ThumbsPlus 10 SP2 is here
ThumbsPlus Version 10 SP2
Release Notes
Build 4015 — 14 June 2018
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Table of Contents


ThumbsPlus 10 SP2 (builds 4012 - 4015)

ThumbsPlus 10 SP1 (builds 4005 - 4011)

ThumbsPlus 10 (builds 4001-4004)

ThumbsPlus 9 SP2 archive

Installation notes

Licensing

Python scripting details

Command line options


ThumbsPlus 10 SP2 (builds 4012 - 4015)


We're still busy working on Version 11, but I took some time to correct the most prevalent problems in version 10. This will be the last version 10 service pack, but we will provide an additional builds if we've introduced any new problems or we find any critical bugs.

Build 4014 and 4015 fixes (as promised from build 4013)

Important bug fixes:


Slide show sampleThumbsPlus 10 SP1 (builds 4005 - 4011)


Important bug fixes:

User interface changes:

High DPI monitor (scaling) support improvements

Miscellaneous issues:


ThumbsPlus 10 (builds 4001 - 4004)


Quick notes:

Version 10 enhancements and fixes

Sections: MetadataExternal programsUser interfaceImage editingInternal

Metadata handling

Metadata panelImproved the toolbar in the Metadata panel, which now includes these functions, which are also available at the Image - Metadata on the menu:

Reduced the confusion when attempting to change metadata directly when multiple images were selected. Rather than just edit the focused file, ThumbsPlus now disables direct editing when multiple files are selected. Use the Batch button or Image - Batch Edit Metadata to change metadata for multiple files.

Added an information pane at the bottom of the Metadata panel, which currently displays only the official XMP field specification.

I moved Colorspace and Aperture Value from the Advanced Camera to the Camera category. I do plan for these to be user-configurable in the future.

Fixed improper conversion of Date Taken to local time when displaying (it was already local time). File times are still stored as UTC and adjusted correctly.

Fixed a failure to write metadata to files that would start occurring kind of randomly, and would continue to occur until program restart. During this process, I also improved and consolidated the warning messages that display when ThumbsPlus cannot update XMP.

I fixed some issues in the control file for XMP, and changed several defaults for display metadata display. Because of an issue with the way Creator (dc:creator) was handled in some prior builds, the items shown on the Info tab revert to factory default when you install.

I improved the appearance of the Batch Metadata Editor. I believe I also made it more clear what to do, and I'm working hard on extensive documentation for SP3 release. (More notes below the screen shot!)

Scree shot

In the editor, I also fixed the problem with the Edit and Delete buttons. I also added an Append button so that you can combine multiple editor sets.

Fixed where thumbnails would indicate that the file had metadata after batch editing, even if there was none there, and vice-versa.

Found and eliminated some unnecessary repeated display of metadata and the preview window when clicking files.

In Options - Preferences - Metadata, I changed the wording regarding using "XMP Comment" to "XMP EXIF Comment," since that is the actual function of that option (useful really for historical purposes only.)

Fixed a problem where the opened Metadata and Info tab groups were not always being saved (categories and sections would close when selecting different files).

See Image Editing and Processing below for information on fixes to handling image resolution (DPI or DPC). ThumbsPlus was not consistent.

Implemented metadata cache for XMP. Reduces the number of times files are scanned for metadata by 50% to 80%, improving performance.

Fixed the loading of XMP/EXIF metadata from most major formats loaded using the Digicam and Digiraw plugins, including ORF, ARW, SRF, Leica, Minolta MRW,  and some newer CR2, NEF, and DNG formats.

Modified the Adobe XMP library to handle the odd TIFF-like headers in Olympus ORF files.

Metdata PreferencesBecause of potential conflicts with cameras or other software, metadata editing in raw Digicam files is disabled by default. If you wish, you can enable editing for these formats in Options - Preferences - Metadata.

Added an option in Options - Preferences - Metadata to automatically remove several potentially long Photoshop history metadata (photoshop:History, photoshop:DocumentAncestors) items when saving or editing metadata in non-Photoshop files. In a future release, you will be able to control it more exactly in the Save Options for each file type, used when saving individual files and for multi-file operations, such as Batch Process and Batch Edit Metadata.

Disabled editing of metadata in several other file formats in which XMP not supported.

Improved reporting and logging of errors during XMP loading and processing.

Clear out the saved list of Expanded Groups on first run of build 3949 because some prior v9 apparently left it in weird state, causing metadata categories to sometimes collapse when selecting different files.

Fixed skipped items and XMP error #0 when loading or using metadata set from a file.

Widened the Select Items dialog lists so that items with long names are easier to differentiate.

Increased the maximum display size for large metadata items to 100 KB (such as Photoshop History).

Added several popular XMP items to the list of recognized tags.

Adding external programs

Fixed quoting of file names when launching external programs. For compatibility with some then-popular programs on older operating systems, ThumbsPlus was only quoting file names with certain characters in the names. Now it properly quotes all file names, unless you select to use Short file names, in which case in only quotes them if short file names are not available on the file system. A bug in beta 3, fixed in build 3953, was not passing multiple files correctly.

Fixed external program option Pass folder name when no file selected.

Programs toolbar

Customizing external programs


There is now a Programs toolbar, with a button for Customize. It is updated automatically with icons when external programs are added or changed, simplifying the process considerably.

You can drag from this toolbar to others if you want, and you can hide it from the main Customize - Toolbars tab if you don't want to see it at all.

I added an Edit button to Customize - Programs, so you can change an entry rather than deleting & re-adding.

Fixed the display of icons in the External Program dialog so you can tell easily which is selected, and it automatically selects the first icon when adding a new program.

You can drag the programs in the Customize - Programs list to reorder them.

Fixed other problems with Customize - Programs, including sometimes removing the wrong item.

General user interface

The Info decoration ⓘ is now only shown on thumbnails for images that have more than minimal tiff: and exif: metadata tags (for example, TIFF files always showed as having image info since some of the standard XMP tags are tiff: tags as well). You will need to remake thumbnails to get the newer, more useful ⓘ decorations.

After changing the font, task window entries for newly-created tasks are correctly sized.

I fixed a few aesthetic problems with the implementation of themes (Window - Theme), and now place a checkmark next to the current theme. Additionally, the theme now works properly in the view window.

In Preferences - Confirmations I added a new option to Suppress all info messages for multi-file processes (including overwrites). This speeds large file or folder operations where thousands of files may be overwritten or skilled, for example, and leaves only warnings and errors to see.

Removed some unnecessary spacers from the toolbar in the Thumbnail View.

Found and removed some additional animations I had accidentally enabled in menus and on toolbars, as these can make the menus sluggish on remote connections.

When saving files with alpha channel in the view window, ThumbsPlus was not correcting rendering the thumbnails; the transparent areas were not evident in the thumbnails.

The large toolbar size has changed from 40x40 to 48x48, since many displays (especially high DPI displays) are so dense. More sizes and additional scaling will be available in future releases. I also changed some static toolbars (tree, thumb view, metadata) and drop-down menus from 20x20 to 24x24.

I changed the initial defaults for auto-cropping when thumbnailing and copying to clipboard to OFF (in Options - Preferences - General and Options - Preferences - Thumbnails). These are a lot less useful for people than they were in the past.

ThumbsPlus will provide additional warnings and offer to restart ThumbsPlus if certain database parameters (such as volume matching mode) change in Options - Preferences - Thumbnails.

Fixed the problem with Help - Enter Registration dialog not immediately showing when the code matches.

When ThumbsBug cannot retrieve the Windows user name for bug reporting, changed the mail From: header to "A ThumbsPlus User" rather than "Some random person."

Changed the default name of found lists in multi-user license to include the user name (Found by Phillip Crews) rather than host  name (Found Files (THISPC)), to make it more friendly when a user moves between multiple computers.

Returned volume matching options to Options - Preferences - Thumbnails (these, and other database items, will be moved in the next major release to an administrator program for multi-user!)

Not working correctly in beta 3, but fixed for release: I changed folder and file sorting by name to utilize Explorer sort order (which is set in Windows group policy, either by a domain administrator or by using gpedit.msc directly), rather than always sorting by Windows' logical (numeric) sort. If you do not wish to change Windows group policy, you can also sort by None to use the file system's internal sorting — for NTFS this is a simple case-insensitive search. This is nearly identical to the old default Windows 2000 sort order.

Fixed problem where missing SQLite ODBC driver would cause repeated "ODBC hosed" error / and ineffective repair. (The imported .reg file didn't fix SQLite).

Changed to fit thumbnails (as in 7), rather than crop, in the Confirm File Replacement dialog.

Fixed File - Delete Files to default to No on last (or only) file for consistency.

Force status bar on during startup, so it never disappears (I believe an undocumented keystroke in the UI package turns it off in some cases.)

ThumbsPlus now saves last TWAIN scanner selected between runs.

Fixed a failure to cancel background preview loading of very large files when selecting a different file.

Image editing and processing

Fixed a problem where the Use alpha channel option was sometimes disabled for text in Image - Stamp.

Fixed a problem where Image Stamp steps in Image - Batch Process were using 800K of disk space. This also greatly reduced image memory usage after many actions (stamp or not). To maintain compatibility, batch processing can still read the long records, but always writes corrected short ones. Batch sets that include Image Stamp created by version 9 SP3 are not usable in prior versions!

Sometimes .tmp files created by the Digicam plug-in were not correctly being deleted by ThumbsPlus after use.

The theme selected in the main window (Window - Theme) now works properly in the view window.

I fixed a rare problem where the view window menu could disappear in normal mode after some sequences of operations in full-screen mode.

Fixed a bug that could cause an occasional crash in Edit - Paste, Image - Crop, or Image - Stamp.

ThumbsPlus was not always saving customizations done to the view window toolbars, particularly in the case of "quick" customizations (dragging buttons with ALT, or using the quick menu to turn toolbars on and off.) This is fixed.

I added several fields to the view window status bar, and changed which are displayed by default.

ThumbsPlus now saves any customizations to the status bar.

We fixed various issues with image resolution (DPI/DPC). Most of the problems occur because images can have their resolution stored two ways: in the native file format, and in the XMP metadata. Some software requires the first, and other the second. ThumbsPlus was only usually storing DPI in the native way, so some other software would not recognize the resolution.

I fixed additional problems with the Edit - Set Resolution function in the View Window, and removed the Pels per Meter unit selection, which was old and silly.

I fixed display of ms after load time in view window status bar. (It was showing as (null).

The view window File toolbar was accidentally marked as not being customizable. This is fixed.

I fixed the painting of the sizing rectangle around the pasted image during Edit - Paste. If you want to see image without the sizing rectangle (for alignment), you can hold the Alt key while paste is active (including while moving or sizing it).

Fixed a crash when attempting to add an Image Stamp batch step in Image - Batch Process.

Several fixes and enhancements to Image - Replace Colors:

Moved the Alpha Channel functions from the Edit to the Image menu.

Fixed view window toolbar button sizes, and toggling between large and small buttons.

Changed default view window toolbars to have only a few buttons, and Got rid of inoperable Show Toolbar option in Options - Viewing.

Fixed a compatibility problem copying 32-bit images (24-bit with alpha channel) to the clipboard.

Improved the appearance of the Image - Adjust Colors dialog, and you can now switch between tabs using ALT+1, ALT+2, and ALT+3.

Added Image - Process - Desaturate and a corresponding batch step. This simply does a color adjust with -100% saturation, but I was doing it a lot for selected areas of screen shots, so I added it. The keyboard shortcut is SHIFT+U.

Added Image - Render Alpha (Composite) to render a transparent image onto the background color.

Changed several Image - Process functions to operate only on the current selection if one is made. (Desaturate, Defluoresce, General Enhance, Contrast Enhance, Sepia Tone and Semi-Sepia Tone).

Fixed a problem displaying 16-bit grayscale images

Fixed problem with image and database rotations not being applied during a slide show.

Greatly improved performance of color adjustment preview being when a color profile is being applied.

Got rid of flashing paint cursor when previewing color adjustments

Improved efficiency of image resampling during display.

Fixed problem creating incorrect thumbnail when transparent (alpha channel) image was merged with the background color during saving.

Removed spurious alpha channel warnings when JPEG options dialog was computing the output file size.

Because of incorrect or inconsistent handling by other programs, including a crash in Mozilla Thunderbird, disabled copying an embedded ICC profile with the image to the clipboard.

The selection rectangle size (F11) setting in Preferences - Viewing - Appearance was being ignored.

Implemented the horizontal slider in filter dialog (that was inoperative before).

Fixed the Transform - Trim to Proportion - 16 : 10.

Fixed crash in Edit - Figure Area when clicking on Use Image Resolution.

Problem dragging files from main window to the tree or other applications

Made great improvements, but not completely eliminated, cases where ThumbsPlus doesn't notice you're dragging image before you move the cursor outside the window:

The metadata new caching also reduces the chances of this occurring.

Internal and systemic

Improved memory usage in many areas, most notably for images after many editing functions and levels of undo.

Fixed a memory reallocation bug that could cause rare crashes when internally reducing the size of large mapped memory blocks. This could happen in several different areas of the code, and appears to be the cause of almost all the crashes in the betas.

Improved the response time of the main window toolbar command states, so that it reacts quicker to enable or disable (gray) buttons based on file selections and other runtime situations. This is also configurable in the INI file by setting (in milliseconds) the UiUpdateMs entry in the [Startup] section.

I limited logging of Informational, Warning, and Question messages (to the program log file, ThumbsPlus9.log, which we often use to track down bugs or other problems). They won't be logged unless you set the -verbose startup flag or use the option to start ThumbsPlus in safe mode from the desktop or Start menu/window.

Removed some unnecessary code that was could attempt to access the Metadata Info panel tab during program shutdown. (The tab could already have been removed by shutdown, and in that case it could cause a crash).

Made divers and sundry performance improvements throughout

Made all displays and validations for thumbnail JPEG quality range consistent (Q25 - 96, with a warning below Q50).

Changed the initial default JPEG quality to 84 (from 75) for improved default appearance out of the box.

Added database options (only manually set in the database for now) for improved JPEG thumbnail appearance, especially for small thumbnails, and to allow selection of JPEG DCT method. Thumbnails at or below 40x40 pixels are no longer JPEG compressed by default.

Reduce toolbar UI update lag time from 250 to 100 ms in main window, and from 200 to 100 ms in view window, making button enable/disable more responsive.

Reduced memory heap compact frequency for somewhat improved performance in many areas

Added some memory allocation block validation and logging in release version, to help locate any memory allocation errors that cause a subsequent crash.

Added some additional system information logging during startup


Installation notes


The version 10 installer includes an Express option which is highly recommended, especially for new users. It will uninstall any prior version 10 and install the latest build using the recommended defaults, and run ThumbsPlus once complete.

The Clean Install option (available in an Advanced installation) will remove any version 10 configurations and customizations from earlier installations.

The version 10 installer includes the latest Digicam, Digiraw, and Ghostscript plugins. Note that for PDF/EPS/AI/PS support, you must still download and install Ghostscript. (GS version 9.16 is the latest version as of these notes, and the latest we've tested with. We haven't had particular problems with any 9.x release.) You must configure its location in Options | Ghostscript. ThumbsPlus cannot redistribute Ghostscript.

If you encounter problems during the installation, please send us the latest thumbsinstall-10-*.log file(s) from your user TEMP folder along with your problem report. (If you're not sure where this is, hit WIN+R, enter %TEMP%, and hit enter, and Explorer will open it for you). The WIN key has the Windows logo (Win logo) and is usually between the CTRL and ALT keys. If your keyboard doesn't have one, consult the documentation for your keyboard and version of windows, or run the command START %TEMP% from a command prompt. Send this file to support@thumbsplus.com, and be sure to provide a meaningful email subject (such as "Unable to install ThumbsPlus 10").

Build 4002 installer changes

The original (build 4001) installer would conflict with and partially uninstall version 9. The version 9 installer would then not run after version 10 was installed. Also, the Control Panel entries for version 9 and 10 overlapped. These problems have been fixed: after you install build 4002, you can re-install version 9 if you want, and the new installer will no longer conflict with an existing version 9 installation. (You only need to reinstall version 9 if you installed build 4001, and if you want to!)

The build 4001 installer would allow you to install using the deprecated (and not recommended) All in One style into folders protected by Windows UAC. This would cause problems making thumbnails and retaining preferences. The new installer will not allow you to install All in One in the Program Files folder.

The installer now prevents installation into the Windows or Desktop folders, or in the root folder of a drive.

The Clean Install option was not functioning properly in build 4001.

While the build 4001 installer included the Digicam, Digiraw, and Ghostscript plugins, it did not include the older DLLs required by the Digicam plugin for some Canon, Nikon, and Kodak raw files.

The installer now defaults to a Start Menu group of ThumbsPlus 10.

I fixed or improved several additional things, including progress reporting, rewording for clarity, made the release notes available on more of the dialogs, fixed the tab order for keyboard aficionados, and more.

Build 4003 changes

When installed using per-user (separate) preferences, builds 4001 and 4002 would not save the users' preferences or create log files in the Preferences folder if your user name had a period in it. (Note to self: do not assume a utility function is bug-free just because it's been used in 1000 places for 10 years!)

ThumbsPlus no longer prompts to check for updates on the first run after installation. (Help | Program Updates). Why clutter up the user's first look at ThumbsPlus?

Increased the mouse scroll paging and PageUp / PageDown size in the Thumbnail View (file list).

Added warning message if ThumbsPlus is unable to write to the preferences (.INI) file.

Fixed an occasional memory leak when processing selected areas of images.

Improved handling and reporting when the user has an invalid TEMP folder.

Fixed disabling of Invert mouse wheel zoom direction when wheel zoom off.

Changed so that if zooming is the default for the wheel, CTRL+Mouse wheel will scroll.

Fixed ability to set sort orders from Preferences - Thumbnail View.

Fixed sometimes not showing correct sort orders on the Thumbnail View.

Fixed sometimes not refreshing file list when changing preferences that affect it.

Now shows a "working" gear next to sort order when it is temporary (i.e., Similarity).

Allow as few as 3 simultaneously open view windows in Options - Viewing - Window.

Added explicit File - Move File and File - Copy File to the command list for use in keyboard customization.

Fixed ugly coloration on trial message in About box.

Improved wording of the error reported when XMP injection or update fails (usually it's just a file format that doesn't support XMP).

Fixed handling of several non-critical EXIF/XMP tags when transforming (rotating) files.

Installer: fixed the Clean Install option to properly remove the preferences and revert the .TYP and .FLT files to installation defaults.

Installer: fixed Visual C Runtime library installation so that it does a repair if already installed, catching almost all situations where MSVCR110.DLL or MSVCP110.DLL are missing or invalid, and prevents the Microsoft installer from restarting Windows.

Installer: extended the permission setting for the Preferences folder to include all files and subfolders.

Build 4004 changes

When a lot of user fields were defined, the Thumbnail | Assign User Fields window would not work properly.

You may now resize the Thumbnail | Assign User Fields window.

Gallery | Properties now properly changes and saves the sort order (so you can turn off manual order).

In galleries and found lists, sometimes the sort order on the toolbar was incorrect.

If you open a database that is marked read only, or that you don't have permission to update, [READ ONLY] now displays in the title bar.

Under some conditions, no panel would be active after starting ThumbsPlus. The Thumbnail Panel is now always activated on startup.

Fixed an occasional apparent hang, in which a confirmation or other dialog would display, but would not be functional. The wait cursor would display until you switched to another application and back to ThumbsPlus.

The Access/Jet database driver (used for .tpdb8 and .mdb databases) returned a message saying "Cannot Open" the database for many different errors. ThumbsPlus now replaces this message with "General database provider error" and the Jet internal error number.

When a .tdb8 or .mdb database (Jet) reaches its maximum capacity, ThumbsPlus now recognizes the Jet error -1206 and includes "This may be caused by a full disk or a database reaching the maximum size" in the error message. For information on extending the database, please see the Version 10 FAQ.

In order to accommodate more thumbnails in the default Access Jet database format (.tpdb8, .mdb), the default thumbnail size and quality are smaller than in build 4003. For information on maximum database size, please see the Version 10 FAQ.

Fixed the "death stroke" keystroke to force a crash (CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+F11+F12), which allows you to crash ThumbsPlus and create a dump file for support in case of a hang.

Fixed occasional crashes or mangled output if Disable banded printing was not checked in Options | Preferences | Advanced. Banded printing was for dot matrix printers and as far as I know never needed.

The Scheme name would be cleared after loading a scheme in File - Print.

Fixed an occasional memory leak when using Image | Stamp.

Fixed a problem saving TIFF files in a folder with non-ASCII characters.

ThumbsPlus was not always stripping old-style EXIF and IPTC information when removing metadata from JPEG files (Image | Remove Metadata).

Improved speed of rotating images from the main window (it was creating the thumbnail multiple times).

Improved error reporting to include the Windows system error when files cannot be created or written.

When sorting by Similarity, ThumbsPlus will now apply any selected secondary sort order.

The File | Properties window now stretches properly and remembers its position and size.

In some situations during multi-file processing the main window would be incorrectly enabled after a dialog displayed, causing various problems and crashes depending on what you performed while the process was still occurring.

Because of positioning issues on multi-monitor system and for accessibility, I changed the Replace Confirmation dialog to position centered on ThumbsPlus.

Fixed multi-file progress display to remain on screen after an operation is canceled, if any errors occurred during the process.

Improved performance of preview during Image | Adjust Color.

Eliminated some unnecessary cursor changes and flickering.

Fixed Sort by | Similarity sorting twice, and improved similarity performance when there are a lot of duplicates.

Because of positioning issues on multi-monitor systems and for accessibility, changed Replace Confirmation dialog to position centered on ThumbsPlus.

Fixed Progress display to remain on screen after Cancel if any errors occurred during the process.

Fixed the option to Add file when using the ThumbsPlus bug reporting tool ThumbsBug. ThumbsBug runs after a crash, from the Windows Start menu, or from Help | Submit Problem Report or Help | System Information.

Fixed the (none) option for emailing from ThumbsBug.

On some scaled or high DPI displays, ThumbsBug would display too large.


ThumbsPlus 9 SP2 critical update (build 3946)


We have fixed two critical problems and several additional issues since we released build 3945 last week. This update is required!

The critical fixes:

Other important fixes that I had already completed and tested:

Note: Because of the critical issues fixed, build 3945 will not be available from our download archives.


Licensing


Concurrent license users who are up-to-date with their annual support contracts have received version 9 automatically and at no additional charge. Those with out-of-date support contracts may upgrade at $50.00 per user.

If you are eligible and did not receive your version 9 code, please contact the order desk.

Python

There are many improvements and additions to the Python scripting capabilities. We're working on sample scripts that will be included with version 9, and will announce them on the forums as they become available. See the section below on Python scripting for more info.

Several of the new features in ThumbsPlus 9 and 10 depend on Python (including Facebook access),, and in the future we will be moving more and more high-level functions to Python. Of course, the core image processing, database, and many other internal functions will remain written in C++ and C (and even a bit of assembly language for some important speed optimizations).

We're looking forward to see what kinds of functions our users can contribute as well!


Detailed change notes from 9.0 build 3920 through 9 SP2 build 3946


Notes for ThumbsPlus 9 SP1 & SP2 beta 1 (Builds 3920-3940)

Notes for ThumbsPlus 9 SP2 beta 2 (build 3942-3943)

Notes for ThumbsPlus 9 SP2 (build 3945-3946)


Cumulative change notes for builds 3920 - 3941


These issues required work in the depths of the code mine (and rewriting a ton of really old code), that is not all that visible, but took several design and programming weeks. Getting these out of the way first helps the more visible fixes and changes to proceed at much faster pace.

These are more visible and just the beginning, but I'm spending as much time as possible in the code these days, and I'm working through them pretty quickly.

Builds 3942 - 3943 change notes


ThumbsPlus 9 SP2 (Build 3946)


Build 3945-3946 change notes

This was the second official release of version 9 SP2, and the first without beta in the version number.

Note: Because of the critical issues fixed in build 3946, build 3945 is not available from our archives.

Known Facebook issues

Note: Facebook changes have made the Facebook connection from ThumbsPlus useless. It will be removed in the next major release.

Using Python for scripting and customizing ThumbsPlus 10

Information on scripting is now in the help file.

Command line options

The Help file now includes a complete (or nearly complete) list of command line options.