Preface

This feature is useful to set up an ordered layout of a set of images to be printed on a contact sheet.
The images will be placed, along with the settings we made in the control dialog, in rows and columns, through the needed number of pages [see figures 1, 2 and 3].

figure 1 - Images on the page, yet to be ordered

figure 2 - Layout 5x5

figure 3 - Layout 8x8

The command Contact Sheet can be found both in the Tools->Contact Sheet… menu, and in the toolbar¹, with the icon .

The purpose of this command is to obtain an ordered disposition, in rows and columns, of all the images currently on the document.
It's up to the user to decide how many rows and columns for each page he wants, determining, this way, a number [rows x columns] of equal spaces (called cells) prepared to accomodate the images.
The algorithm that stays behind this command will take care of resize and move opportunely each image, optionally rotating it to better fit the cell space and creating the needed pages (also this as an option in the command).

^[1] Note: the "Contact sheet" command is not visible in the default toolbar. You can add it just choosing the menu View->Customize toolbar… and dragging the icon of this tool in the toolbar point you want it to be.

Note: numbers in [ green ] are relative to read only fields, while the ones in [ red ], are customizable by the user.

• Total images
  Here are counted all the images currently placed in the document and that will be involved as a whole, unless they are locked [], in the operation.
• Pages
  Here you can establish how many pages you want the images to be distributed. This value is taken into account whenever you are using the automatic calculation of the needed cells and columns, see "link values" checkbox at point [ 4 ].
• Cells
  Here you can set the number of rows and columns for the desired layout.
• Link values
  If this checkbox is selected, then values in fields rows, columns and pages are linked together with the number of images you have to place.
• Cell dimension
  This read-only value shows the size of a single cell destined to host one image.
  The value is the result of the page subdivision in rows and columns..
• Cell ratio
  This is another read-only field and shows the orienting of the image [portrait / landscape] determined by the size ratio of the cell.
• Gap between images
  Here can be set the minimum gap between adjacent images. The gap cannot exceed a given limit, in order to avoid images too much little or even with negative dimensions.
• Other options
  
  1. Do not consider margins
     The paper sheet is taken as a whole, leaving out from the computations the non-printable margins. Of course, in this case, some part of the perimetral images can end up in the non-printable area.
  2. Adaptive orienting
     Images are rotated (90°) or not, to better fit the cell space.
  3. Adjust pagination
     The number of pages will be adjusted, that is pages could be added or removed to the document.
     Note that pages are always piled vertically in the contact sheet command.
• Ok / Cancel
  Proceed or cancel the operation

Portrait oriented page
Landscape oriented page

For practical reasons, we have prepared for you some menus to perform the contact sheet command without the need to pass from the main dialog.

We have considered some common cases, such as single page printing in a typical format (A4, A3, Letter), with a menu for portrait and one for landscape orientations, so let's think the menu items with these formats in mind.

The last item, [use saved preferences] execute the Contact Sheet command with the same parameters currently saved in the program preferences, that are the same of the last time you have used the command through the main dialog. Actually these settings are saved when exiting the Contact sheet main dialog.

Advice: write down the keyboard shortcuts for an even quicker usage of this or other commands.