Approval Messengers represent a powerful and efficient way to gather feedback from stakeholders such as clients, talent, publicists, and so on. A Messenger is displayed in a web browser, and can be completed and submitted in just a few clicks. As recipients submit their decisions, the approval state of individual assets can be revealed through DF Studio’s Approvals View.

A Messenger begins as a secure link in an email message, which contains further details about the expiration date, and any requests from the DF Studio sender. Each Messenger link is unique to its recipient, though the same images can be shared with multiple recipients at once.

The link will open in a web browser, with a proofsheet grid of images, each displaying its default approval state. (In some cases, a PIN will be required to access the Messenger. See Messenger PIN for more details.)

To the left, an action sidebar provides the ability to adjust viewing preferences, and a “Submit Approvals” button for transmitting the final decisions back to the sender in DF Studio. (If comments or image captions were enabled by the sender, a sidebar at the right of the screen will appear as well.)

See DF Studio System Requirements for more information about supported web browsers.

View Images

Images are displayed in a proofsheet grid view by default, but can also be displayed in 1-Up view. Double-click a thumbnail image to open in 1-Up view, or click the “Single” icon in the left-hand sidebar. Use the navigation icons at the top of the 1-Up view to move from one image to the next, or click the thumbnails in the filmstrip across the bottom. Alternatively, press the arrow keys on the keyboard to move forward or backward.

Set Approvals

If the sender has specified a default approval state, all images will begin in that state; otherwise the images will begin without an approval state. Click the “Yes” (thumbs up) or “No” (thumbs down) button to approve or “kill” each image. In 1-Up view, this action will automatically advance to the next image. Approved and “killed” images will be highlighted with a green or red border, respectively. Approval decisions can be changed up until the Messenger is submitted.

It is also possible to set approvals using the 1 and 3 keys on the keyboard. Setting an approval with a keyboard shortcut automatically moves the selection to the next image.

The Messenger will display the number of images “killed”, as well as a percentage. If the Messenger sender has specified a maximum “kill percentage”, this will be displayed also. It will not be possible to “kill” additional images after reaching this threshold; changing another image to “approved” status will recalculate the percentage to allow an additional “kill”.

Submit a Messenger

When all approvals have been set, click “Submit Approvals” in the left-hand sidebar to complete the Messenger and notify its sender. An optional message can be submitted along with the completed Messenger, which will be attached to the Messenger in the sender’s DF Studio account.

Conversations and Visual Annotations

If the sender has enabled Conversations on the Messenger, a Notes tab will appear in the right sidebar. Click “Add a Comment” to participate in Conversations or add visual annotations. For more information, see Work With Notes in a Messenger.

Expiration

Messengers will automatically expire on the date mentioned in the Messenger email, and may be expired earlier by the sender in DF Studio if necessary. After a Messenger expires, the Messenger will no longer be viewable by the recipient, and the approval state of its included messages cannot be changed—they will remain in the last approval state that was set, or in the default state if no approvals were set by the recipient.

Modify Viewing Preferences

By default, Messenger images are displayed in a grid of 250 per page on a dark gray background. If a different color is preferred, or to display fewer images per page for faster loading, click the “Viewing Preferences” button in the left-hand sidebar to modify those preferences.