Is it possible to add a customized tab next to Dashboard?

[LRAT]

Hi,

I know iMatch has the potential to be customized.
I know I can add extra fields to the Categories list but I would like to generate a new tab in the Views menu. (View - Views and then an extra Views panel).
(Currently I can see the following Views in that menu: Media & Folders, Categories, Timeline, Collections, Events, People and Dashboard in there).

Say, I would like this new tab "Custom1" and with following shortcut: CTRL + W,8. Is that possible?

Also, what exactly is the difference between a Category and a Collection?

Forgive me my ignorance but I'm still learning how to set up the program so that it suits my need.
Thanks for your help in advance!
Luc

[Mario]

You cannot add your own Views. Each existing View has a specific purpose, e.g. working with folders & files, working with categories.
What would your new View do?

Collections automatically organize your files, e.g. by rating, last viewed or added.
Categories enable you to organize/group/cluster your files manually in any way. Or, via the very powerful data-driven category feature, automatically based on any kind of metadata or Attribute.
The special @Keywords category automatically organizes your files based on the keywords they contain.
Category formulas enable you to combine multiple categories using AND/OR/NOT and to create categories which virtually contain the contents of one or more folders, collections etc.

For more info, see

Categories
Data-driven Categories
The @Keywords Category
Category Formulas
Collections

[LRAT]

Thanks Mario!
That answers all my questions.
iMatch has so many possibilities and I'm still exploring.
I've got the feeling I only master a small fraction of all the features of the program.
Thanks for your help.
Cheers,

Luc

[Mario]

iMatch has so many possibilities and I'm still exploring.
I've got the feeling I only master a small fraction of all the features of the program.

IMatch is a grown-up DAM. With many, many powerful features. Users tell me often that, when they encounter a new DAM-related problem, IMatch already has a solution 

IMatch is powerful. Every user maybe uses 50% of its features. But ever user uses different 50%...

[sinus]

Also, what exactly is the difference between a Category and a Collection?

Forgive me my ignorance but I'm still learning how to set up the program so that it suits my need.
Thanks for your help in advance!
Luc

Well, I see it in that way,  collections are a quick organization.

Long and maybe boring text, but it helps maybe Luc. I hope, it is not senseless, my "explanation".

You have a box.
This box has, let's say, 10 drawers.

You have 100 different T-shirts and you have to put them in the drawers.
Therefore, you label the drawers with something like
used (dot)
new (pin)
with writing (bookmark)
...

Then you start putting the shirts in the drawers, which is very quick.
Some drawers even do this automatically, when you take a shirt in your hand and look at it, a drawer like "Recently Viewed" registers this and remembers this shirt.

That way you can find the shirts again very quickly later. You can also take a shirt out of one drawer and throw it into another at any time.
Or you can "virtually" throw the same shirt into other drawers, so that the shirt is only present once, but a "virtual copy" is in different drawers.
That is why you will find the used shirt with the lettering in both drawers.

Some of these drawers also exist in other programmes such as Photoshop etc.... e.g. Rating and Label.
The shirts in these drawers have a "note" that other programmes also register. This means, for example, that Lightroom also has a "Rating" drawer and throws a shirt into a drawer.
And if you then throw such a shirt with the virtual note "lightly used" into a "heavily used" drawer, then the shirt is irritated and doesn't know what to do and you then have to decide for a drawer.

Other drawers like dot, pin, bookmark are only available at IMatch.

Well, next to this drawer cabinet you have already seen a grey box and wondered what it is.
Well, that's the category box. There you have some drawers that are there (I think, I haven't created a new database for a long time), but above all you can create many, many new drawers and put them in the box.
This box is almost infinite, you can create drawers without end.

And these drawers are much more flexible than those in the other box. There you will immediately find all the shirts with a lettering.
But here you can refine it even more. You can create drawers with the words "nice", "stupid", "funny", etc., so that you have a much finer subdivision.
You can also combine drawers, for example, you can find a "virtual shirt" in the drawer "funny" and used and slightly dirty and is a gift from Katrin or Melanie.

In this box "Categorie" you have many more possibilities, you can even include the drawers from the other box in a description (but it must also be in the drawer "with writing").
But you have to think about it a bit more so that it firstly makes sense and secondly the art is not to create endless drawers so that you have to search at the end, hmmm, do I even have such a drawer and where is it.

And these drawers here only exist in IMatch and other programmes don't know this box at all.

I think understanding the difference between categories and collections is not so easy (it wasn't for me) and it's really worth taking a closer look.
Sure, you can always rearrange, rename, throw away and create new drawers from both boxes, but the more shirts there are in there, the harder it gets.

In my case, for example, a blue dot means that this picture was actually delivered to the customer.
I can easily find all the images I have ever delivered. But if I want to change this and make a bookmark, for example, then I can do that.
But this blue dot is already present in my entire workflow (e.g. I need it in different categories) or is a variable in "Design and Print", so it is not easy to change it later.

Therefore my advice: give yourself enough time, 1 week, 2 or more to "play" with only 100, 200 images, try drawers from both boxes, find images again that are important to you.
Then you can still change drawers and even then just with more experience even start the database from scratch.

IMatch is almost like a Swiss army knife with 1000 blades: if you want to open a box, there are several blades you can use for that. And each one has advantages and disadvantages. 
Good luck furthermore.