Portfolio catalog
Extensis Portfolio (previously named Fetch, Aldus Fetch, Adobe Fetch, Extensis Fetch) is a line of software for managing and browsing "digital assets" (images, videos, etc.). Its catalog format presumably stores metadata, including image thumbnails.
Fetch/Portfolio was originally for Macintosh. Later (as of v3?), a Windows version was developed.
There are many versions and editions of Portfolio, released over 30+ years. This article probably doesn't cover all versions.
Contents |
Discussion
Pre-made catalog files, along with a copy of Portfolio, are present on some CD-ROM collections of photos sold in the late 1990s.
History
Fetch was developed by Doug Dawirs and Provident Software.
Fetch was acquired by Aldus in 1992.
Aldus was acquired by Adobe in 1994.
Extensis acquired Fetch from Adobe in 1996.
Extensis later renamed Fetch to Portfolio.
(...)
Identification
More research needed.
.fdb files, at least from a certain era, appear to start with a 128-byte header. The header has some byte patterns that might be useful for identification, but no obvious signatures. Hex bytes 47 02 44 02 might always appear at offset 48. The first two bytes of the file are observed to be either ff ff or ff 7f, as part of a pointer that may point to the last byte of the file.
It's not certain that this FDB format is specific to Portfolio. It might be some general purpose database format.
Software
- Aldus Fetch 1.0, at Macintosh Repository
- Aldus Fetch 1.0 (Cataloger), at Macintosh Repository
- Adobe Fetch 1.2, at Macintosh Repository
- Extensis Fetch 1.5, at Macintosh Repository
- Extensis Portfolio 3.0, at Macintosh Repository
- Extensis Portfolio 3.02 for Windows: World Landmarks and Travel (PhotoDisc) → RESOURCES/SOFTWARE/Portfolio 3.0.2/Portfolio3.02US.exe
- Extensis Portfolio 4.1, at Macintosh Repository
- Extensis Portfolio 5.0.2 Desktop, at Macintosh Repository
Sample files
- Macworld Digital Image Library, Vol. 2 → Data/Catalog/*.fdb
- World Landmarks and Travel (PhotoDisc) → IMAGE SEARCH/-/IMAGE SEARCH.fdb
- MacFormat MF52 → Demos/Extensis/Fetch™ 1.5/Sample Catalog (older format)
Links
- Extensis Portfolio website
- Mark Anderson's Portfolio™ FAQ
- Adobe Fetch, at Fandom Adobe Wiki
- Aldus announces multimedia cataloging and retrieval software - InfoWorld article, 1992-07-13, p. 8
