Folders and Catalogues
Apologies for what must seem to be a very simple question, but I am new to Capture One 20 Pro and still finding my way round. I have read threads from the support pages on importing and cataloguing, and cannot find a solution to what is troubling me.
I am not using Sessions at the moment and want to keep things as simple as possible so have created a single Catalogue for the my photos.
I have located a single Catalogue on a connected and networked external hard drive and want to use this as my main depository for photo edits. I already have a long list of folders and subfolders that live on my iMac's local drive and these are arranged in Year, Month and Date order and located in my Macintosh HD/ Users/ ... /Pictures section of the Mac. They contain all of my photos in RAW format. I want to be able to browse these photos inside Capture One, but I am unable to do so as the 'Folders' part of the 'Library' view doesn't allow me to synchronise the contents of those folders in one go (as would be the case in Lightroom).
The only way I can see of getting the file tree and its content navagable in the Library view is to import each sub-folder, one at a time, and then import the content of each sub-folder individually. This can't be right? Is there a better way?
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Hello Walter. Thank you for your response.
Unfortunately, this doesn't build the folder structure in the Library tab. I've tried selecting the root folder where the RAW files live and made sure that there weren't any filters included in the import search, and imported a single image that appears in the folder: "RAW Files/2014/08_September/15", for example, and the image appears in Recent Imports and the photos contained in "In Catalogue" at the top of the Library tab, but I was expecting the associated folder and its parent folders to appear in the Folder section of this tab. They don't. I am "Importing To" the catalogue and not The Current Location (not that either seems to do what I was expecting). Is this something that Capture One doesn't do?
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I am choosing "Inside Catalogue" in the import dialogue. It seems logial to me that I want to import the images FROM my RAW Files folder INTO the Catalogue. I have 2696 images showing in the In Catalogue areas. I think I have a total of 13,000 images that live in the RAW Files folders. I have tried importing a single image to "Current location" to see if this does what I am expecting but this doesn't build the folders in the Folders section of the Library either.
"...stored inside the catalog folder under “Originals...” Where is this folder? I don't see this in the Library tab.
When using the Import function, I have noticed that there is a Filter applied by default that reduces the number of images that appear for import. If I 'Clear' this Filter the image library gets much larger. I'm not sure if my screen grab will come through, but I have attached it here. he folders structure that shows under my Macintosh HD are ones that I have had to manually add by using the '+' and then Sync'ing each folder. Capture One then adds the images that exist ing the folder. To do this to every folder is going to be a bit of a drag.
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On the basis that I am really just staring out, I am happy to start again, and do it properly!! If I decided to start again, should I make a new Catalogue and delete the one already made?
Thank you for the information on exploring the contents of the Catalogue. There are approx. 2688 image files and fewer .XMP files in some of the sub-folders.
So, do you think if I choose "Current Location" during the import process, C1 will build the folder structure as I was hoping?
If I do not effectively import images into the Catalogue, how does the Catalogue function? Does it only hold the adjustments made to images rather than the images themselves?
I'm very grateful for your help and patience by the way.
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OK huge thanks to you Walter. I wil go through those steps tomorrow as it's now time for me to get on with making our supper!
In the meantime, keep safe and well and I'll let you know how I get on.
Thank you again.
Chris
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Hi Chris,
There are two ways of organising a catalogue. But in both cases, I would strongly suggest to keep your catalogue on your internal hard disk, and not in an external HDD or SSD.
The first way is called "managed catalogue", which means that all the pictures are in the catalogue, i.e. in the internal hard disk. In that case, you should import all your pictures from where they are into the managed catalogue. Import from source : name of the parent folder, include subfolders. Import to : Inside catalogue, once you have created it of course.
The second way is called "referenced catalogue", which means that your pictures stay where they are (could be an external disk), and only the adjustments/metadata are in the catalogue. Import from source : name of the parent folder (in the external hard disk), include subfolders. Import to : current location.
I suggest to proceed through the second way, otherwise your internal disk will be very quickly overwhelmed by the number of images.
I hope this will complement what Walter said above.
Good luck !
Robert
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I suggest the same as Walter and Robert (the second from Robert is called "referenced" catalog) and also suggest to store the catalog on internal disk, even if the raw image files are external.
regards
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BeO
I suggest the same as Walter and Robert (the second from Robert is called "referenced" catalog) and also suggest to store the catalog on internal disk, even if the raw image files are external.
regards
Thanks BeO for correcting the mistake !!
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Finally managed to test out the referenced catalogue route as described by you all, and all is well. The images have been referenced to the catalogue and the import went swimmingly as did the formation of the folders in the Library tab (although I did have to synchronise the root Pictures folder as it seemed to get a little stuck halfway through). I have created a catalogue on my Mac and for the time being retained the folders that contain my RAW files also on the Mac (it was a good opportunity to cull a load of ancient photos). I'll see how quickly the Mac gets filled up and whether I should locate these remotely, but for the time being I am very pleased.
Thank you for your help.
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