SAVING AND SHARING

Saving your PhotoStory3 project can be tricky. Students and teachers alike get confused, so read carefully.

To save a project that�s not yet finished:
At any step, you can click the Save Project button. That opens a new window and saves your project as a ".wp3" file that only can be opened by PhotoStory3. The file is automatically saved in My Videos, but you can change the location if you want. While working on a project in class, you�ll want to save it in that format.

To save a finished project:
PhotoStory3 saves finished projects as ".wmv" files, which can be viewed on any PC running Windows Media Player 10. To share your project with parents, teachers, and students, you�ll want to save it in that format.

Knowing which option to select in the window above can be confusing. For most classroom uses, scroll down the list of options to find "Send the story in an e-mail message." Why? That compresses the show to 1MB or less (because many e-mail clients limit attachments to that size). That size makes the show manageable to save on a classroom computer, put on a network folder, upload to a Web site, or, e-mail to parents or others.

Note that image and sound quality are compromised whenever you compress a file, so if you want the very best quality, select "Save your story for playback on your computer." Keep in mind, however, that media files can be HUGE, so you might find that a file becomes too big to save on your computer. Consider resizing pictures, removing music or images, or resaving in the e-mail format if you get an alert saying you don�t have enough disk space to save your project!

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