ThumbsPlus 7 Pro: A Powerful, Feature-Rich Photo Manager

Written by:  • Edited by: Rhonda Callow
Updated Sep 14, 2009
• Related Guides: Windows 98 | Windows Explorer
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ThumbsPlus is no newcomer to the photo management software arena, but can the latest version of this application keep up with all the other names entering the field?

Overview and System Requirements

ThumbsPlus 7 is an image management utility that also offers several more advanced features including photo editing, thumbnail web page creation, slideshow development, and batch processing. If you’re considering trying out this software package, first make sure that your system meets the following requirements.

  • Pentium 100 MHz (Pentium II recommended).
  • 48 MB of RAM (128 MB recommended and more may be required if editing large images).
  • 30 MB hard drive space.
  • 256 color display (Truecolor 24 or 32-bit display recommended).
  • Windows 98, ME, XP, 2000, or 2003 (Windows 2000 or XP recommended).

Setup and Installation
Rating Excellent

List View
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The full installer for ThumbsPlus 7 is an 18.2 MB file that only takes seconds to download and install if you have a broadband connection. Once installed, the program only takes up about 30 MB of hard drive space, but the amount of total space needed will vary depending on the size of the database you create. This latter statement is true of any photo management utility, though, and 30 MB is still a relatively small amount of room by today’s standards.

Assuming that your system meets the basic requirements, installation should be quick and painless with the software ready to use in no time.

Ease of Use
Rating Good

Customize Toolbar Options
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If you’re comfortable working with basic Windows applications, then you should feel right at home when opening ThumbsPlus for the first time. The basic interface is similar in appearance to that of Windows Explorer, and the customizable toolbar allows you to rearrange, add, and delete icons to better suit your own personal usage.

While some of the more advanced features may take some time to figure out, you shouldn’t have any trouble finding and accessing the basic tools of the application. The included help files are fairly comprehensive, but if you’re still having trouble, a very nice visual tutorial is available at the ThumbsPlus web site.

Thumbnail Page Creation
Rating Excellent

Thumbnail Web Page
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With the web page wizard, you can instantly create a fully customized thumbnail web page. The wizard walks you completely through the process, allowing you to select which photos you want to use, styles and themes for the web page, and how you want the web page to handle links from the thumbnails to full-size images.

ThumbsPlus even comes with its own previewer so you can see how your photos will look in the chosen template without first creating the file. One thing that web programmers will really appreciate here is that the previewer also lets you select different resolutions in which to view your web page.

Just how powerful are the photo editing abilities of ThumbsPlus? How much does the product cost, and is it worth the money? Continue on to page 2 to find out...

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