You can delete an image by selecting it in the Browser and going to Image > Delete (Move to Catalog/Session Trash) or Delete from Disk – with these options also available through right-clicking an image in the Browser.
The former option moves the source image to a trash folder, where it can be reviewed and then permanently deleted thereafter. The latter option removes the image from your catalog/session and deletes it permanently from disk, similar to how permanently deleting a file in Finder or Explorer works.
When navigating through a User Collection such as an Album, you will also have the option to delete the image from that collection only - this is shown under the Image menu as Delete (from Album "Album Name") - this also becomes the default behavior of the backspace/delete key when navigating through Albums, to prevent images mistakenly being deleted from your catalog or disk.
Warnings when deleting images
If you want to check that the warning dialogs for moving and deleting images from the Catalog/Session Trash or disk are enabled, go to Capture One -> Preferences (Mac) or Edit -> Preferences (Windows). It is generally not recommended to disable these dialogs, especially for the Warn when deleting images from disk option. In that case, images are deleted permanently and cannot be recovered from the system trash.
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Comments
3 comments
This whole article is poorly organized and needs revision. It begins by saying that "variants cannot be separated from the source image" so, therefore, "moving or deleting that variant will also move or delete the source image." Then it immediately contradicts that statement by saying that "there is an option you can delete a variant without deleting the source image."
That means that variants CAN be separated from their sources and that you're actually describing a default behavior, not an absolute. Yet you make it sound like an absolute when it's actually optional. And then you repeat the message in a minor variation that almost had me convinced that there was no reason to continue reading. That would have been unfortunate, as the entire first paragraph's message is wrong.
And I would argue that most people would prefer that deleting one variant NOT delete all variants and the original. I personally consider that to be one of the worst design decisions I've encountered in my 30 years in IT. That is horribly counter-intuitive behavior and something that would only make sense at 3 AM after your 15th cup of coffee.
Logically, it would be far more sensible and intuitive to be able to delete one variant at a time, as needed/desired, without impacting any other variants or the source. They are, after all, only copies of the original. If one wants to delete an entire group of source-and-variants in one step, that should occur ONLY when deleting the source file.
This becomes even more of an issue when considering that restoring/undeleting images is NOT the simple process that your documentation claims it to be. There may be cases in which it is that simple, but I have not encountered such situations. I have, on several occasions, encountered situations where it was far more complex and aggravating than claimed.
@Dave Thanks for your comment – you are completely right. The article has been re-written, as the information provided at the time was simply incorrect and not in-line with the current behavior of the software.
Good morning from Brazil!
I'm a C1 22 user. Until some weekends ago I was able to move a set of images to trash after select (with labels) those I want to keep, press command + A and then press command + delete and all the images goes to the trash folder. Now just one image is deleted. Any suggestion to delete more than one selected image? Many Thanks!
Carlos Pilotto.
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