New files in imatch and other newbie questions

[Stefanjan]

Apologies for the newbie questions. I'm quite computer literate but finding it quite a learning curve to understand how to work with imatch. I feel sure imatch is a good solution for me.

1. When I create a new folder using Windows explorer and drag images from my SD card e.g. '2021-06-12 ¦ new folder' into '2021' the folder and images are not visible in imatch until I rescan '2021' is this normal?

2. If I have Auto and Hide rejected files checked the files don't dissapear

3. Photos from my phone sync to my desktop into a folder Camera (jpegs) sub folder RAW (raw). I move these jpegs and raw into a folder '2021-06-12 ¦ new folder'. The RAW Files are named IMG_20210612_105051.dng and the JPEGS IMG_20210612_105051_1.jpg. Is it possible to have these files automatically group so only the RAW files is visible.

4. Is there a good article / forum thread with a simple ingest and cull workflow in imatch prior to processing the files in DXO, NIK, ON1 or CS6?

5. Any articles suggesting  good layout for dual monitors

6. I have my files split between two disk drives 2020 /2021 on an two SSDs (MS Workspace) and Prior years on a cluster of spinning disks (MS Workspace). I'm finding the  media & folders panel not so user friendly to navigate. Is there a way I could hide the top level folders Database, Storage Space, Current Photos etc and see just a tree with the year folders? see screen grab attached

[Mario]

1. Yes. IMatch by default only adds folders (recursively) you explicitly include in your database.
If you add sub-folders outside of IMatch (which you should not, IMatch has better file management tools as Windows Explorer), you need to manually rescan the parent folder (Shift+F5) to add the new folders to your database.

Remember: Always use the file management routines of your DAM when you use a DAM. Only then the DAM can work efficiently.  And folders you add or rename or move will automatically show up in your database.
See: File Management in IMatch

You can also enable Edit > Preferences > Indexing: Advanced File System Monitoring to automatically add sub-folders without you manually scanning the parent folder.
This is off by default because it can be potentially dangerous or cause issues, depending on your workflow and tool chain. This is why this is off by default. To protect you.
See Indexing for all details.

2. Do you mean in the Filter Panel? Make sure you also enable the filter with the check box in the blue caption.
The filter panel shows "No filters active" in blue right at the top until you enable at least one filter.

You can activate and de-activate individual filters as needed, e.g. while working with 100,000 files in the scope and setting up complex filter rules. Much faster.

3. See File Relations: Versioning

4. Just add your files to IMatch. What is a "simple ingest and cull workflow" for you?
IMatch ingests files automatically. Can automatically run Metadata Templates to add standard metadata, do automatic reverse geo-coding etc.
For review and cull, use the Viewer.
If you have specific questions or needs, just ask. What you consider a good workflow may fail for many other users.

5. What is a good layout? I use two monitors. May layout is always good.

6. Not exactly sure what you mean here. You can close the recent folder list and you can hide the properties panel. This maximizes screen estate.
The Media & Folders tree always reflects the physical layout of your files on disk. Have you considered using the Timeline View when you want to see your files grouped by year, month, day?

I recommend The IMatch Learning Center for beginners. Many free video tutorials.

[Stefanjan]

Thanks Mario for your detailed response.

1. Noted. In future I will use Windows file manager to create a new sub folder, drag files from my SD card and then drag the folder into imatch. I am wondering though why there is no function in imatch (like in Lightroom) to add files from an SD card into a new created subfolder. Or am missing a way to do this.

2. Thanks, kicking myself for missing this.

3.  I will take another look at file versioning. I've read it several times but struggling to understand.

4. I was really looking for some good examples / discussions as to how other users of imatch use the tool to efficiently cull images. Looking for ideas so I can experiment and decide best method for me:

Initial cull
Label images for workflow e.g. process in Photolab 4, Nik, ON1, Panorama, Focus stack.

5. OK I'll experiment

6. See screenshots attached. ON1 display compared to imatch. The ON1 listing seems clearer to me. But I guess some of the difference is because imatch is database driven.  The timeline view is very good but it does not give me the folder names / description of the folder content.

Yes I have been using the iMatch learning centre. It is very helpful. I've watched all the videos and going through again. I guess my problem is that iMatch is such a powerful piece of software that I'm struggling to see the wood from the trees. No doubt I'll get there and become as expert as I was with ON1 and Lightroom before that. Looking forward to the journey.

[Mario]

I am wondering though why there is no function in imatch (like in Lightroom) to add files from an SD card into a new created subfolder.

This functionality is built into Windows already (Windows Photos).
And there are sophisticated downloaders like BreezeDownloader.
And many people use tools like Lr which also has that built-in.
Why re-invent the wheel again in IMatch?

If you "download" your files into a sub-folder of a folder managed in IMatch, IMatch picks up the new folder and files automatically (advanced folder monitoring on) or show the folder as "modified" (blue arrow) and all you need to do is to select it and press Shift+F5 to bring in the new sub-folders.

Or, just use my simple workflow:

1. Create new folder in IMatch in the Media & Folders View
2. Drag files from the card or camera or phone (from Windows Explorer) into the new folder in IMatch (into the File Window). This copies the files and updates the database at the same time.

4. I was really looking for some good examples / discussions as to how other users of imatch use the tool to efficiently cull images. Looking for ideas so I can experiment and decide best method for me:

The search function in this community is powerful. Or you just Google for it. Google indexes this community.

I see not much of a difference between the ON1 display and IMatch. ON1 just removes the info about which driver you are looking at.
The Media & Folders View represents the physical layout of your file collection and hence will not suppress disk or media names.
You can use filters to reduce what you see in the Media & Folders View. See the help for details: The Filter Tab

[Stefanjan]

<quote>
Or, just use my simple workflow:

1. Create new folder in IMatch in the Media & Folders View
2. Drag files from the card or camera or phone (from Windows Explorer) into the new folder in IMatch (into the File Window). This copies the files and updates the database at the same time.
</quote>
Mario, why didn't I think of that? Perfect simple solution!!! Kicking myself!!!! Works perfectly for me!

<quote>
The search function in this community is powerful. Or you just Google for it. Google indexes this community.</quote> OK, I'll try searching again</quote>

<quote>I see not much of a difference between the ON1 display and IMatch.</quote>
Is it possible to make the folder icons smaller or remove them? That would close up the rows of subfolders somewhat  displaying more info at a glance. No worries if not. I can easily scroll.

[Mario]

Is it possible to make the folder icons smaller or remove them? That would close up the rows of subfolders somewhat  displaying more info at a glance. No worries if not. I can easily scroll.

You cannot remove the icons, they convey important info. But you can switch to smaller icons under Edit > Preferences > Application. Search for icon size.

[jch2103]

<quote>
Or, just use my simple workflow:

1. Create new folder in IMatch in the Media & Folders View
2. Drag files from the card or camera or phone (from Windows Explorer) into the new folder in IMatch (into the File Window). This copies the files and updates the database at the same time.
</quote>
Mario, why didn't I think of that? Perfect simple solution!!! Kicking myself!!!! Works perfectly for me!

This is essentially the IM workflow that I (and likely many others) use. [For mobile phone photos, it's slightly different. My phone images automatically go into a OneDrive folder mounted on my computer; IM indexes this folder. The only downside of this automatic arrangement is that there are sometimes delays in when the images are saved to the OneDrive folder, and I usually do a manual rescan in IM. But I don't take that many mobile phone photos.]

After images are in IM, I'll add metadata (usually including GPX coordinate data but almost always location tags) and rate them. To process my selected raw images, I drag them onto a DxO PhotoLab Favorite. I do use other kinds of processing (e.g., photo stacking, panoramas, etc.) but infrequently enough that I don't have a specific separate workflow for them.

[Stefanjan]

Is it possible to make the folder icons smaller or remove them? That would close up the rows of subfolders somewhat  displaying more info at a glance. No worries if not. I can easily scroll.

You cannot remove the icons, they convey important info. But you can switch to smaller icons under Edit > Preferences > Application. Search for icon size.

Perfect! I changed "Tree icon size" from large to normal and that did the trick.