PicView 5.0

PicView 5.0

This release introduces a new tabbed interface alongside a major architectural overhaul.
Window sizing has been completely rebuilt for more intuitive behavior, while the navigation system now shares image caches across tabs and windows to reduce memory usage.

Highlights

• 🗂️ New tabbed interface
• 🪟 Completely redesigned window sizing
• ⚡ Lower memory usage through shared image caching
• 🖼️ Dockable image gallery
• 🔍 Searchable Settings window
• 📦 Instant archive preview while extraction continues

⚠️ Important Upgrade Notes

• Settings reset: Gallery settings will not be preserved because they have been completely reworked. Auto-fit window is also now disabled by default.
• Shortcuts: Tab shortcuts (Ctrl+T/W) must be manually re-added to prevent overwriting your custom bindings.
• Current Limitations: Tab creation is currently unavailable when the gallery is docked, and multi-page TIFFs may not render correctly in Side-by-side mode.
• Secondary Windows: The Print, Image information, and Image effects windows only support a single tab (the active tab from which they were opened).

What's new

Tabbed interface and window behavior

• Introduced a redesigned interface with support for tabbed navigation. When no additional tabs are open, the UI hides the tab panel so it effectively functions as a single image window (just like in prior releases).
• Auto-fit window no longer prevents you from resizing the window manually, and the macOS traffic light buttons are now available by default.
• The bottom toolbar has been rebuilt with a focus on zooming and rotation, fixing usability issues on touch-only devices #223.
• Added a new Rename dialog that shows up when the title bar is not visible. So you can still rename files while the UI is hidden, or when viewing in full screen.
• The minimum window size has been lowered from 450 to 315 pixels #205. The window also dynamically adjusts to lower window sizes by hiding some buttons and automatically adjusting button sizes to fit.
• When the UI is hidden, a new toolbar displaying the file name appears when hovering the cursor at the top. Dragging it allows you to move the window.

Zoom and image stretching

• The displayed zoom percentage is now calculated relative to the image's original dimensions, rather than starting at 100% when the image is automatically fitted to the window #325 #288.
• Renamed Stretch image to Zoom to fit for better clarity (behavior remains unchanged).

Image gallery

• The image gallery can now be docked to the top, left, or right side of the window, instead of being locked to the bottom.
• Renamed the Show bottom gallery setting to Show docked gallery at bottom.
• Added an option to control whether the mouse wheel in the docked gallery navigates between images or scrolls the gallery itself #297.

Side-by-side view

• The Side-by-side view has been rewritten for improved performance and stability. Fixes #334.
• Viewing animated images Side-by-side (GIFs, WEBP) now works correctly.

Settings window

• Added a search bar to quickly find individual settings within the Settings window.
• The window is now resizable and remembers its size and position between sessions.
• The layout is now fully scrollable rather than being restricted to fixed, rigid categories.
• Added new settings to customize mouse side-button behavior. You can now set them to navigate between archives, folders, or stick to standard image navigation #327.
• Added a new dark background color that matches the toolbars in the dark theme.
• Added a setting to choose whether the title bar displays the full file path or only the current file name #321.

Print

• The print window is now resizable and remembers previously used settings, printer selections, and window positions between sessions #307, #256.
• Added a new Export to PDF option that converts the current image to a PDF using your last selected print settings.
• The print preview now dynamically updates as you navigate through images.

Performance

• Navigation now shares image caches between tabs and windows, significantly reducing memory usage when working with multiple tabs or windows.
• Archive loading has been redesigned, so the first image appears immediately while remaining files continue extracting in the background.

Windows

• Fixed an issue where the title bar menu could be truncated when using languages with longer words #323.
• The window now uses system borders and native shadows.
• Fixed a bug where the group type checkboxes were not selecting and unselecting correctly in the File Associations window.

macOS

• Updated default keyboard shortcuts to better align with native macOS user expectations.
• Fixed the native top menu bar having blank and unclickable items #302.

Bug fixes

• Fixed embedded ICC profile rendering (thanks to @kxn, #349).
• Fixed an issue where navigating between multiple multi-page TIFF files could result in a blank view #306.
• Fixed various issues when starting Crop mode while the UI is hidden #305.
• Fixed an issue where the hover bar occasionally failed to appear.
• Fixed an issue with incorrect window sizing, when rotating when Auto-fit window is enabled.
• Fixed an issue where the bottom half of the toolbar was not reacting correctly #216.
• Fixed the mouse-side buttons triggering left-button behavior #327.
• Fixed the Effects window not being accessible in the Application shortcuts window.
• Fixed certain animated GIFs not playing (thanks to @aladin7 #358) #217.

Miscellaneous

• The Previous and Next buttons are now disabled when the beginning or end of the image list is reached.
• The Image Effects window now remembers its previous window position.

Internal updates

• Updated Avalonia to 12.1.0.
• Updated to .NET 11.
• Updated Magick.NET to 14.15.0.
• Updated R3 to 1.3.1.
• Updated SharpCompress to 0.49.1.
• Updated ZLinq to 1.5.6.