Import photos
Importing adds photos to a catalog. You choose whether DarkRay copies the files into a library folder or leaves them where they are. Either way it never changes the originals.
Import a folder or files
Section titled “Import a folder or files”- Choose File › Import… (Ctrl+Shift+I by default).
- Under Destination Catalog, pick the catalog. It starts as the one you are in.
- Under Source, click Folder… to take every photo in a folder and its subfolders, or Files… to pick individual files. The Import button counts what it found.
- Under Method, choose Copy files into library or Add in place.
- Click Import.
A progress bar counts the files. Cancel stops after the current file, and the photos already added stay. A file DarkRay can’t read is skipped and listed when the import ends; the rest are added.
When it finishes, the grid shows Previous Import: the photos that import added.
Copy or add in place
Section titled “Copy or add in place”| Method | What happens |
|---|---|
| Copy files into library (the default) | Each file is copied into your library folder, and the copy is cataloged. The originals on the card or drive are untouched. |
| Add in place | The files are cataloged where they are. Nothing is copied or moved. |
With Copy files into library, Organize into subfolders sets how the copies are filed, by the date each photo was taken. The Preview line shows an example path.
| Layout | Example |
|---|---|
| Year / Month / Day (the default) | 2025/01/15 |
| Year / Month | 2025/01 |
| Year | 2025 |
| Year / Month Name | 2025/January |
| Into one folder (no subfolders) | all in one folder |
DarkRay remembers your last method and layout. You can set where copies go, and the starting
method and layout, under File › Preferences… › Import. The default Copy destination is
Pictures/darkray in your home folder.
What can be imported
Section titled “What can be imported”RAW files from most cameras (for example CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, DNG, RAF, RW2, ORF), JPEG, PNG, TIFF, BMP and WebP, and OpenEXR and HDR files. Other files in a folder are ignored, and links to other folders are not followed.
A file that is already in the catalog is not added twice.
Add a folder instead
Section titled “Add a folder instead”File › Add Folder… adds a folder in place and keeps it in step with the disk. Pick it, and DarkRay reads it, shows how many photos it found, and adds them in place when you click Add. Cancel leaves the catalog as it was. See Folders and sync for what happens afterward.
Technical details: what an import does for a copied file
A copy is verified byte for byte before it takes its final name. If a file with the same content is already at the destination, DarkRay reuses it, so an import you run twice adds nothing twice. A name still held by another cataloged photo is not reused: the new copy is named with the file’s fingerprint added.
After an import, the folder the photos now live in is registered in the Folders panel if no registered folder covers it: the library folder for copies, the source folder for photos added in place. Thumbnails are built during the import. If content indexing is on, new photos are indexed for content search in the background afterward.