The beginner's guide to the CEWE Creator Software

1. Download the CEWE Creator Software

For designing your CEWE PHOTOBOOK, we suggest using the CEWE Creator Software. The software allows you to compose your pages creatively and edit your photos with ease. Additionally, you can save your projects and order your creations using the software. It's free to download for Windows, Mac and Linux. Once you've downloaded the file, open it and follow the installation instructions.

2. Choose format and orientation

Select the format of the CEWE PHOTOBOOK you would like to make. You have the freedom to select the size, number of pages, cover and paper that best suits your preferences. You can choose between portrait, landscape and square formats and adjust the size accordingly. It's important to note that once you have selected the orientation (portrait or landscape), you won't be able to change it during the design process. However, you can modify the number of pages, paper type, book size and cover at any point while designing.

3. Select paper type and cover type

When deciding on paper type, you have two main options: digital printing or photographic paper. There's also a choice between a glossy or matte finish for your paper types. Tip: To really make your photos shine, choose our photographic paper for layflat binding, for a photo book that captures your memories seamlessly across a double page.

The cover type will depend on the book's format, with options including Leather, Linen, Booklet, Softcover or Hardcover. If you choose to make a hardcover photo book, you’ll get the most design freedom as this option is available for all formats. As with the page design, you can enhance your cover with photos and texts and include elements with Silver, Gold, Rose Gold or Gloss Highlights. Remember to keep the spine's lettering in mind when creating your cover. Please note that Leather and Linen covers are only available in combination with Matte Photographic Paper and Gloss Photographic Paper and for the XL Square and XXL Landscape formats.

4. Plan your pages with CEWE PHOTOBOOK Assistant

When it comes to creating your own photo book, you have a couple of options. Firstly, you can opt to design everything yourself from scratch. Alternatively, you can choose to use the CEWE PHOTOBOOK Assistant, which is a fantastic option if you're new to photo book design, need some guidance and are looking to create an easy photo book. It offers smart photo selection and intelligent photo distribution, giving you a great starting point that you can then customise to your liking. Whether you use the assistant or choose not to, you'll have access to helpful tools like styles, layouts and themed templates that you can select at the beginning of your design journey or later on from the design menu on the left.

5. Select and edit photos

To edit and select photos in the CEWE Creator Software, start by importing your photos from your PC or cloud services such as Dropbox or CEWE myPhotos. You can do this by dragging them into the Photos & Videos selection area on the left. Once your photos are imported, you can drag and drop the desired image onto the desired page. If you need to edit a photo, simply double-click on it. You can change the size and aspect ratio of your photos by using the blue handles, while the toolbar on the right allows you to edit font, size and alignment of texts.

6. Start designing with templates, themes and layouts

Once you're ready to start designing, you have three options to choose from in the design menu on the left.

1. Book Templates are fully designed photo books with ready-made layouts, backgrounds and design elements that you can customise by simply filling in the placeholders with your photos and text.

2. Themes refer to pre-designed page backgrounds that come with appropriate layouts. You have the option to apply Themes to multiple pages or make changes to specific elements on a page.

3. With Page Layouts, you can determine how many photos are used per page. All you have to do is fill in the placeholders with photos.

Each option can be individually adapted to suit your preferences, making the creative process easy and enjoyable.

8. Preview design and complete order

To ensure that your design is flawless, we recommend using our comprehensive checklist:

• Are there empty placeholders?
• Are all photos aligned correctly, or has something shifted?
• Are the image sections correct?
• Is the resolution of the photos sufficient?
• Have any photos accidentally been inserted twice?
• Are the cover and spine laid out correctly?
• Are there any spelling mistakes?

Don’t forget to pay attention to the colour of the smileys in the toolbox on the right side of your screen too, as they indicate the quality of your images. Red, for example, indicates low image resolution. As a final step, we suggest having someone else look over your creation to ensure that it is error-free.

Complete your order

Once you have gone through the checklist, simply head to the bottom right corner of your screen and click on the shopping cart icon labelled "Add to Basket". If there are any discrepancies in your photo book, you will receive a notification. Assuming all is well, you will then be directed to your shopping cart. After that, proceed to checkout and input your billing address and payment method. In the last step, you can review your order one final time before placing it.