Import from the Internet

You can import any Internet image into your catalog by using one of two methods. You can import by entering a URL, or you can use the drag-and-drop operation. To import by entering a URL, you must know the exact folder where that image resides in the site's file structure. If there is a site that contains images that you want to download, just entering the URL of that site does not download those images.

To import a file from the Internet

1. Open an existing catalog or create a new one.

2. Do one of the following:

   • On the File menu, point to Import Items, and then click From URL.

   • Drag the image from the Internet to the Microsoft Expression Media catalog.

3. Click the Destination folder icon . In the Browse for folder dialog box, select or create a folder for files that are downloaded from the Internet. If you used the drag-and-drop operation, go to step 5.

4. Type a web address in the text field at the top of the Download from URL dialog box. It must be a complete URL, such as http://www.southridgevideo.com/img1.jpg.

5. If applicable, type a cURL command. cURL is a powerful command line tool for transferring files online.

6. Set the options according to the following instructions:

   • Place in   This field lets you choose where to put downloaded files. Selecting the Download folder puts downloaded files in the destination folder. Selecting Today's folder puts downloaded files in the destination folder, in a folder that is named with today's date. Selecting Original folder hierarchy puts downloaded files in the destination folder as copies of the folder directory hierarchy on the web server.

   • Rename   This field lets you rename all downloaded files that have sequential numbers according to a text string that you specify. To maintain the existing file names, leave this field blank.

   • Actions   This category lets you specify actions to take with downloaded files. Selecting Skip files with same name prevents you from writing over existing files that have the same name. Selecting Lock downloaded files selects the lock status for all downloaded files.

   • Annotate   This category lets you choose a metadata template to apply a group of predefined annotations to all downloaded files. If no templates are available, you can create one by selecting New Metadata Template. Clicking the text button next to the menu displays the template content and some additional options for applying metadata.

7. Click the Download button. In addition to downloading the web image, Expression Media downloads all files from the Internet, and stores them in the destination you defined. Expression Media also stores the file's web address in the Source URL annotation field.