Quickstart Guide : Introduction
   
Introduction
This Quickstart Guide is designed to give a first impression of Cumulus, its power and possibilities, as well as a basic knowledge of the user interface of the Cumulus Desktop Client.
Among other things, you will learn how to retrieve assets that are already cataloged in Cumulus. Furthermore, you will learn how to catalog your digital assets and how to categorize, rate and label them. And for the Cumulus Administrators among you, there is a chapter on how to set up a simple Cumulus catalog of your own.
But let’s start at the beginning. Here’s where you are introduced to the user interface of the Cumulus Desktop Client, the most powerful application mainly used when working with Cumulus.
All you need to begin is:
• a working Cumulus installation (the installation of Cumulus is not within the scope of this document. You’ll find this described in the Installation Guides.
• access to the Cumulus Sample Catalog or any other catalog
• some digital files to catalog
• a certain amount of time (30 minutes at least)
NOTE: Most Cumulus functions can be performed in various ways: via menu items, via shortcut menu items from within Cumulus or other applications, via keyboard shortcuts, or via drag & drop.
Therefore, the step-by-step instructions in this Quickstart Guide are just examples – more often than not, there are other ways to achieve the same goal. Feel free to find out which way suits your working habits best!
Further Reading
If you have finished this Quickstart Guide and want to start working with Cumulus, or if at any point you feel lost and need more detailed information, call the Cumulus online help via the help menu, or by pressing F1. Most likely you’ll find everything you need to know here, both as the end user and as the person who administrates and manages the Cumulus system.
If you need to know even more, there’s plenty of additional information, articles and answers to frequently asked questions in the Canto Customer Community. Not yet a member of the Canto Customer Community? Find out how to join via the Canto Website.