Browse the library

The Library section shows your files in three columns: on the left the list of sources, in the middle the grid (or the loupe), on the right the inspector of the chosen file.

Sources

• All files — the whole library, with its number of files;
• Imported folders — each imported folder, with its number of files. Right-clicking a folder offers Show in Finder, Import again, Locate folder… (see Locating a moved folder) and Remove from library….

Collections, tags and saved searches have their own section, Collections and search (see Collections, tags and search), which shows the same files with the same grid and the same inspector.

The grid

Above the grid:

• the number of files shown;
• the quick search field (“Name, title, keyword…”) — see Quick search;
• the Advanced search button;
• Filter — by rating (“3 ★ or more”…), by flag (Picked, Rejected) and by colour label; Clear filters resets everything;
• Sort — Name, Captured, newest first, Captured, oldest first, Rating, Size, Recently imported;
• Size — Small, Medium or Large thumbnails;
• Import a folder… (see Import a folder).

The grid stays smooth even with tens of thousands of files: only the thumbnails on screen are loaded.

At the bottom left of a thumbnail: its colour label, its stars and its flag (a flag for Picked, a cross for Rejected); at the top right, Missing when the file is no longer on disk. Hovering over the thumbnail says all of this in words, the label by its name; VoiceOver reads the file name, then the rating, the flag and the label.

Selecting

• A click chooses a file; ⇧-click extends the selection; ⌘-click adds or removes a file.
• ⌘A selects everything the grid shows; Escape deselects.

The keyboard

Click in the grid first so it receives the keys.

Ratings, flags and labels apply to the selection or, if nothing is selected, to the file under the cursor.

The selection bar

As soon as a file is selected, a bar appears below the grid:

• Rating — rate from 1 to 5 stars, or Clear rating (keyboard: 0 to 5);
• Flag — Picked, Rejected, or Clear flag (keyboard: P and X);
• Label — the five colour labels (red, yellow, green, blue, purple), or Clear label;
• Add to collection (an existing collection, or New collection with selection…);
• Add a tag… — add a tag to all the selected files;
• Works — Create works from the selection… or Link to a work… (see The work of a file), and Add to an exhibition’s views…, for photos of a hang (see Installation views); all three are also in the right-click menu of a thumbnail;
• ⋯ (More actions) — Relate (exactly two files selected, see Relationships), Compare (two files or more), Remove from collection… (in a manual collection) and Remove from library… (after confirmation, or ⌘⌫);
• Deselect.

Ratings, flags and labels set here are recorded in the catalogue; they are not written to the XMP sidecar or to the file. Only the metadata editor writes next to files (see EXIF and XMP metadata).

The loupe and comparison

Double-click a thumbnail (or press Space) to see the file large. The loupe shows a preview computed from the file, never the original itself, with its name, dimensions and position (“12 of 340”). The ← → arrows move to the previous or next file; Escape, Space or the ⓧ button goes back to the grid.

Compare shows up to four selected files side by side. Done goes back to the grid.

The inspector

The toolbar button on the right of the window, or View › Show Inspector / Hide Inspector (⌥⌘I), shows or hides the inspector. When the window is too narrow for the source list, the grid and the inspector side by side, the inspector folds away by itself; asking for it then shows it in place of the source list. In a narrow grid, Filter, Sort and Size keep only their symbol. For the chosen file, the inspector shows:

• at the top, the file’s name and path, then Edit… (the metadata editor, ⌘E), Read the file again and Show in Finder; for a Missing file, a message and Locate folder…;
• File — size, dimensions, capture date, modification date, SHA-256 fingerprint, location;
• Work — the work of the catalogue raisonné the file is linked to (below);
• Installation view — for a photo of a hang, the exhibitions it is a view of (“This file is a view of:”), each a link to its record (see Installation views);
• Description — title, description, creator, rights, keywords, hierarchical keywords;
• Indexing — the answers to the six questions who, what, where, when, how, why, or “Not indexed yet”; they are entered in Edit… (see Indexing);
• Documents — the attached documents (correspondence, invoice, condition report…), a Confidential padlock on those that are, with Open the document; they are attached in Edit… (see Attached documents);
• Capture — camera, lens, exposure, GPS, colour profile;
• Tags — add a tag (“Add a tag” field) or remove one;
• Versions and Relationships (below);
• All metadata — every property read in the file and its sidecar, by group (EXIF, TIFF, IPTC, GPS, XMP).

Read the file again reads the metadata of the file and its sidecar again, for example after an edit in another program.

The work of a file

The Work section of the inspector shows the works of the catalogue raisonné the file is linked to: their number, their title, and Reference when the file is the work’s reference image. Open the record (↗) opens the record in Works; Unlink from the work… removes the link, after confirmation (Unlink file): the work and its number stay. Link to a work… stays on offer, to link the file to another work.

A file linked to nothing shows “This file is not linked to any work.”, with two buttons:

• Link to a work… — search for the work by number or title, choose the File’s role (Master, Scan, Derivative…), then Link. Linking never creates a work. If the work has no reference image yet, the file becomes it (except as documentation or an installation view), and the titles are kept in step (see The work’s title and the image’s).
• Create a work… — a new work, with the file as its reference image (see below).

For several files at once, select them in the grid, then Works in the selection bar (or right-click a thumbnail of the selection):

• Link to a work… links every selected file to the same work; those already linked to it do not change;
• Create works from the selection… opens the preview of the creation: one work per file (each file is the reference image of its own) or one work for all these files (you choose which one is its reference image; the others are linked to it as derivatives). The preview shows the numbers the registry will assign, before anything is written; files already linked to a work are left out, and the preview says how many. Create n works confirms.

The works are created as drafts, to complete in Works. Their numbers are never reissued, even if you delete them. Catalog never creates a work on its own. Without a licence, the catalogue is limited to 50 works: if the creation goes beyond the limit, the preview says so, with Activate…, and nothing is created (see Licence and free tier).

The work’s title and the image’s

A work’s main title and the title its reference image carries in its metadata (XMP dc:title, IPTC ObjectName: the Title of Edit…) are kept in step, both ways. Only the reference image counts: the other files linked to the work are not touched. The work’s Other titles are never concerned.

• When linking and creating — when a file becomes the reference image of a work (Link to a work…, Create a work…, Create works from the selection…, Create works from these files… at the end of an import, Link a photo… in the record) and the work has no title, it takes the image’s. Catalog says so: “The work had no title: it takes its reference image’s”, and the preview of a creation mentions it before writing. If it is the image that has no title, Catalog offers to write the work’s into it (Write the title); Not now changes nothing.
• The description — the reference image’s Description (XMP dc:description, IPTC, the Lightroom caption) follows the same path, from the image to the work only. A work created from a file takes its image’s description, and the creation report says how many works took it. When you link an image to a work that has no description, Catalog offers Use the description; Not now changes nothing. A work that already has a description is never changed, and Catalog never writes the work’s description into the image.
• Never silently — when both titles exist and differ, the inspector (under the work, in the Work section) and the record (under the Title field, and in the Files tab) show Title differs from the image, with Use the image’s title (the work takes the image’s title) and Write the title into the image… (the image takes the work’s). Nothing changes until you choose. Extra spaces at the start or end do not count; a different capital letter does.
• After a change — saving a new title in the record offers to write it into the image too (“Also write this title into the image?”); changing the title of a reference image in Edit… offers, after saving, Update the work or Keep the work’s title.

Writing the title into the image goes the same way as Edit…: only the title changes, the other metadata stay. By default it goes into the XMP sidecar (“The catalogue and an XMP sidecar (the file is not modified)”); The catalogue, the sidecar and the file itself also writes it into the file, after the same confirmation as the editor (“Modify the original file?”), and only for a JPEG, TIFF, PNG or HEIC: a RAW is never rewritten, it gets the sidecar. If a valid certificate attests the file’s fingerprint, Catalog names it and offers Use the sidecar; writing into the file anyway asks for a stronger confirmation (“Modify a certified file?”, Write into the file anyway). An image title holds 64 characters (the IPTC limit): a longer work title is not written, and Catalog says so.

Versions

A version is the record of an earlier state of a file: its SHA-256 fingerprint and size at a given moment. Catalog records one automatically when a file’s content changes (on a new import, or when you write metadata into the file). You can also record the current state, in the inspector’s Versions section: give it an optional name, then Record current version.

Delete version (after confirmation) erases only the record; the file is not touched.

To go back to a version, open Edit…: the editor’s Versions part offers Restore this version… (see Restoring a version).

Relationships

A relationship relates two files: RAW + JPEG, Derivative, Edit, Stack, Duplicate or Other. Catalog itself creates “RAW + JPEG” relationships on import, “Duplicate” when you import duplicates, and “Stack” from a Lightroom catalog.

To relate two files yourself, select them in the grid, then ⋯ › Relate and the kind of relationship. Or, from a single file, open Edit…: the editor’s Related part offers Relate a file… (see Relating a file). Remove relationship (in the inspector or in the editor) removes it; both files stay in the library.

What Catalog prepares ahead

So that the grid and the records open without waiting, Catalog computes some images ahead, in the background:

• the thumbnail of every imported file, after importing a folder (first import, files added, imported again) or a Lightroom catalog;
• the large preview of a work’s reference image, as soon as the work is created from a file or its reference image is linked or changed.

Other large previews (the loupe’s, for a file that is no work’s reference image) are computed the first time they are shown.

While this runs, “Preparing thumbnails: n / N” shows above the grid and in Imports. It always comes after what you are looking at: the thumbnails on screen are served first. Stop suspends it; it resumes with the next import or the next launch. If you quit Catalog midway, nothing is lost: at the next launch it resumes where it stopped, without redoing a thumbnail already made. At the first launch of this version, the files already in the library are prepared once.

Removing a file or an imported folder also deletes its thumbnails and previews. At launch, Catalog deletes those of files no longer in the library, and only in Derivatives/.

Catalog does not read the previews Lightroom stores next to its catalog (an Adobe format of its own): it computes its own, using the preview embedded in RAW and DNG files when there is one.

Good to know

• Thumbnails and previews are kept in the library’s Derivatives/ and recomputed when the file changes.
• A file on an unplugged disk keeps its place in the grid, but its thumbnail cannot be computed while the disk is absent.