CG: How to Create Clip Gallery Packages (.cag files)

You can create your own personal Clip Gallery database (.cag) files. These allow you to organize your clips into individual groups and, if set up correctly, allow you to share those files with others over a network.

NOTE: This article only applies to Clip Gallery versions 3 and 4.

Creating a personal .cag file is straightforward, but you must understand some of the limitations involved:

• You must have sufficient hard drive space to hold the .cag file during its creation. This includes the needed temporary space while the clip previews are being created.
• If the .cag file is currently on a CD-ROM, it must be moved to a disk that allows you to modify the file. You must modify the file if your CD-ROM drive has a different drive letter than the one stored in the .cag file.

Steps To Create a .Cag File

1. Rename Artgalry.cag to Artgalry.cag.old. This file is located in the folder \Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Artgalry.
2. Start WordPad.
3. On the Insert menu, click Object.
4. Click Microsoft Clip Gallery on the Object Types list.
5. Once Clip Gallery is open, click the Import Clips button.
6. Go to the folder that contains the clip files you want to add and then press CTRL and click to select each file that you want to import. You can use Universal Naming Convention (UNC) names to connect to a network server.
   
   You can work in small batches to save on temporary file space and to categorize files into specific groups during import. Choose about one hundred to one hundred and fifty files at a time.
7. After selecting the clips, click Open. This brings up a preview of the first clip.
8. If you are adding many files, you can choose general categories for the pictures, one or two at most. Now is the time to create a new category for the pictures you're importing. If you want to create a new category, click New Category and type the name.
9. To import a batch, click to select the "Add all clips to the selected categories" check box. This imports all the selected files one after another without prompting you for input. If you choose not to import a batch, you must select and categorize each clip individually.
10. If you have more clips to import, repeat steps 5 through 9 as needed. Otherwise close Clip Gallery and WordPad.
11. In the folder Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Artgalry you will find a new Artgalry.cag file. Rename this file, keeping the .cag extension. Rename artgalry.cag.old back to artgalry.cag.

The new cag file can be placed wherever you wish, though you're more likely to find it again in the folder where you import clip files.

If you choose to use this cag file and the associated clip files to create a compact disc version, then the during creation of the file, all paths must be to a specific drive letter. D: is the normal drive location for CD-ROM drives, though the computer that creates the files need not have a CD-ROM drive (in fact it shouldn't). The computer creating the files must have a D: drive partition to create the compact disc image directory.

If the .cag file is meant to be used on a network server, use a UNC path for the location of the clip files and have the clip files already in place on the server. This allows anyone with access to that server to link to the network share and access the files. In addition, the share can be set to Read-only without adversely affecting Clip Gallery.

For more information on how to link to the .cag files, please see the following article here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: In addition, Clip Gallery Help contains more in-depth documentation about creating, managing, and using .cag database files. To find this documentation:

1. In Clip Gallery, click the Help button.
2. Click the Contents tab.
3. Double-click the book icon "Information of Network Administrators."