RBGPHOTO  Having read all of the comments on Portfolio and iMedia, I would question how valid the responses were... it seems to me that there's someone out there wanting to bag Portfolio and promote iMedia. Maybe I'm a skeptic but I think it's a shame if that's the case. There's better ways to compete with one another.

I'm a professional photographer and getting valid, UNBIASED views would be appreciated on forums and I hope this is the case with this forum. However I'm inclined to ignore it as it seems too biased for my liking.

If you want to have constructive criticism fine. I have used all the database software so if you do make comments it's good to be clear and concise and compare the two, not just make sweeping comments.

I'll go elsewhere to find better comments, pros and cons, about the various photography databases out there.

Shame,

S  
(Version 8.5.2)

F/8  In short: STAY AWAY FROM Extensis Portfolio.

I've been using Portfolio since version 7, on PC. Now I have a Mac, and am trying out version 8 with latest updates.

But this software has become a nightmare, especially in view of the newer Bridge and Lightroom which do a better job.

Portfolio issues:

Keywording is a disaster. Especially when you consider that this is supposed to be an expensive DAM program. This alone is enough to ditch the software. Lightroom does such a graceful job with keywords, with hierarchy unlike Portfolio.

Slugish. On my 8-core 2.8Ghz MacPro it is even slower than on my PC. Go figure.

Expensive to buy and to upgrade. Even more so if you are not a US citizen.

Unstable. Give it a few tasks to handle and it will hang and crash. I keep sending in the crash reports to Extensis, but never get any feedback.

Cannot rotate an original unless it is a jpeg.

Does not integrate well with Bridge or Lightroom.

Did I mention that keywording REALLY sucks and it is outrageously expensive for what it is?

Do your self a favour and do not buy it. It was once useful when it had less competition, but today there simply is no need for a single user to get Extensis Portfolio. I'm so disappointed with the money I spent on this bloated piece of junk.  
(Version 8.5.2)

JAN_RYBAR  Usefull utility, it can do a great job. But it's strange that Windows version is two or three times faster then OS X version...  
(Version 8.5.2)

TWELVEIGHTYONE  This is awful software, does nothing that you can't do in Leopard - QuickLook and Spotlight.

Back in 1990, this software had a purpose. Nowadays, it simply isn't necessary.

It's slow, buggy and you spend more time trying to work out what's going on with your Mac than using it for its' intended purpose.  
(Version 8.5.2)

D9  My main complaint w/ this software is that is way too slow. Searches, entries and even launching can take minutes to accomplish. Although we have a large number of photos, I would not deem it has extraordinarily large (~10K images) in the context of what this software is meant to accomplish.

In addition, many areas of data entry are poorly executed. For example, if you should need to move the database to another location, all thumbnails are lost because the program only retains the image file location as the time it was entered; to update means you have to go back through each entry to update the image link. Pathetic!

In lieu of the release of more modern programs like Lightroom and Aperture, Portfolio has really become a very out-dated program that deserves a major development overhaul to be better suited to modern OS's for both Mac and Windows.

Currently using 8.1.1, not >  
(Version 8.5.1)

DIJONAISE  For years now extensis has been selling crappy vaporware and I, for one, am sick of it!

Here is how they operate:

Step 1: Make a lot of grand sounding promises.

Step 2: deliver about 80% of what the customer pays for.

Step 3: Wait 6 months, roll out the promised vaporware and charge a full upgrade for the code already sold to the customer in step 1.

Step 4: Deliver product that doesn't even really work.

Case in point: We are on our fourth generation of the Portfolio Family of products and the main feature that I sold this crap to my bosses with, (cross platform asset server) still, to this day, does not work!

These people will burn you too!

My professional recommendation is to avoid all extensis products as they are primarily a marketing/profit driven company that will not provide a stable, functioning product. Furthermore the products they sell you will be deficient, and when they do get around to delivering the promised features, they will force you to pay more money for what you already bought.  
(Version 8.1.1)

JKIDWELL  We would like to thank everyone who has posted constructive criticism on MacUpdate about Portfolio.

A number of the comments in this list originate from many years back, and many of the issues listed have been fixed long ago. If you are having issues with a current version of Portfolio, we provide a number of ways to get free technical support. You can submit a request directly to our support team: http://www.extensis.com/en/support/index.jsp

We also have forums where you can post questions directly to the Portfolio user community, as well as find out how others are using Portfolio, Portfolio Server and Portfolio NetPublish: http://forums.extensis.com/

Just one other short note: To get the most out of any asset manager requires a bit of thought and planning. If you are interested in learning more about the questions that you should ask before setting up any asset manager, please take a minute to check out the following document: http://dl.extensis.com/downloads/PF/EN/P/Portfolio8_BestPracticesGuide.pdf

Thanks for your interest in Extensis Portfolio!

Jim Kidwell

Technical Product Specialist

http://forums.extensis.com/  
(Version 8.1)

TIM27  I think that screenshot needs to be updated, no?  
(Version 8.1)

JAN13  First of all I must say, that I did found this program very useful !!! I to say that, I have to ad that it is so useful, that it is a part of my daily work-flow.... however on the other hand there are issues one of them very, very, very slllllloooooooow updates from Extensis as far as comparability with Canon 5D RAW format plus other issues....

It all seams to me, that Extensis do NOT met requirements of pro-users and I can say that since I am user of this software from "day one"..... my experience with Extensis is no good what so ever !!!  
(Version 8.0)

SZABESZ  Version 7 is such a piece of junk that I cannot even find words to describe it. It is unable to open older version of its files, just hangs up forever. I must use v6.1.2 to be able to open catalog files found on my old stock photo CDs. Not recommended!  
(Version 7.0.6)