fill box or clipart, a menu with more tools corresponding to the selected object will appear on the right. This menu only appears when the object is selected and allows you to configure several aspects of it.

Working area

The working area of the project is displayed in the centre. It can be enlarged using the zoom tool in the bottom right corner. The right, left, and bottom columns can be collapsed to give the working area more space.

The working area of all products is surrounded by a red line very close to the edge. This is the bleed line and marks the safety zone to be considered when placing objects. Never place objects close to this line, as white borders may appear around the image in the final product. Images and objects must be placed at a sufficient distance from this line.