The library

Folders, filters, sorting, selecting and keeping the library in step with your disk.

Folders

The folder list shows every folder you’ve added, with its subfolders. Click one to see its photos; ⌘-click to combine several. All Photos shows everything. Tick include subfolders to include photos in a folder’s subfolders.

Right-click a folder for:

• Rescan this folder: pick up photos added, changed or deleted in that folder since it was last read.
• Remove folder… (top-level folders only): take the folder out of the library. Files on disk are never touched, and you can add it again any time. Unsaved edits in it are lost, and the dialog says how many.

Keeping up with changes on disk

ExifXplorer doesn’t watch your folders while it’s running. When you’ve added photos from a card, or edited some in another app, click Rescan Library at the bottom of the folder list (or ⌘ R). A folder on a disk that isn’t connected is skipped, so its photos aren’t mistaken for deleted ones. Photos with unsaved edits are left alone until you save them.

Filters

The bar above the grid narrows what you see: type in Filter by filename or keyword…, or pick a camera maker, lens, month, keyword or location (Has GPS or No GPS data). The lists only offer what’s in the folders you’re looking at. Active filters appear as chips under the bar; click a chip’s ✕ or Clear filters to remove them.

Sorting

Sort by at the right of the filter bar orders the grid by capture time, filename, rating, color label, camera, lens, focal length, aperture, shutter speed or ISO. The button next to it reverses the order. Photos without a value for the chosen sort always go last. Your choice is remembered between launches.

The sort order is used everywhere photos come in order: arrow keys, numbering in Rename, CSV files and contact sheets.

Selecting photos

Click the checkbox at a tile’s top-left corner to select it; click again to deselect. Select all at the top right selects everything that passes the current filters (⌘ A), and Select none clears it. With the panel open, Return selects or deselects the open photo.

While photos are selected, a bar at the bottom offers what you can do with them all at once: keywords, copying from a reference photo, batch edits, renaming, shifting timestamps, geotagging, exporting and moving to the Trash. See Editing many photos at once.

What the tile badges mean

• A dot by the filename: unsaved edits.
• A location pin: the photo has GPS.
• A warning mark: something Checkup would flag, such as missing copyright.

Pinning photos

Hover a tile and click the pin to keep it in a strip above the grid while you change filters. It’s handy for keeping a reference photo in view.

Dragging photos out

Drag a tile to Finder, Mail or any app that accepts files to hand over a copy of the original; a selected tile brings the whole selection. Hold ⌥ while dragging to include each photo’s XMP sidecar. Your originals never move.

Opening a photo in another app

Right-click a photo and choose Open With…. Apps you’ve used before are listed; Other… lets you pick any app, which is then remembered. You can manage the list in Settings ▸ Applications.