Image Tournament Troubleshooting and FAQ

Troubleshooting and FAQ

Questions

Does it change my images?

No. It never edits an image. It only moves, recycles or deletes the loser, depending on the Loser setting. With Leave in place, nothing on disk changes at all.

I picked the wrong image. Can I undo?

Yes, press Ctrl+Z. With Move to Losers folder or Leave in place, the image is put back where it was. After Send to Recycle Bin or Delete permanently, undo isn't available. Restore recycled files from the Recycle Bin yourself. See Options and Settings.

What if I close the app halfway?

Your progress is saved after every pick. The next time you start the app, it offers to resume.

Does the order of the images matter?

Slightly. Images are paired in file-name order (or random order with Shuffle), so the first pairs are neighbors. After that, it's decided by who wins. See How the Tournament Works.

Can I find my top few, not only the single best?

The tournament finds one champion. For a short list, run it with Leave in place, move the champion into a "keepers" folder, and run it again on the rest. The second champion is a strong pick, though not strictly the second best, because it never faced the first one.

Can I compare images from different folders?

Yes. Drag them all in together, or add them one batch at a time. With the default settings, each loser goes to a Losers folder next to its own image. Set the Losers box to a single full path to gather them all in one place.

Problems

"Couldn't open this image"

The file is damaged, or it's a format Windows can't read. See Supported Formats. For HEIC and AVIF, install the matching extension from the Microsoft Store.

The image looks rotated or flipped

Camera rotation is applied automatically. If it still looks wrong, the file's orientation tag may be missing or wrong, and other apps will show it the same way.

"Couldn't handle the losing image" when I pick

The loser couldn't be moved or deleted. Usually the file is open in another program, is read-only, or its folder isn't writable. The pick isn't recorded, so nothing is lost. Close whatever is using the file and pick again.

"Couldn't move the image back" on undo

Something else now uses the original location, for example a file with the same name. Rename or move that file and try undo again.

An image won't appear when I add a folder

It may be hidden. Hidden files are skipped.
It may be in a subfolder. Turn on Subfolders.
It may already be in the tournament.
It may be inside the Losers folder, which is skipped when scanning subfolders.

The window doesn't show the app's icon or the logo is missing

Rebuild with build.ps1. The logos and icon are built into the .exe when it's built. See Building from Source.

`launch.bat` says the build failed

Run build.ps1 from PowerShell to see the full error. The build needs the C# compiler that ships with Windows at C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\csc.exe. If you've removed .NET Framework 4.8, turn it back on in Windows Features.