Help

What each function does, and what it does to your files

Reference pages, one per screen in the app, in the order the panel appears and under the app's own labels. Not what a module is for — that is what the feature pages are — but what happens when you press the thing you are looking at.

This section exists because a customer went looking for it, could not find it, and wrote to say so. He was right: there was nothing here.

The one rule behind all of it

No screen in FolioSort deletes anything. Files are copied, moved, or sent to the system Trash where you can get them back, and every run is one batch in Activity that can be undone — Pro keeps the last 50, and the free tier keeps the most recent one. Scanning and previewing never write at all, so you can always find out what a run would do before agreeing to it.

A few screens write into the photos themselves, because that is their job: the Google Photos import, Dates, Places, AI Tags, Edit metadata and the ratings from AI Cull. Each shows what it will write before it writes it, puts camera RAW changes in a sidecar next to the file, and has its own Undo. Their pages say exactly which fields are touched.

Start here

WizardThe guided first run: picking a job, the folder structure and folder handling steps, and what the Free batch limit means. What the free plan does100 files a run and as many runs as you like, the window at 101 files, the formats that need Pro, and the one-time allowances. Activating your licenseWhere the key goes on Mac and Windows, what every activation error means, moving to another computer, and offline use.

Library

LibraryAdding folders, the Home, Timeline, Map, People, Events and Places views, greyed photos on a drive not connected, the viewer and rotate.

Organize

OrganizeRead the dates inside your photos and write a folder tree from them. Source, destination, templates, verification. RenameSeven naming presets and what each produces, templates and regex, the fallback date, and the preview. EventsEvents and sub-events by time range, why the times are UTC, Auto-group, suggested events, and what happens to unmatched files.

Import & merge

Google PhotosRepair a Takeout export: what the matched and orphan counts mean, and what the import writes into your photos. MergeCombine any number of drives into one de-duplicated library, with a review step before anything is written. AI CullEvery key, how stacks of near-identical shots work, what Write for Lightroom puts in your files, and the first 20 photos of each folder. Import from CardPull a shoot off an SD card straight into the organized structure. · feature page Exit Cloud KitTake a whole library out of a cloud service, metadata included. · feature page

Clean up

DuplicatesFind copies that are not byte-identical, review every group, and send only what you confirm to the Trash. BlurryThe sensitivity slider, what the keep and trash marks mean, the space you would free, and how to restore a batch. ScreenshotsHow an image is scored as a screen capture, the sensitivity slider, KEEP and TRASH, and undoing a batch. Best ShotHow near-identical shots are grouped, why one is marked Best, the fine-tune sliders, and what goes to the Trash. Empty FoldersOffer the folders a move left behind to the Trash — never remove them on their own. · feature page

Find with AI

AI SearchBuilding the index, searching by description, text found inside photos, screenshots, and why nothing is uploaded. Find a PersonReference photos, naming people, groups, correcting a wrong match, and where the face data is kept.

Tag & fix

AI TagsThe Find, Choose and Write steps, strictness, your own tags, where the keywords are written, and how to undo them. PlacesPlace names from GPS, and a location for camera photos without one from the phone photos taken around them. DatesFill missing dates, shift a camera's clock, set a date on scans, which tags are written, and Undo. Edit metadataEditing many photos at once, pending changes, the Review screen, and which tags each field is written to.

Protect

Backup CopyChoosing the library and the backup drive, how each copy is verified, what an update run copies, and what Undo removes. Archive HealthQuick check and Deep check, what each verdict means, comparing with the backup, and restoring a damaged file.

Automate

WorkflowsChain up to five steps over the same folders, each feeding the next. · feature page Smart FoldersCreating a saved search, restricting it to one person, refreshing, and why originals are never moved.

Labs

LabsThe six beta tools — Resize & Shrink, Bulk Crop, Combine Photos, Reminder Photos, Moved Files Map, Ask Your AI — and what each writes to disk.

Settings

SettingsVerify after transfer and its cost in time, what happens when a file already exists, tidying empty folders, rebuilding the search indexes.

Not here yet

Twenty-three screens have a reference page; the rest link to their feature page for now, which explains what the module is for rather than what each control does. The remaining reference pages are being written in the same shape. If you want one sooner, say which — feedback@foliosort.app reaches the person who wrote the code.

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FAQ

Before you start reading

Where is the FolioSort documentation?

At foliosort.app/help. There is one reference page per screen, written in the order the panel appears and using the app's own labels, saying what each control does and what it changes on disk. Twenty-three screens are written so far — Wizard, Library, Organize, Rename, Events, Google Photos Takeout, Merge, AI Cull, Duplicates, Blurry, Screenshots, Best Shot, AI Search, Find a Person, AI Tags, Places, Dates, Edit metadata, Backup Copy, Archive Health, Smart Folders, Labs and Settings — plus two guides, one on activating a license and one on what the free plan does; the remaining screens link to their feature page while their reference pages are written.

Can FolioSort delete my photos by accident?

No screen deletes anything outright. Files are copied, moved, or sent to the system Trash where you can restore them, and every run is one batch in Activity that can be undone — Pro keeps the last 50, and the free tier keeps the most recent one. Scanning and previewing write nothing at all, so you can always see what a run would do before agreeing to it.

Does any part of FolioSort need an internet connection?

Your photos never need it. Two things go online: reverse geocoding, which turns the GPS coordinates already in your photos into city and country names and looks up only the coordinates, never the photo or the file name; and, with a paid license, a check of the key at most once a day, which keeps working for 7 days offline. Everything else, including all the AI search, face and text recognition, runs on your machine with the network off.

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