Consolidate Resources

The Consolidate tool allows you to add any new resources you have added to a publication to the Resource folder. If you have not yet saved your publication or created the Resource folder, this option will also do this for you.

The Consolidate tool appears in two menus at the top of the Opus Editor:

Publication menu – when you want to consolidate resources for a publication, click on the Consolidate option in the Publication menu.
Components menu – when you want to consolidate resources for a Component Gallery, click on the Consolidate option in the Components menu.

The Consolidate tool works in the same way for both publications and galleries. Below is a description for the publication option only.

Note:
For a full explanation of what resources are and how they are used in Opus and why you should consolidate resources – see Using Resources for more information.

Creating the Resource folder:

Select Consolidate from the Publication menu – if you have not yet saved your publication you will be prompted to do so. When you have saved your publication a Consolidate dialog will appear asking you if you wish to consolidate your resources, click the Yes button.

Note:
For a full description of saving your publication – see Save a publication for more information.

If this is the first time you have saved your publication or consolidated your publication a Consolidate Resources dialog will appear.
The Subdirectory box in the Consolidate Resources dialog shows the suggested name of the new Resource folder. For example, if your publication is called Business, the suggested name for the Resource folder is Business Resource – type in a different name if required, we recommend you keep the name given.

Note:
The Resource folder is saved in the same folder as the publication. For example, if your publication was named Sales, then all your resources are saved in a resource folder named Sales Resource. In Windows Explorer, the folder would look like this:

$image\Resource_Folder_Example.jpg$

Tick the Merge duplicate files option in the Consolidate Resources dialog if you want a resource that has been used more than once in your publication (e.g. the same image used on two different pages in your publication) to be added to the Resource folder only once. By default, this option is ticked; we recommend you leave this option ticked.
Click the OK button in the Consolidate Resources dialog to save your settings – this will open the Resources List showing all the resources used in your publication being copied to the new Resource folder.

Note:
If you have used large amounts of video or sound files, which may be many megabytes in size, this process may take a while.

Click on the OK button in the Resources List to close the dialog once it has finished adding your resources to the Resource folder.

Using the Consolidate option:

Once you have created the Resource folder, click on the Consolidate option in the Publication menu every time you want to add any new resources added to your publication to the Resource folder.

Note:
This only adds new resources and not resources you have already added, so the Resources List may be blank.

Every time you save your publication, the Consolidate dialog will re-appear prompting you to consolidate resources – we recommend you tick the Yes button and consolidate.

Note:
This prompt to consolidate may not appear in your publication because it is an option you can set in the Consolidate resources on save option in the General tab of the Publication Properties dialog – see General tab for more information. By default, this option is set to Ask for new publications, so you will be prompted to consolidate resources.

Note:
The Resource Manager also contains a Consolidate Resources dialog – see Consolidate Resources dialog for more information.