ContactPage Pro 8.5 

User’s Guide & What’s New in Versions 8 and 8.5


System Requirements

macOS 12 or later; Apple Silicon or Intel computer

Version History • Product Overview

Introduction

ContactPage Pro lets you quickly create professional-looking contact sheets, image and movie catalogs, photo books, portfolios, and other picture layouts with descriptive captions. Its intuitive interface makes it easy to build custom image collections for print or digital output.

You can fully customize your document by choosing the page size, margins, background, image frame size, shape, colors, and many other layout options. Captions are highly flexible and can display information such as the file name, image dimensions, color model, EXIF metadata, and much more.

ContactPage Pro supports both Auto-Flow and Embedded images, giving you the flexibility to create fully automatic contact sheets or custom layouts with manually positioned images. Documents and templates can be saved and reopened at any time, preserving all layout settings, captions, and references to the original image files.

Whether you’re creating a quick proof sheet or a polished presentation, ContactPage Pro provides powerful tools for importing, organizing, editing, printing, and exporting your image collections.

Creating, Opening and Saving Documents or Templates

With ContactPage Pro 8, you can create documents that can be saved to disk and reopened later, retaining all page settings, images, captions, and layout information.

Choose File > New or click the + button at the top of the canvas window to create a new document. The startup screen lets you choose from several common document configurations and adjust the main settings, such as page size, layout, and number of pages. These settings can all be changed later if desired.

Choose File > Open to open a ContactPage Pro 7 or 8 document or template. You can have up to five documents open at the same time.

Choose File > Open Recent to quickly reopen recently used documents.

Use File > Save or File > Save As to save the current document. You can save it either as a ContactPage Pro 8 Document or a ContactPage Pro 8 Template. Templates store the document layout and page settings, but not the images or captions. 

ContactPage Pro 8 saves all the current layout settings for the contact sheet, captions, and references to the image files.

ContactPage Pro 8 New Document Screen.

Auto-Flow List

The Auto-Flow list contains the images that automatically fill the available image frames in your document, in the same order as they appear in the list. You can add, remove, sort, or rearrange images at any time, and your changes are immediately reflected in the document.

To add images, simply drag files or folders from the Finder into the Auto-Flow list, or click the + button to open the standard macOS Open dialog. Choose Image menu > Configure Import Options to specify which file types to import (images, RAW files, PDFs, and movies), whether to include files from subfolders, and whether to automatically add pages to accommodate all imported files.

The Auto-Flow list displays each image’s name, icon, file size, file type, last modified date, and the page where it appears in the document. Images that do not fit in the current document are marked with a red diamond.

List Files Only View: This is the default Auto-Flow list view. Images from all folders are displayed together and can be sorted using the selected sort option, or left unsorted.

Folder Closed Folders and Files View: This view organizes images by folder, allowing you to sort both folders and the files they contain. You can also enable the Folder ⤵️ button, to automatically start a new page whenever a new folder is encountered.

The Auto-Flow list contains the images that will be automatically placed in the empty image frames, in the same order as they are shown within the list.

Embedded Images Paperclip

An Embedded image is placed directly into the document and remains fixed in its position. Unlike Auto-Flow images, which are automatically arranged and reflowed, an Embedded image remains exactly where you placed it.

Embedded images are identified in the document preview by a paper clip marker Paperclip.

There are five ways to place Embedded images into the document:

  • Place into a single image frame: Press ⌘E, or choose Place and Embed from the Image menu or the contextual menu. If the frame already contains an Embedded image, it will be replaced. If the frame contains an Auto-Flow image, that image is moved to the next available image frame, and the contact sheet is automatically reflowed.
  • Use the Loaded Cursor: Choose Place and Embed Multiple from the Image menu or the contextual menu. See Loaded Cursor later in this guide for more information.
  • Drag and drop from Finder: Drag images or folders with images from the Finder onto the page preview. If more than one image is dragged, then the Loaded Cursor is activated (see Loaded Cursor later in this guide).
  • Convert Auto-Flow images: Select one or more Auto-Flow images,  change the Image Type in the Control Bar to Embedded (see the screenshot on the right). The selected images are removed from the Auto-Flow list and become fixed in their current positions, so they no longer move when the Auto-Flow list changes.
  • Convert multiple images at once: With one or more images selected, choose Change for All from the Image Type pop-up menu in the Control Bar. You can convert all images on the current page or throughout the entire document to Embedded images.

An Embedded image.

Image Type pop-up in the Control Bar.

Skipping Cells 

A Skipped cell is a grid cell that is ignored when exporting or printing the document. In other words, it creates an empty space in the layout. Auto-Flow images automatically skip these cells and continue with the next available grid cell.

Skipped cells are identified in the document preview by a skip marker ➡️.

You cannot place an image or add a caption to a skipped cell. In addition, grid cells containing Embedded images cannot be skipped.

Skipped cells are ignored
when exporting or printing.

Row and Column Spanning

Individual grid cells can be expanded to the right across additional columns or downward across additional rows, provided additional rows or columns are available on the current page. When you increase a cell’s Column Span or Row Span, the cell grows to occupy the selected columns or rows.

The values shown under Column Span and Row Span indicate how many additional columns or rows the selected cell occupies. You can reduce the span at any time to return the cell to its original size.

A grid cell cannot be expanded into rows or columns that are already occupied by an Embedded image or another spanned cell. In addition, grid cells cannot be spanned across pages.


Use the Row Span and Column Span controls in the Control Bar to resize individual grid cells

Manual Image Positioning 

By default, ContactPage Pro 8 places each image using Auto positioning mode. In this mode, images are placed within their image frames according to the Auto Positioning settings (Image menu > Automatic Positioning Settings or Document Sidebar > Auto Positioning), where you can specify the scaling method (Fit, Fill, Stretch, etc.) and alignment (Top Left, Center, etc.).

For greater flexibility, you can switch any image to Manual positioning mode. This allows you to adjust its offset, scale, rotation angle, and horizontal flip independently. 

With Manual positioning enabled, simply drag an image in the document preview to reposition or crop it as desired. You can also adjust its scale, rotation angle, and horizontal flip using the controls in the Control Bar, or the Image menu.

To change the positioning mode for multiple images at once, choose Change for All from the positioning pop-up menu in the Control Bar or the Image menu. You can apply the changes to the current page or the entire document.

Use Manual positioning to adjust the position, rotation, scale, or horizontal flip of individual images. You can also drag an image with the mouse to reposition it within its image frame.

Working with Captions

Captions are text frames associated with each image in a contact sheet. You can enable or disable captions for the entire document under Caption menu > Caption Frames On/Off, and choose whether they appear above, below, or centered on the image frames. These settings apply to all images in the document and cannot be changed individually.

While the position and visibility of caption frames are controlled globally, caption text can be customized for each individual image. ContactPage Pro offers two caption text modes:

  • Automatic Text Mode: Captions are automatically generated using image properties, metadata, and custom text defined under Document sidebar > Auto Text. Their contents update dynamically when the image information or Auto Text settings change.
  • Editable Text Mode: Allows you to replace the automatically generated text with your own content and apply custom formatting, including different fonts, sizes, styles, colors, and text alignment. You can even apply different formatting to selected words or ranges of text within the same caption.

To customize a caption, select an image and change its caption text mode to Editable (Caption menu > Text Mode > Editable), then use the Caption Text palette to edit its contents (Caption menu > Caption Text Palette). Alternatively, you can begin editing directly in the palette, and ContactPage Pro will automatically switch the caption text mode to Editable.

The Caption Text palette provides controls for formatting text, adjusting alignment, and editing individual portions of a caption. If the text exceeds the available frame, an Overset Text indicator appears. Click Resize to Fit to automatically adjust the text size proportionally so that all the text fits within the caption frame.

You can also use Copy Formatting and Paste Formatting, available from both the Caption menu and the Caption Text palette, to quickly apply the same text formatting to other captions without changing their contents.

Caption menu.

Caption Text palette, for editing individual captions.

Loaded Cursor 

The Loaded Cursor lets you place multiple images exactly where you want them in the document. Unlike Auto-Flow, where images are arranged automatically, the Loaded Cursor allows you to place each image individually by clicking the desired grid cell.

To activate the Loaded Cursor, choose Place and Embed Multiple from the Image menu or the contextual menu, or drag multiple images or folders from the Finder directly onto the document preview.

A preview of the next image to be placed is displayed next to the cursor, together with the number of remaining images in the queue. Press Esc or right-click at any time to cancel the placement operation.

Click an empty grid cell to place the next image. If the selected cell already contains an Embedded image, it is replaced. If it contains an Auto-Flow image, that image is automatically moved to the next available grid cell, and the contact sheet is reflowed.

Placing multiple images using the Loaded Cursor.

Options for Document Sidebar > Sheet.

Watermarks settings and sample.

Sheet Settings

Specify the general settings for the contact sheet:

– Pages: Choose the page size (width and height) and orientation (portrait or landscape).

– Grid & Margins: Select the number of rows and columns, the grid type, and page margins. Margins are used by ContactPage Pro to determine the actual area in which the contact sheet will fit (image and text frames cannot extend beyond the page margins).

– Background: Add a background to all pages. Choose Color Fill or Image as the background type. For Color Fill, select the color you want to use. For Image, select an image file, and the fitting type (Original Size, Scale to Fill Page, Stretch or Tile).

– Headers and Footers: Add headers and footers to each page:

– Watermarks: Add a watermark to each image or page:

Image Frame Settings 

Specify the general settings for all image frames:

– Layout: Select the frame width, height, and angle.

• Angle: Rotate all image frames by the specified angle.

  • Random Angles: When enabled, ContactPage Pro assigns each image frame a random rotation between –Angle and +Angle (for example, between –10° and +10°).

– Style: Select the appearance of all image frames:

  • Shape: Choose Rectangular, Rounded, Beveled, Inverse Rounded, Ellipse, or Polaroid. For Rounded, Beveled, and Inverse Rounded shapes, you can also specify the corner radius (in points). For the Polaroid shape, specify the border width and color.

• Fill: Add a color fill to the image frames. If disabled, the image frames will be transparent. 

• Opacity: Specify the opacity of the image frames.

– Stroke: Add a stroke to the image frames. Specify the Style (Solid or Dashed), Weight, and Color.

– Drop Shadow: Add a drop shadow to the image frames. Specify its Angle, Color, Offset, Blur, and Opacity.

Options for Document Sidebar > Image Frames.

Image Frame Style settings.

Image Positioning Settings

– Auto Positioning: Specify how images using Auto positioning are placed within their image frames:

  • Scaling:  Choose how each image is scaled:  Fit (scales proportionally the image so it fits exactly its frame, without cropping any part of the image); Fill (scales proportionally the image so it fits entirely its frame, cropping out part of the image if necessary); Stretch (scales the image to fill its frame, in a non-proportional way); No Scale (leaves the image at its original, unscaled size); Fixed Scale (enter the scale percentage at which to place all images).
  • Alignment in frame: Select the alignment of the image within its image frame after scaling (Top Left, Center, etc.). This setting has no effect when using Fill or Stretch, since those scaling methods always fill the entire image frame.

Auto Positioning settings.

Caption Frame Settings 

Specify the general settings for all caption frames:

– Layout: Specify the positioning, height, and offset of caption frames. 

– Auto Text: Specify the text formatting for Automatic captions. Frames using the Editable caption mode are ignored.

  • Font: Select the caption font. Click the font name to choose a different font. A sample text is displayed..
  • Size: Specify the caption text size.
  • Color: Specify the caption text color.
  • Justification: Left, Center, Right or Justify.
  • Vertical Alignment: Select the vertical alignment of the text within the caption frame (Top, Center, or Bottom).

Some tokens are variable placeholders (such as Image File > Name, which displays the file name of each image), while others are fixed (such as the En Dash). You can combine as many tokens as you like with special characters or custom text.

Tokens are displayed in blue and behave as a single entity. Use the arrow keys to move between tokens, drag them to rearrange them, or press the Delete key to remove the selected token.

Some tokens, such as image metadata, are left blank if the corresponding information is unavailable.

You can make portions of the caption bold or italic using the Bold Start/End and Italic Start/End tokens (see the example on the right).

Options for Document Sidebar > Caption Frames.

An example of an Automatic caption composed of 13 tokens, including image metadata and the Bold Start/End and Italic Start/End tokens.

Adding and Removing Pages 

ContactPage Pro 8 lets you add and remove pages at any time.

– Add Pages: Click the + button to display the Add Pages dialog. You can insert pages at the beginning or end of the document, or before or after the currently selected page. If the document does not currently have enough pages to display all Auto-Flow images, the dialog indicates how many additional pages are required.

If the Automatically add pages when necessary application setting is enabled, ContactPage Pro automatically adds pages as images are added to the Auto-Flow list, ensuring there is enough room for all images.

– Remove Pages: Click the – button to remove the currently selected pages. To select multiple pages, hold Shift or Command while clicking page thumbnails.

– Remove Empty Pages: From the pull-down menu, choose Remove Empty Pages to remove all empty pages at once. An empty page is a page that contains no images.

Find & Search Tools

ContactPage Pro 8.5 introduces a powerful Find feature that lets you quickly locate images based on their file properties, metadata, or caption text. You can also search for document issues, such as missing images and overset captions. All search functions are accessible from the Find menu and the Find palette.

To begin a search, open the Find palette (Find menu > Find) and enter the text you want to locate. You can search for information in several categories:

  • File Name and File Path: Find images by their file names or locations on disk.
  • File Attributes: Search image properties and file information.
  • Metadata: Search metadata keywords and other information stored in image files.
  • Caption Text: Locate images containing specific text in their captions.
  • Document Issues: Find missing images or overset captions (text that exceeds the available caption frame).

You can limit searches to the Current Page or the Entire Document, making it easy to locate information in a specific section or throughout your contact sheet.

The Find palette also provides several options to refine your searches. Enable Case Sensitive to distinguish between uppercase and lowercase letters, or Diacritic Sensitive to distinguish accented characters. The Wrap Around option allows searches to continue from the beginning of the document/page after reaching the end, or vice versa.

Use Find Next and Find Previous to navigate between matching images. ContactPage Pro selects the corresponding image in the document, allowing you to inspect or edit it directly.

You can also choose Clear Find Results from the Find menu to remove the current search results.

Find palette (Find menu > Find)

Importing Movies and Selecting Poster Frames

ContactPage Pro 8.5 introduces support for movie files, allowing you to include videos alongside images in your contact sheets and catalogs. Movies are represented by a poster frame, a still image extracted from the video that appears in the document and in printed or exported output.

You can import movies using the same methods as images, including dragging files from the Finder or using the Place and Add to Auto-Flow commands and shortcuts from the Image menu. Movies can be embedded or included in Auto-Flow layouts.

When a movie is imported, ContactPage Pro automatically generates a poster frame. To select a different frame, select the movie in your document and open the Image Info palette (Image menu > Image Info Palette). Use the movie preview controls to navigate through the video and choose the frame you want to display.

The selected poster frame is used in the document, as well as when printing or exporting.

The Image Info palette displays detailed information about selected movies, including duration, dimensions, frame rate, video codec, audio codec and more.

Movie properties can also be included in Auto Text captions using the corresponding movie tokens (Document Sidebar > Auto Text > Image File pull-down), allowing you to automatically display information such as duration, dimensions, and frame rate beneath each poster frame.

Like images, movie poster frames can be arranged, resized, and positioned freely within your layouts, making ContactPage Pro ideal for creating video catalogs, media inventories, and visual indexes of movie collections.

Image Info palette (Image menu > Image Info Palette)
showing controls and info for movie files.

‍Exporting Documents 

‍Click the Export button to export the document. The Export window also displays a history of all exported files since ContactPage Pro was last launched.

‍Specify how to export the document:

  • Export Single PDF File: Exports all pages in one single PDF file. Select how to name the exported file under “File Name”. You can also use the document name as the exported PDF file name (use the 􀍡 menu).
  • Export One PDF per Page: Exports each page of the document as a separate PDF file. Under File Names, specify how the exported files will be named. You can use, for example, a serial number that automatically increments, so you’ll end up having files named ‘sample_001.pdf’, ‘sample_002.pdf’, etc.
  • Export One Image File per Page: Exports each page of the document as an Image File. As with Export One PDF per Page, specify the exported file names under File Names.

‍– PDF Settings:

  • Resolution: the resolution of the exported PDF file(s). Default is 72 dpi. Higher resolutions produce larger PDF files.
    Note: High-resolution exports of single multi-page PDFs can require substantial memory and produce very large PDF files, especially for large documents.
  • Image Quality: Low, Medium, High, Best. 
  • Keywords: If desired, type the PDF keywords.
  • Author: if desired, type the name of the author.
  • Encrypt: If selected, the resulting PDF(s) will be encrypted with the password you type in. You need this password to open any of those exported PDFs.

‍– Image Settings:

  • Format: JPEG, TIFF or PNG.
  • Resolution: the image file resolution in dpi.
  • Quality: Medium, Low, High or Best.
  • Color: RGB, CMYK or Grayscale.

‍– Pages: Select All pages or a page range.

‍– Export Folder: Specify here the folder where all the PDFs or image files will be exported. ContactPage Pro remembers up to 10 recently used export folders.

‍– Options:

  • Warn before replacing duplicate files: When selected, ContactPage Pro will display a warning message if a PDF or image file with the same name as the one being created already exists in the export folder. If not selected, ContactPage Pro will always replace any duplicate files if necessary.
  • Open exported files after exporting: Automatically open the exported PDF or image files using the default application.
  • Export emtpy cells: When enabled, empty grid cells are included in the exported document. When disabled, only grid cells containing images are exported.

‍– Export History: The Export History keeps a record of all exports performed since ContactPage Pro was launched. For each export, it displays the exported file name, file size, start time, elapsed time, whether an existing file was replaced, and the export status. When exporting multiple pages, the individual files are grouped under a single export session, together with a summary showing the number of files successfully exported.

‍The Export window. 

Adding pages to the document.

Export Again 

After exporting a document at least once, choose File > Export Again to repeat the last export using the same settings, file names, page range, PDF/Image settings, and export folder.

The Export dialog is not displayed. ContactPage Pro immediately begins exporting and shows a small progress indicator at the top of the document window.

Export Again is ideal when making repeated changes to a document, allowing you to quickly regenerate the exported files with a single command.

Printing Documents 

Click the Print button or select File menu > Print to print the current document using the standard macOS Print dialog. ContactPage Pro 8 supports all standard printing options, including page ranges, paper size, orientation, scaling, and printer selection.

– File menu > Print Quality: Select the print quality used when printing the document. Fast (100 dpi) is recommended for quick proofs and draft prints. Normal (150 dpi) provides an excellent balance between quality and performance, while High (200 dpi) is best suited for final output when maximum image quality is desired.

Version History

Version 8.5.0 – September 23, 2026

  • New Caption Text palette. Write and format Editable captions in a dedicated resizable floating palette, with control over fonts, text sizes, colors, and more. Individual text formatting is saved for each caption.
  • Resize to Fit. Automatically resize caption text to fit its frame, keeping the full caption visible.
  • Copy and paste caption formatting. Quickly apply the same text formatting to other captions without changing their content.
  • New Find palette and menu. Search image properties, caption text, and image metadata. Navigate results and limit searches to the current page or the entire document.
  • Find document issues. Quickly locate missing images and overset captions—text that does not fit inside its caption frame.
  • Flexible search options. Control case sensitivity, diacritic sensitivity, and wraparound navigation.
  • Movie file support. Import movies alongside images to create visual catalogs and archives.
  • Choose your movie’s poster frame. Select the moment you want to represent each movie using the slider in the Image Info palette.
  • Detailed movie information. View duration, dimensions, frame rate, video and audio codecs, and other media properties in the Image Info palette.
  • Movie properties in Automatic Captions. Add tokens for duration, dimensions, frame rate, video codec, data rate, audio codec, audio channels, and audio sample rate.
  • New Image Info palette. Inspect image and movie properties in a dedicated resizable floating palette, with quick access to reveal the original file in Finder or open it with its default application.
  • New Caption menu. Access caption text and caption frame controls directly from the menu bar.
  • New Sheet menu. Add and remove pages, and quickly access sheet settings.
  • Improved Image menu. Access image and image frame controls, and configure import options.
  • Show or hide the right sidebar. Hide the sidebar to give your page preview more room, and show it again when you need its controls.
  • Reorganized settings. Find document-wide controls in the updated Document tab, import options in the Image menu, and print quality in the File menu. 
  • New preview markers. Identify movie files, manually positioned images, editable captions, and overset captions directly in the page preview.
  • Remembered window positions. The main window and palettes retain their positions, keeping your workspace arranged the way you like it the next time you open ContactPage Pro.
  • macOS 27 compatibility. Full support for the latest operating system (macOS 12+ now required).
  • Backward compatibility. Open documents created with ContactPage Pro 8.0 and 7.x.










Version 8.0.0 – June 22, 2026

  • Completely redesigned user interface with an updated Control Bar and streamlined workflow.
  • Full localization in English, French, German, and Spanish.
  • Loaded Cursor Placement for placing multiple images exactly where you want them.
  • Drag and drop images and folders directly from Finder into the preview.
  • Full print support with page ranges, paper settings, scaling, and orientation options.
  • Simplified conversion between Auto-Flow and Embedded images.
  • Added manual positioning support for Auto-Flow images.
  • Added editable captions for Auto-Flow images.
  • Marquee selection of multiple images directly on the page.
  • Added multi-image editing with Undo and Redo support.
  • Simplified batch operations for updating multiple images.
  • Open Recent menu for quick access to recently used documents.
  • Redesigned startup screen for creating new documents.
  • Missing images are now highlighted in the Auto-Flow list and preview.
  • Added horizontal image flipping for manual images.
  • Keyboard shortcuts for scaling, rotating, fitting, flipping, and adjusting manual images.
  • Option-drag panning in the preview when zoomed in.
  • New export option to include or exclude empty image cells.
  • New export option to use the document name when exporting a single PDF.
  • Export selected page ranges.
  • Built-in Check for Updates support.
  • Updated core technologies for improved performance, stability, and reliability. 
  • Improved memory management for larger documents.
  • New preference with print quality settings: Fast, Normal, and High.
  • Improved preview accuracy to better match exported and printed output.
  • Added support for the latest macOS releases, including macOS 26.
  • Many workflow improvements, interface enhancements, bug fixes, and performance optimizations.

Download ContactPage Pro 8.5 Trial Version

Buy/Upgrade to ContactPage Pro 8.5 

ContactPage Pro 8.5 Overview



©1998–2026 Badia Software

All rights reserved.