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Library, Import and Edit preferences

These pages of File › Preferences… shape the grid, merges, imports and the Edit view. For how the dialog works, see Change preferences.

Library

Section titled “Library”

Grid

Setting Default What it does
Thumbnail resolution 256 128, 256 or 512 pixels. Larger is sharper when the grid is zoomed in, and slower to build; thumbnails rebuild in the background after a change.
Grid cell size 180 px 80 to 512 px. The grid’s size slider changes the same setting.
Show capture info on Two lines under each thumbnail: exposure settings and resolution. Off makes cells shorter, so more rows fit.

Previews

Setting Default What it does
Show progress above 3 images Rebuilding fewer previews than this stays silent in the status bar.

Merge

Setting Default What it does
Merged files go Next to sources Next to sources writes beside the reference frame. Folder writes to the merge folder.
Merge folder none Used when merged files go to a folder.
EXR compression ZIP ZIP, PIZ or None. All are lossless. PIZ is smaller for grainy images, ZIP faster to read.
Default deghost Medium The amount the HDR window starts with: Off, Low, Medium or High.
Default projection Spherical What the panorama window starts with.
Stack merges with their sources on The result becomes the top of a stack holding its frames.

See Merge photos.

Import

Section titled “Import”
Setting Default What it does
Copy files into the catalog on On: Import copies each file to the destination and catalogs the copy. Off: it catalogs the files where they are and never writes to them.
Copy destination ~/Pictures/darkray Where copies are written.
Subfolder layout Year / Month / Day How copies are foldered by capture date: Year / Month / Day, Year / Month, Year, Year / Month Name, or one folder with no subfolders. The Import dialog starts on this and remembers what you last used.

Edit

Section titled “Edit”
Setting Default What it does
Preview cache size 2048 px The long edge of the cached preview used by Survey and the Edit preview: 1600, 2048 or 3072 px. Changing it makes existing previews stale; they rebuild.
GPU compute Auto Auto uses CUDA when a device is available. On uses the GPU; without a CUDA device DarkRay still runs on the CPU and says so in the log. Off uses the CPU only and also stops AI from using the GPU. Restart required.
Background 20% gray The fill behind the photo in Loupe and Edit, from black to white in 10% steps. It never reaches the render, but it changes how you read tone, so a neutral mid gray is safest.