Using Prepare & Play Dialog Box

The Prepare & Play dialog box is your main tool for playing files. The simplest way to use this dialog box is to open it and press the Prepare + play button. This will play your file in its entirety. When you play a file back like this, your work is automatically saved or if you haven't saved it already, you will be asked to save it.

To open the Prepare & Play dialog box

• In the Publish menu, click Prepare & Play.

Prepare & Play settings

1. Use current project: Check this checkbox to simply play the current file. If you uncheck this box, you can play other files by clicking and finding a file on your computer or entering the filename and its path in the field. Click Open multi-file play list to open an *.edl file.
2. Play mode: If you click the Manual radio button, the project will pause at each In/Out/Action effect and wait for the viewer to press the Enter key. If you click the Auto radio button, the project will play through without interruption.
3. Play Range: Select the range of pages that you want to play. The default setting is to play all of the pages in the file, but you can use this to only play a portion of the pages. The First field represents the page that play will start on, and the Last field represents the page that play will end on. Use the sliders to set the range or enter the range directly in the fields.
4. Repeat: Specifies how many times the project repeats.
5. Resolution & Size: This opens the Play Window Settings dialog box where you can adjust how the project appears as it plays. For more information, see Adjusting the play window settings.
6. Keys & Menus: This opens the Play Key Settings dialog box where you can set functions of keys during playback. For example, you can set keys to pause play or go to the next page. For more information, see Setting the play keys.
7. Save current project before play: Check this checkbox if you always want to save the file before playing it.
8. Prepare + play: Saves the current file and plays it. This is the main play button.
9. Play current page: Plays the current page only. The file will not be saved before play. If you exit the current page during the course of play, the file play will cease.
10. Play Again: Plays the current file again. Use this only after you have used the Prepare + play command for the current version of the file.