Getting Started with Paint Shop Pro X

1. Create a new folder on the desktop to hold your saved pictures: 
	1. Right-click on the desktop and select New --> Folder.  
	2. Type a folder name (e.g. "Joe's pictures") and press the Enter key. This will be "your folder".

2. First look at Paint Shop Pro X
1. Open the Paint Shop Pro X icon on the desktop (double-click it, or right-click and Open).
2. Spend a few minutes reviewing the main features of the program window:
3. You can see that this program has the standard menus (File, Edit, ..., Help) across the top of the screen, just like any other program.  There are also several icons just under the standard menus. Pass your mouse pointer over these icons without clicking (this is called "mousing over").  When you "mouse over" an icon, its name and function is displayed in the bottom border of the window.  
4. The vertical column of tools on the left side of the sceen is called the "ToolBar".  When you mouse over any tool, its name and function is displayed in the bottom border of the window.  Several of the tools have a tiny black triangle to their right; this indicates that there are several related tools grouped together there.  Click on the triangle to pop up the menu of alternative tools. (The tools are all gray and inactive now because we have not yet opened an image).

3. Using the browser palette to look for pictures
1. The browser palette is displayed at the bottom of the window.  Press  to display the folder list.
2. Scroll up in the folder list until you see My Documents.
3. Click on the My Documents folder.  If there are any pictures in that folder, they will be displayed in the right-hand panel as small "thumbnails". 
4. Click on the + sign to the left of My Documents. This displays the folders inside of that folder.
5. Scroll down until you see the My Pictures folder. Click on My Pictures to display thumbnails of the pictures in that folder.  
6. Use this technique to explore the contents of several of the folders in My Pictures.
7. To open any picture, double-click on its thumbnail. To close a picture, click the red X.

4. Browsing for pictures on the CD-ROM.
1. Insert the workshop CD-ROM into the computer's CD drive.
2. If the folder list is not displayed on the left of the browser palette, press .
3. Scroll down in the folder list until you see the 
4. Click on the + sign. This displays the folders on the CD.
5. Click once on "Example Pictures", "Before and After", "Historical Pictures", "Free Clip Art", and "Layer Demo" to display thumbnails of the pictures in those folder.

5. Saving pictures in the folder you created.
1. To save the open picture, select File --> Save as....
2. Click the "Save in:" box at the top and select Desktop.
3. Double-click on the new folder that you created.  (Make sure the "Save as type" field at the bottom reads "JPG - JPEG file"; if not, click on it and select JPG from the menu). 
4. Change the name of the file by typing over the existing file name in the "File Name" box.
5. Click Save.

6. Practice makes perfect.  
1. Open several other pictures, from the My Pictures folder in My Documents and/or from the CD-ROM, and save each of them in your folder on the desktop. 
2. Close the program (File --> Exit), then open it again and repeat #3 through #5.  

(c) Tom O'Haver (toh@umd.edu), revised February 2006.