How do I find and change my Mac desktop Smartloader preferences? – Help Center

The Smartloader application preferences allow you to customize the application to your liking. For example, you can turn desktop notifications on or off, adjust upload speeds, change the color of the Picturelife icon in your menu bar, and add or remove backup sources.

Access the Smartloader application preferences on Mac OS X

Click the Picturelife icon from your menu bar
Select Preferences... from the drop down menu

General

Start Picturelife when your computer starts up (recommended)

You can have Picturelife launch automatically whenever you start your computer. This option is recommended in order to ensure new photos are automatically backed up to your Picturelife at all times.

Show Weather in the menu bar

You have the option to change the Picturelife icon in your menubar to display the local temperature instead. Selecting this option will change the icon to a number.

Show Picturelife Notifications (recommended)

Check this option if you want recent events, such as when photos are backed up to your Picturelife, to appear as a system notification on your desktop computer.

Use grayscale menu bar icons

You have the option to change the appearance of the Picturelife icon on your menu bar. Selecting this preference will change the icon to a basic black and white version of the Picturelife icon.

Check for updates

Above this button is the current version of your Smartloader installation. To make sure you have the latest version installed, click the Check for Updates button. Reference your current version number number in support cases.

Account

Email Address

The email address associated with your Picturelife account is shown here. Your Picturelife account settings can be viewed and customized on the Picturelife website.

Log Out

You can log out of your Picturelife account using this option. Your Smartloader will stop backing up to your account. A logged out computer can be logged back in to any Picturelife account by opening the Picturelife application from your desktop Applications folder and logging in to the account.

Show Local Library

This option opens a new menu, where you can see a live view of your desktop upload status.

View which photos are queued for upload in the Processing tab. If you see pictures you don't want to upload, select the thumbnail and click Don't sync selected items.

The Uploading tab shows you photos that are actively being uploaded to your Picturelife. When they are completely uploaded, they'll move to Uploaded.

If you suspect a photo was not uploaded, check under Failed - find the failed upload and select it, then click Retry Selected Items. If the photo still fails after a retry, contact the support team.

Folders

View and adjust your desktop back up source folders, and enable RAW format uploads and video uploads.

Picturelife will automatically find all of the phoots in the locations you select in Folders, and upload them to your Picturelife library.

To add a new upload source folder, click Add Folder then select and open the new folder. If you've used iPhoto, Aperture, or iCloud Photo Stream to store photos, you can copy them to your Picturelife for safekeeping.

Related topics:

Network

The Network tab contains controls that affect the rate of upload to your Picturelife library.

Don't Limit Upload Rate: Select this option if you want Picturelife to upload files from your computer to Picturelife at the fastest available speed.

Limit Upload Rate Automatically (recommended): Select this option if you want Picturelife to determine the speed at which to upload your files

Limit Upload Rate to _____: Choose your own upload rate here in kilobytes per second

Advanced

After Pause, Resume Backup After...

This allows you to decide when Picturelife will start backing up your photos again after you've paused the upload. Use the slider to set your timing preference.

Set the slider at never and Picturelife will only resume the backup when you tell it to.

You can manually resume upload by clicking on the Picturelife icon in your menu bar, and selecting Resume Upload.

Limit Processor Usage

When this is selected, Picturelife will automatically limit processor usage during upload. This will prevent battery drainage and is a good option when you are using Picturelife when your computer is not plugged in.

De-select this option to increase Picturelife's upload speed - keep in mind that this will slow down other applications that are running on your computer.

Ignore Limit while Screen is Asleep

Selecting this will speed up the upload process when your computer is in sleep mode

Pause Backup while Third Party Apps are Running

Selecting this option will pause the upload while Aperture or iPhoto are running on your computer. This allows you to curate your pictures before they're uploaded to Picturelife.

Automatically Share Dropped Photos

Whenever you drop a picture over the menu bar icon, Picturelife will automatically upload it to your Picturelife library and copy a link to your clipboard so you can share it instantly.

Reset Device Preferences

This allows you to reset any preference choices you've made in the past regarding automatic backup of SD cards, iOS devices, or cameras.

For example, when you connect your iOS device to the Mac, Picturelife prompts you to backup your camera roll photos, and offers the option to "save this choice" so that any time you connect the iOS device in the future, new photos will automatically get backed up to your Picturelife. Resetting device options clears that automatic backup choice, and you'll be prompted to upload the photos next time you connect the device.

Force Re-Upload

When you delete a photo from your Picturelife, it will not be automatically re-uploaded. This Advanced option allows you to force re-upload photos you've previously deleted from Picturelife, and that you still have stored on your desktop.