files and photos

Files and photos

A row can link to a file on disk: a photo, document, audio, or video file. qrate does not move your files. It stores the files folder's path and finds each row's file by matching it against that folder when you open the project, and again whenever a file in the folder changes (see When the files folder changes). The only time qrate copies a file is when you add one from outside the files folder and choose to copy it in (see below).

Linking a row to a file

Set the files folder in Settings ▸ Project. qrate then matches each row to a file through the column set to the Filename type (see Columns), by one of two rules chosen when the project is created:

• Exact filename. A Filename cell that matches a file's name links that row to that file.
• Custom pattern. A pattern such as {id}_*.jpg matches files that do not share an exact name with the cell.

To link one row by hand, drop a file onto its Filename cell. To add new files as rows, see Add files to an open project. A file inside the files folder is linked by its path relative to that folder.

Files from outside the files folder

When you drop a file or folder that is not inside the files folder, onto the grid or onto a Filename cell, qrate asks what to do with it:

• Copy into the project. qrate copies it into the imported folder inside the files folder and links the row to the copy. qrate never overwrites a file: if the name is taken, the copy is named photo (2).jpg, photo (3).jpg, and so on. Large files copy in the background, and the grid updates when the copy is done.
• Link where it is. The row stores the file's full path. The Problems panel shows a warning for each of these rows ("outside the project's files folder"), because the file is not with the rest of the collection and does not move with it.
• Cancel. Nothing is added.

To stop the question, set Settings ▸ Project ▸ Import ▸ Files from outside the files folder to Copy into the files folder or Link where it is. The default is Ask each time. A project with no files folder set does not ask; the dropped file is linked where it is.

A ZIP export includes the files that are linked from outside the files folder. They are in files/outside/ in the archive, next to the files from the files folder.

When the files folder changes

While a project is open, qrate watches its files folder, including every subfolder. You do not have to reopen the project after you add, rename, replace, or delete a file there:

• A file that a row names appears. The row links to it, its preview shows, and its missing-file problem goes away.
• A linked file is deleted or renamed. The row's missing-file problem comes back.
• A linked file is replaced. The preview shows the new version.

qrate waits until a file has stopped changing for about half a second before it uses it, so a large file that is still copying is not read half-written. It ignores hidden files, Office lock files (~$…), Thumbs.db, desktop.ini, and unfinished downloads or copies (.tmp, .part, .crdownload).

A project with no files folder set, or one whose files folder does not exist, is not watched.

New files

A file in the files folder that no row links to is a new file. The status bar shows New files (N) on the left while there are any. qrate also looks for new files when you open a project, so files added while qrate was closed are counted too.

Click New files (N) to import them as rows. The prompt is the same one you see when you drop files on the grid, with the project's duplicate policy as the default button (see Add files to an open project).

• Ignore takes these files out of the count. The project remembers them, so they do not come back when you open it again.
• Cancel imports nothing and leaves the files in the count.

Files that qrate copies into imported for you are never counted as new.

Missing files

If a linked file cannot be found, for example because it was renamed or deleted, qrate reports it as a diagnostic. See Diagnostics.

When the whole files folder moved

When you open a project whose files folder does not exist, or holds almost none of the files the rows link to, qrate shows one banner above the grid ("Files folder not found" or "Most linked files are missing from"). It does not add a problem for every row. Click Relink… in the banner, or choose File ▸ Relink Missing Files…, and pick the folder's new location. Click the close button to hide the banner for this session.

Before it changes anything, qrate counts the linked files in the folder you picked and shows "N of M linked files found in" that folder:

• Relink uses that folder.
• Choose another… lets you pick a different folder.
• Cancel keeps the current folder.

If the folder you picked holds none of the files, qrate also looks in its parent folder and in the parent's other subfolders, and offers the one that holds the most ("Found N in … instead").

One row's file

When the selected row's file is missing, the Details panel shows "File not found" with a Locate file… button. Pick the file, and qrate links the row to it. If the same folder also holds the files of other missing rows, qrate asks whether to relink those rows too. All of these changes are one step, so one Undo reverses them.

Viewing a file

The Details panel (in the left dock in Table view, and the right dock in Gallery view) shows the file linked to the selected row. It previews images, documents, audio, and video directly. The caption on the preview gives the file's type and size. Click the preview to open it fullscreen.

PDF previews need PDFium and video frame previews need ffmpeg. qrate looks for each one in three places, in this order: beside its own executable, then in the optional components qrate installed into its data folder, then on your system (for ffmpeg, your PATH). Every release download includes PDFium, and the Windows downloads also include ffmpeg; on macOS and Linux, install ffmpeg yourself. Without them, qrate shows a file-type icon instead of a preview, and the rest of the app works as normal. When one of them is installed while qrate runs, the PDFs and videos that showed an icon are drawn again.

The fullscreen viewer

• Zoom with the scroll wheel, the − and + buttons, or the - and = keys. The readout between the buttons shows the zoom as a percentage of the file's actual size. Click it, or press 0, to fit the file to the window; press 1 for actual size. Double-click to zoom to actual size at the pointer, and double-click again to fit.
• Pan by dragging. The picture stops where its edge meets the edge of the window.
• Rotate with the rotate button, R to turn clockwise, or Shift+R to turn back. This only changes the view; the file is not changed, and the next file opens upright.
• Animated GIFs play in the viewer. Thumbnails and the Details panel show the first frame.

The arrows in the bottom-right corner of the fullscreen view move to the file of the previous or next row, in the order the view shows them. During a search that means the previous or next result. Up and Down do the same.

Documents

A PDF or a multi-page TIFF shows its pages in the bar at the bottom of the viewer:

• ◀ and ▶, or Left, Right, Page Up, and Page Down, go to the previous or next page.
• Type a page number in the box and press Enter to go to it. A number past the end goes to the last page. Esc puts the current page back.
• The pages button shows a column of page thumbnails on the left. Click a page to go to it.
• The fit-to-width button, or W, zooms the page to the width of the window and starts at its top.
• The search button, or Ctrl+F, opens a panel to search the document's text.

The pop-out window

The Open in new window button on the Details preview opens the file in a second window, with its fields beside it. It follows the selection in the table, so you can keep the table on one screen and the file on another. The window has the same zoom, pan, rotate, and page controls as the fullscreen viewer.

• The Following / Pinned toggle in the title bar keeps the window on its current item while you move around the table. While it is pinned, the title bar shows which row the table is on, with a Jump button to show that row instead.
• ▲ and ▼ in the title bar move to the previous or next row.
• When you select several rows, the window shows them as a stack. Step through them with the arrows on the stack or Alt+Left and Alt+Right.
• For a document, the side panel has Details and Find tabs. Ctrl+F opens Find, and Esc goes back to Details.

A project has one pop-out window. It opens at the size and on the screen where you last left it, and it closes when you close the project or the main window.

Thumbnails

qrate keeps downscaled copies of your files so they open faster the second time. While it makes them, the status bar shows Loading previews and how many are in progress. The cache rebuilds itself as you browse. Settings ▸ Table ▸ Previews ▸ Cache size sets how large it may grow: 512 MB, 1 GB, 2 GB (the default), or 5 GB. Past that, the oldest thumbnails are dropped. To reclaim the space now, choose Clear cache in the same group; qrate then reports how many thumbnails it removed and how much space it freed, and makes the thumbnails on screen again from your files.

Gallery view

Switch to the gallery with View ▸ Switch View ▸ Gallery to browse a collection as thumbnails instead of a grid. See The grid.

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