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Photo Mechanic Plus Changelog

What's new in Photo Mechanic Plus 6.0 Build 7102

Feb 27, 2024
  • Fixed: Big Sur and Catalina startup issues.
  • Fixed: Help Search input not working.
  • Fixed: Ingest task in Preview window not syncing with Ingest task in main window.
  • Fixed: Airdrop menu item missing.

New in Photo Mechanic Plus 6.0 Build 6890 (Oct 26, 2023)

  • Fixed: Ingest rename sequence is counting files that have already been ingested when Incremental Ingest is enabled.

New in Photo Mechanic Plus 6.0 Build 6880 (Oct 13, 2023)

  • Fixed: Ingest From Folder incorrectly applying sequence number, resulting in incorrect sort order.
  • Fixed: Error loading metadata message when making metadata edits for RAW files with zero byte XMP sidecar files.
  • Added: SmugMug uploader now supports keywords from XMP sidecar files.

New in Photo Mechanic Plus 6.0 Build 6856 (Sep 20, 2023)

  • Added: The {iseq} variable can now go above 65535.
  • Added: Automatically reduce the number of simultaneous upload connections when the server returns a maximum number of clients error.
  • Added: Update Incremental Ingest file during Ingest. Prevents duplicate files from being ingested if the program crashes or hangs during the Ingest process.
  • Added: PhotoDeck upload template version 2.0.
  • Added: Improved accuracy of checkbox wording in Find and Replace Criteria.
  • Fixed: Locked/Tagged photos are not being Ingested first when renaming with the {seqn} variable.
  • Fixed: FTP v6 upload template now supports alternative date format in directory listing.
  • Fixed: IPTC lists don't save until the program is quit.
  • Fixed: Unable to move locked/protected/read-only files.
  • Fixed: The upload progress bar in the Tasks Info panel isn't updating.
  • Fixed: FTP v6 upload template destination path isn’t correct on some NAS devices.
  • Fixed: Photo Mechanic slows down significantly when attempting to add or modify metadata with large amounts of Adobe Camera RAW settings in XMP sidecar files. Speed is improved somewhat when RAW Rendering via the Adobe DNG Converter is enabled. Speed is improved significantly when it is disabled.
  • Fixed: Photo Mechanic changes Date Created value for PNG files after assigning a color class or star rating.
  • Fixed: Save As operation not including all XMP namespace fields.
  • Fixed: "Show soft rotation indicator" preference should not also hide color label and star rating when disabled.
  • Fixed: Application crash when attempting to render HEIC files from OnePlus 10 Pro 5G.
  • Removed: Twitter upload template.

New in Photo Mechanic Plus 6.0 Build 6784 (Mar 24, 2023)

  • Added: Allow Licensors phone number type to include an unspecified option.
  • Added: Disregard case on sorting of IPTC lists.
  • Added: Support for more file types in Live Ingest. Live Ingest now supports all still media types. It also pairs HIF files with RAW and WAV for renaming.
  • Added: Visual context for individual file upload status to Uploader window.
  • Added: {rand3} and {rand4} variables for 000-999 and 0000-9999 ranges.
  • Fixed: Uploaders - the number of "Sent:" files does not accurately reflect the number of successful transmissions.
  • Fixed: Thumbnails do not appear correctly in exported web gallery when # symbol exists in image file name and 'Use original filenames for images' checkbox is selected.
  • Fixed: Live ingest "STOP" takes too long on slow NAS volumes.
  • Fixed: Metadata template does not evaluate variables within code replacements.
  • Fixed: Live Ingest creating bad jpeg files when wait times are too short.
  • Fixed: Upload progress bar can jump around unexpectedly.
  • Fixed: Crash caused by Amazon S3 uploader when using the maximum number of connections.
  • Fixed: Ingest & Live Ingest Folder name field is not evaluating hot codes from nested variables.
  • Fixed: Retouchup uploader - display notification when selected retouching level isn't supported.
  • Fixed: {altitude} variable no longer returns a value for some files.
  • Fixed: Ignore "Whole words" setting in Find and Replace when more than one term is used.
  • Fixed: Photoshelter uploader will cause high CPU usage when no account is added.• Added: Warning when deleting folders from Navigator and Favorites.• Fixed: Contact sheet does not update when right-click dragging a selection to the Navigator/Favorites and choosing to move files.• Fixed: Close contact sheet tab after deleting folder in Navigator and Favorites.

New in Photo Mechanic Plus 6.0 Build 6645 (Nov 17, 2022)

  • Both:
  • Added: new 'Alternative Text' and 'Extended Description' fields. These fields are active by default. You can customize the Metadata (IPTC) Info and Metadata (IPTC) Template dialogs to hide them if you wish from the Accessibility page of the Preferences dialog.
  • Fixed: Find operation on filenames only for Contact Sheets opened from Navigator/Favorites takes 5-10 minutes for Progress: Gathering Metadata.
  • Fixed: Folder path preview under "in specified directory" in FTP Uploader window does not show destination folder when too many characters.
  • Fixed: Dropbox template fails to update the access token during upload.
  • Fixed: Pre-existing embedded XMP metadata in RAW file is not copied to the XMP sidecar file Photo Mechanic initially creates.
  • Fixed: XMP sidecar is disassociated from RAW with XMP reliant workflow when rotating or other operations.
  • Fixed: SFTP upload speed is much slower than other templates.
  • Fixed: No error message appears when Uploaders fail to create a copy of transmitted photos.
  • Fixed: Reverse Geocache preventing users from getting latest database changes.
  • Windows:
  • Added: Allow Uploader/FTP window to open when no contact sheet tab exists.
  • Added: Missing shortcut for selecting images with no color class. Note: Windows Input Method switching may interfere with the functioning of the shortcut (Ctrl+Shift+0) and may have • to be changed in the Keyboard Control Panel's "Input language hot keys."
  • Fixed: MAPI error when trying to use SMTP in Send Photos via Email feature when MAPI is not installed or no client MAPI application is available.

New in Photo Mechanic Plus 6.0 Build 6552 (Sep 27, 2022)

  • Both:
  • Fixed: Browsing keywords that contain a quotation mark fail to produce results.
  • Fixed: Anchored substring searches (start ^) not working correctly.
  • Fixed: Image containing keyword starting, containing, or ending with backslash character not returnable in Filter or Browse tab.
  • Fixed: Country Code and ISO Country Code fields no longer save variables when Metadata Template is closed and reopened.
  • Added: Pagination to upload templates.
  • Added: Variable {kelvin} returns Kelvin temperature in AWB (certain Nikon cameras).
  • Added: Handle EXIF data with type 13 (TIFF_IFD_TYPE).
  • Fixed: Box.com uploader fails to verify authentication code.
  • Fixed: "Save Photos As" window always loads 'Use embedded JPEG' for "When using RAW" option from snapshot.
  • Fixed: Default values for Caching and Render Cache Preferences should match suggestions.
  • Fixed: Uploaders save a copy of the photos regardless of whether or not the transmission was successful.
  • Fixed: Metadata update corrupts some TIFF files.
  • Fixed: Retouchup uploader does not connect.
  • Fixed: Contact sheets do not start at the top when replacing an existing contact sheet.
  • Windows:
  • Fixed: Print Settings - Contact Sheet: portions of labels not appearing.

New in Photo Mechanic Plus 6.0 Build 6496 (Jun 2, 2022)

  • Both:
  • Fixed: Crash with MOV and MPG4 files that don't have mdat blocks.
  • Fixed: Improper display of some Chinese characters.
  • Windows:
  • Fixed: Copy and Paste shortcuts do not work when renaming from Contact Sheet.

New in Photo Mechanic Plus 6.0 Build 6474 (Apr 28, 2022)

  • Fixed: JPEGs with no XMP metadata fail to add new XMP metadata when requested.
  • Fixed: issues where some HEIC or HIF files fail to update XMP, or could be damaged in very rare circumstances.
  • Fixed: issue with handling rotation for HEIC files that are missing the ‘irot’ box.
  • Fixed: issue with recognizing XMP in some HEIC files from Samsung Galaxy phones causing multiple XMP blocks to be added.
  • Fixed: {aspect} and {aspt} now honor image rotation when used for sorting.
  • Fixed: removed non-functional 'Allow edits via keyboard shortcuts' checkbox from Live Slide Show.
  • Fixed: Re-enabled ability to rotate JPEG files that are improperly formatted with rotation tag in Exif instead of IFD0 by ON1 software.
  • Fixed: Folders that begin with '..' report a permissions issue.
  • Fixed: Keywords filter now sorts hierarchically when preference is set.
  • Fixed: Proxy Storage setting gets stuck on external storage when switched back to internal storage.

New in Photo Mechanic Plus 6.0 Build 6424 (Apr 11, 2022)

  • Fixed:
  • Remove from Catalog contextual menu item disabled when items are offline.
  • 'Select Date Range' hangs on images with capture times before 1970.

New in Photo Mechanic Plus 6.0 Build 6475 (Mar 20, 2022)

  • Both:
  • Added: Reindexing a catalog provides more feedback during the process and also cleans up catalogs that have common issues.
  • Added: Notify user in Catalog Management window when a catalog cannot be opened successfully. Correcting the problem and clicking the new "Retry Failed Catalogs" button will attempt to reopen catalog(s) that had previously failed.
  • Added: Ability to use relative pathing for folder naming in Save As and Copy/Move dialogs.
  • Added: XML and KMZ exporters enforce file extensions.
  • Added: Country Code field in all instances now enforces length and encoding limits. Country Codes must be plain ASCII text and either two or three characters long. If they contain accented characters or exceed the limits then they will be omitted. This is to conform with the IPTC standard.
  • Added: Support for the OM-1 camera.
  • Added: Error/Warning messages output by the JPEG library are now logged, along with the filename that had the problem.
  • Fixed: Crashing issue when updating corrupted IPTC records in JPEG files.
  • Fixed: JPEG corruption issue with embedding GPS into a file with no existing Exif, XMP, and IPTC metadata.
  • Fixed: When files are deleted outside of the application from a folder viewed by a Contact Sheet in the application and the Contact Sheet is not rescanned, the caching system no longer continuously retries accessing the file. If no thumbnail has yet been created, an error bitmap is created which will remind the user to Rescan the Contact Sheet.
  • Fixed: An issue that would allow two cache worker threads to load metadata on the same file at the same time (duplicate work). Performance improved.
  • Fixed: An issue where PM may incorrectly update the wrong XMP block (containing technical metadata) in HEIC files created by iOS, causing other applications to fail to recognize the updated XMP.
  • Fixed: Copying/Moving items with extended attributes (Finder color tags) does not preserve attributes on destination items.
  • Fixed: Not parsing Exif ISO when using Standard Output Sensitivity or Recommended Exposure Index sensitivity types.
  • Fixed: Issues with rotation not properly recognized in NEF/NRW files created by Nikon CaptureNX2.
  • Fixed: Organizer delta updates/sorting are abysmally slow on large catalogs with large variability in keywords, headlines, object names, etc. Selecting a catalog for Search is 4x faster. Deselecting a catalog for Search is now 80x faster.
  • Fixed: Reintegrate no longer searches other disks for missing files when the last known location is on a disk that is offline.
  • Fixed: Unable to set GPS coordinates on Fuji RAF files with embedded coordinates.
  • Fixed: When using Adjust Capture Date and Time on a RAW file with embedded XMP and prefs set to only use XMP sidecar files, the embedded XMP would be preferred over the sidecar file.
  • Fixed: Export–PM Basic Gallery not displayed correctly in web browser when run locally.
  • Fixed: Twitter Uploader gives error when used with the Modifier Key to reuse the last setting.
  • Fixed: Filenames are prepended with an underscore when uploading to PhotoDeck.
  • Fixed: PhotoDeck upload template 2FA (two-factor authentication) failures.
  • Fixed: Changed wording of "Choose new location..." to "Update Folder Location..." based on user feedback.
  • Windows:
  • Fixed: Giving a folder a trailing space in the name renders the folder unusable until renamed in Navigator.
  • Fixed: Extended file paths causing problems in third party apps.
  • Fixed: Some paths will show extra characters ahead of the drive letter.
  • Fixed: Editing filenames on the Contact Sheet does not conform to Windows standard editing commands. Also, added Undo/Redo capability.
  • Fixed: Using Edit Photos from Image menu now launches images assigned to the same editor together rather than separated by file type.

New in Photo Mechanic Plus 6.0 Build 6245 (Jan 19, 2022)

  • Added: Loading code replacements now displays error message after OK button clicked in Set Code Replacements dialog.
  • Added: Support for .ACR sidecar files. Handling is OFF by default. Enable in the Files page of the Preferences dialog.
  • Added: Find/use star-rating in Fuji X-E4 raw files.
  • Added: Apple AAE file support for HEIC/HEIF files.
  • Added: Catalogs can allow their proxies folder to be stored on a different volume. We recommend that you read the documentation before using this feature.
  • Fixed: Catalog system fails to start up when the catalog state database is corrupted.
  • Fixed: Issue where upgrading a very old catalog to the latest version would fail. If you have an old catalog you may have to do a Reindex after the catalog upgrades finish.
  • Fixed: Offline images in Collections could not be rearranged.
  • Fixed: Removing an item from a Collection when in Arrangement sort causes Photo Mechanic Plus to hang.
  • Fixed: Inline renaming by using Tab key to move to next image to rename on Catalog-based Contact Sheet goes blank after a few renames.
  • Fixed: Search for rating <> 0 doesn't return any results.
  • Fixed: large log file produced when last selected catalog in Catalog Sync is forgotten.
  • Fixed: crash that would occur when the variable for a field was used in its field. Example: {copyright} used in the Copyright field. The crash would happen if the Metadata Template was applied during Ingest.
  • Fixed: Metadata Info window title does not indicate that metadata is from RAW when viewing metadata from RAW+JPEG pair.
  • Fixed: Cancelling changes in Licensors dialog still accepts the changes.
  • Fixed: Update IPTC/XMP tool not copying crops between RAW+JPEG pair.
  • Fixed: Some upload templates create a new transfer window for each process.
  • Fixed: SFTP upload template errors on special characters in destination path.
  • Fixed: PhotoShelter Replace option is not working.
  • Fixed: Swapped "Create" and "Cancel" buttons in Smugmug/Zenfolio New Gallery and New Folder windows.
  • Fixed: XML Exporter - parsing issue with the Public ID tag.
  • Fixed: Juicebox export template - unable to generate site when Pro path not set.
  • Fixed: Decoding TIFF files with more than four channels produces images that look incorrect.
  • Fixed: {hc} variable does not evaluate.
  • Fixed: More than one set of HotCodes not evaluating.
  • Fixed: Snapshots from GPS windows do not transfer with a Preference export/import.
  • Fixed: Watermarks applied during Save As are not appearing in the specified position.
  • Fixed: Catalog fails to generate proxy image for video files.
  • Fixed: Windows Installer shouldn’t install WebView2 runtime on Repair if already installed.
  • Fixed: Windows Installer runs action for WebView2 deployment when a newer version already exists.
  • Fixed: Keyboard focus in Contact Sheet not restored after interacting with toolbar.
  • Fixed: Select All does not report correct size info for selected items.
  • Fixed: Update/Replace WebBrowser control to use the Microsoft Edge browser.

New in Photo Mechanic Plus 6.0 Build 6026 (Aug 25, 2021)

  • Added: Ability to save GPS coordinates in XMP for PSD, HEIC, and HIF files.
  • Fixed: Catalog Upgrade required instead of optional. The 5997 build had a Catalog Upgrade that should have been required but was optional. This allowed some users to perform other maintenance tasks that would then fail.
  • Fixed: Auto-Ingest and Show Ingest Disks on mount of camera card fails to work with cards from various cameras.
  • Fixed: Quicktime GPS coordinates in MOV files were being incorrectly interpreted as DDD.D format regardless of actual ISO 6709 layout (e.g. DDDMMSS.S).
  • Fixed: Zero-byte XMP files are no longer created when out of disk space.
  • Fixed: Handling of Slack-modified HEIC files (Slack removes Exif and XMP).

New in Photo Mechanic Plus 6.0 Build 5997 (Aug 13, 2021)

  • Both:
  • Added: Show Collections to which an item belongs (added to the contextual menu in the Contact Sheet and Preview windows.)
  • Added: Allow more GPS coordinate formats for Map location searches. Quick Search ‘distance within’ queries now accept virtually all GPS coordinate formats.
  • Added: Flush status log messages before Scan Complete is displayed in Scan to Catalog.
  • Added: New option to slideshow to only allow the Escape key to quit the slideshow.
  • Added: Updated Nikon and Canon lens info.
  • Added: Dropbox uploader - Made sure that the new token and ID formats won't break the template. Dropbox will be updating their access tokens and ID formats in September. This update should address the upcoming change.
  • Added: Video upload for the following services: Amazon S3, Box, DF Studio, Dropbox, FTP, FTP v6, Flickr, SFTP, SmugMug.
  • Added: Option to link favicon in the PM Classic Export templates.
  • Added: FTPv6 template - Made directory listing optional.
  • Fixed: Catalog Sync should distinguish between offline and missing files.
  • Fixed: Arrangements in Collections were broken.
  • Fixed: Renaming a folder by appending new text onto the existing name fails to update the catalog correctly.
  • Fixed: Scan to Catalog: now excludes all user AppData directories on Windows, all user Library directories on macOS.
  • Fixed: Error while removing multiple offline items from catalog.
  • Fixed: Proxy generation preference always switches to ON when Photo Mechanic Plus is restarted.
  • Fixed: Catalog tabs sort filenames differently than Folder-based tabs. Requires an upgrade of each catalog in Catalog Maintenance.
  • Fixed: Catalog tabs don't sort color labels and ratings the same as folder-based tabs. Requires an upgrade of each catalog in Catalog Maintenance.
  • Fixed: Reintegrate Error - can't dup NilClass error was reported.
  • Fixed: Appending characters to a folder name makes the Catalog unable to find that folder when using the "Choose New Location" option.
  • Fixed: Spurious needs-reintegrate status while adding items to Catalog.
  • Fixed: Delay when adding to a Catalog while metadata scanning on Contact Sheet is still in progress.
  • Fixed: Low Quality proxy for some offline RAW files when paired with a JPEG and using RAW Rendering via the Adobe DNG Converter.
  • Fixed: Fix corruption on Samsung S10+ HEIC files when edited.
  • Fixed: Applying metadata to Apple HEIC file fails.
  • Fixed: Unable to read star ratings added to images in camera.
  • Fixed: PhotoShelter storage quota exceeded throws exception, logs a stack trace, but may not be informing the user. User is now informed of the issue.
  • Fixed: Unified GPS Coordinate formats. The display of GPS coordinates is now the same throughout the application.
  • Fixed: Zenfolio uploader will not connect with the user's account, does not fetch groups or galleries.
  • Fixed: Zenfolio uploader - now disables the Upload button until ready.
  • Fixed: Some TIFF files with an alpha channel just show the alpha channel image.
  • Fixed: Save as JPEG not updating file size when using the ‘to fit’ box.
  • Fixed: Gracefully handle cards incorrectly identified as fixed.
  • Fixed: GPS not being saved for movie files. The XMP sidecar file was not getting updated with GPS coordinates set by PM.
  • Fixed: libHEIF calls abort() when it encounters an error. It resulted in unexpected application termination.
  • Fixed: Tables in the Metadata Info and Metadata Template do not evaluate code replacements.
  • Fixed: Metadata edits for movies lost when editing a HEIC with the same base name as the movie file.
  • Fixed: Don’t erase cards from the Sony A1 after Ingest. Erasing the card causes this camera to have issues when the card is put back in the camera.
  • Fixed: Smugmug template - allow slashes for folder and gallery names.
  • Fixed: SmugMug uploader updated for compatibility with SmugMug's new RAW storage service.
  • Fixed: DF Studio upload template errors when parsing XML.
  • Fixed: SFTP template stalls when sending filenames with UTF-8 characters.
  • Fixed: Treat JPEG files that have a HEIC extension as a JPEG file.
  • Fixed: Reading format of GPS coordinates for QuickTime “location.ISO6709” values.
  • macOS:
  • Added: New audio mute toggle button to Preview video player.
  • Fixed: FTP and Upload windows will not open when the user’s /etc/hosts file does not exist.
  • Windows:
  • Added: MAPI support brought back to Windows.
  • Added: Progress bar on sending photos via email.
  • Fixed: Snapshot menu now scales with DPI of display.

New in Photo Mechanic Plus 6.0 Build 5820 (Aug 13, 2021)

  • Both:
  • Added: Show Collections to which an item belongs (added to the contextual menu in the Contact Sheet and Preview windows.)
  • Added: Allow more GPS coordinate formats for Map location searches. Quick Search ‘distance within’ queries now accept virtually all GPS coordinate formats.
  • Added: Flush status log messages before Scan Complete is displayed in Scan to Catalog.
  • Added: New option to slideshow to only allow the Escape key to quit the slideshow.
  • Added: Updated Nikon and Canon lens info.
  • Added: Dropbox uploader - Made sure that the new token and ID formats won't break the template. Dropbox will be updating their access tokens and ID formats in September. This update should address the upcoming change.
  • Added: Video upload for the following services: Amazon S3, Box, DF Studio, Dropbox, FTP, FTP v6, Flickr, SFTP, SmugMug.
  • Added: Option to link favicon in the PM Classic Export templates.
  • Added: FTPv6 template - Made directory listing optional.
  • Fixed: Catalog Sync should distinguish between offline and missing files.
  • Fixed: Arrangements in Collections were broken.
  • Fixed: Renaming a folder by appending new text onto the existing name fails to update the catalog correctly.
  • Fixed: Scan to Catalog: now excludes all user AppData directories on Windows, all user Library directories on macOS.
  • Fixed: Error while removing multiple offline items from catalog.
  • Fixed: Proxy generation preference always switches to ON when Photo Mechanic Plus is restarted.
  • Fixed: Catalog tabs sort filenames differently than Folder-based tabs. Requires an upgrade of each catalog in Catalog Maintenance.
  • Fixed: Catalog tabs don't sort color labels and ratings the same as folder-based tabs. Requires an upgrade of each catalog in Catalog Maintenance.
  • Fixed: Reintegrate Error - can't dup NilClass error was reported.
  • Fixed: Appending characters to a folder name makes the Catalog unable to find that folder when using the "Choose New Location" option.
  • Fixed: Spurious needs-reintegrate status while adding items to Catalog.
  • Fixed: Delay when adding to a Catalog while metadata scanning on Contact Sheet is still in progress.
  • Fixed: Low Quality proxy for some offline RAW files when paired with a JPEG and using RAW Rendering via the Adobe DNG Converter.
  • Fixed: Fix corruption on Samsung S10+ HEIC files when edited.
  • Fixed: Applying metadata to Apple HEIC file fails.
  • Fixed: Unable to read star ratings added to images in camera.
  • Fixed: PhotoShelter storage quota exceeded throws exception, logs a stack trace, but may not be informing the user. User is now informed of the issue.
  • Fixed: Unified GPS Coordinate formats. The display of GPS coordinates is now the same throughout the application.
  • Fixed: Zenfolio uploader will not connect with the user's account, does not fetch groups or galleries.
  • Fixed: Zenfolio uploader - now disables the Upload button until ready.
  • Fixed: Some TIFF files with an alpha channel just show the alpha channel image.
  • Fixed: Save as JPEG not updating file size when using the ‘to fit’ box.
  • Fixed: Gracefully handle cards incorrectly identified as fixed.
  • Fixed: GPS not being saved for movie files. The XMP sidecar file was not getting updated with GPS coordinates set by PM.
  • Fixed: libHEIF calls abort() when it encounters an error. It resulted in unexpected application termination.
  • Fixed: Tables in the Metadata Info and Metadata Template do not evaluate code replacements.
  • Fixed: Metadata edits for movies lost when editing a HEIC with the same base name as the movie file.
  • Fixed: Don’t erase cards from the Sony A1 after Ingest. Erasing the card causes this camera to have issues when the card is put back in the camera.
  • Fixed: Smugmug template - allow slashes for folder and gallery names.
  • Fixed: SmugMug uploader updated for compatibility with SmugMug's new RAW storage service.
  • Fixed: DF Studio upload template errors when parsing XML.
  • Fixed: SFTP template stalls when sending filenames with UTF-8 characters.
  • Fixed: Treat JPEG files that have a HEIC extension as a JPEG file.
  • Fixed: Reading format of GPS coordinates for QuickTime “location.ISO6709” values.
  • macOS:
  • Added: New audio mute toggle button to Preview video player.
  • Fixed: FTP and Upload windows will not open when the user’s /etc/hosts file does not exist.
  • Windows:
  • Added: MAPI support brought back to Windows.
  • Added: Progress bar on sending photos via email.
  • Fixed: Snapshot menu now scales with DPI of display.

New in Photo Mechanic Plus 6.0 Build 5820 (May 12, 2021)

  • Both:
  • Added: Catalog Sync now supports automatic creation of Collections representing Missing, Offline, and Newly Added files discovered during the Sync process.
  • Added: Allow customization of Catalog Preview Proxy size. If you change the size after having built a catalog, use the Full Sync mode of Catalog Sync to update your proxy images.
  • Added: Map Location Search command on Catalog menu. Makes it easy to view all images (that have GPS coordinates) within a specified distance from a chosen location.
  • Added: "Calculate Catalog Folder Size" button was added in the catalog options in Catalog Management to provide info about how much space is being taken by the database vs. the proxies.
  • Added: Show/Reveal in Collections command on the contextual menu in the contact sheet and Preview window which will list the collections (if any) that the item belongs and will allow you to display that collection directly.
  • Added: Optimize slow Catalog folder search.
  • Added: Revert button for contact sheets that have been refined via 'Only Search Contact Sheet Items'. Reverts to the results prior to the refined queries.
  • Added: Catalog reintegrate should do better when volume path changes. Reintegrate Forgotten Catalog will now search mounted volumes for folder hierarchies matching the original disk if the original disk is not found. This also improves support for moving catalogs between different machines and Operating Systems.
  • Added: Retain currently selected image(s) with widened queries in the same Catalog-based Contact Sheet tab.
  • Added: Retain size of the Active Catalogs pane in the Organizer between launches.
  • Added: SFTP Connections - Add option to force Key-Based Authentication.
  • Added: New 'From Clipboard' button in Set GPS Coordinates dialog that interprets text as GPS coordinates.
  • Added: Support for transparent layer for TIFFs. User-defined background color.
  • Added: “Add to Master” keyword list button to the Keywords panel which changes to “Overwrite Master” when the Modifier Key (Shift on Windows, Option on macOS) is held down. Add to Master will add the current list of keywords to the Master Keywords list. Overwrite will confirm that you want to replace the entire Master Keywords list with the list of keywords in the Keywords panel.
  • Added: “Load from Master” button in the Keywords panel now has a Modifier Key alternative that will “Merge from Master” which will only add the keywords from the Master Keywords list that don’t already exist in the Keywords panel.
  • Added: XMP is now embedded directly into HEIC and HIF files rather than using an XMP sidecar file.
  • Added: Allow fine grid when rotating a crop to be turned off. When the overlay grid is enabled it will be shown instead. If the overlay grid is also turned off, then no grid will be shown when rotating.
  • Added: iPhone 12 Max DNG file support. DNG files previously damaged from earlier versions can be fixed by using the Revert TIFF-based RAW command.
  • Added: Evaluate variables when Pasting IPTC snapshot to selected photos. Sequence, and Code Replacements are also evaluated.
  • Added: Treat WAV files as a known file type, for purposes of renaming and playback when they're not attached to an image.
  • Added: Rotate PMLib.log at startup.
  • Fixed: Renaming files with Find and Replace not updating Catalog correctly.
  • Fixed: Choose New Location in Organizer Folder Path tree may be appending a duplicate path component. No longer allows a sub-folder to be chosen as a new location for a parent folder.
  • Fixed: Catalog Sync incorrectly using sparse records to update metadata. Fixes the “Unreadable File Format” issue.
  • Fixed: Label variable not evaluating in Metadata Info dialog.
  • Fixed: Unable to copy or edit multiple photos, "Getting metadata" never completes.
  • Fixed: Contact Sheet view filters don't persist in Catalog-based tabs.
  • Fixed: Metadata field popup menus remove all instances of a string, including substring matches.
  • Fixed: Inconsistent Catalog menu items (Sync Catalogs... and Manage Catalogs...)
  • Fixed: Software Update link to download latest build is not HTTPS.
  • Fixed: Fixed: Unable to Import Uploader connection settings when no overall template setting exists.
  • Fixed: Rename examples do not show effect of 'Renaming method' in Files page of Preferences, specifically the always add digit/letter variants.
  • Fixed: Fixed issue with expanding XMP in HIF files.
  • Fixed: Wrong height/width for some DNG files (Apple proRAW).
  • Fixed: Unable to save BMP as JPEG.
  • Fixed: Duplicate XMP is now ignored in TIFF-based RAW files.
  • Fixed: Duplicate Image Description, Artist and Copyright tags are now ignored.
  • Fixed: Command Line activation no longer interrupted by the presence of Photo Mechanic 5 activation file.
  • Fixed: Crop cursor not updating when cursor moved to different regions of the active crop.
  • Fixed: FTP v6 upload template folder column browser now displays full path.
  • Fixed: Maintain state of Incremental Ingest when switching from 'From Selection' back to Disks.
  • Fixed: Large /etc/hosts file can prevent launch.
  • macOS:
  • Added: New keyboard shortcuts. Command-B will add (include) the selected images to the current Collection. Command-Ctrl-A will add the selected images to the current catalog(s) set to add/modify. Command-Ctrl-S will subtract (remove) the selected images from the current catalog(s) set to add/modify. Command-B no longer burns photos to disc.
  • Added: Buttons to allow stepping between video frames.
  • Added: New Export Video Clip feature. Users can set a poster frame (start) and then move the slider to the end point and export the range of video as a new video clip.
  • Added: New command-line switch to output the machine ID. --machine or -m will produce the machine ID.
  • Added: Contact Sheet toolbar becomes multi-line when there isn't enough room for all of the controls on a single line. Only the right-hand group is moved to the next line.
  • Fixed: New catalog contact sheet tabs (Search, Browse, Filter, Collection) sort popup menu shows "Capture Time" and not the default sort type.
  • Fixed: Loupe Cursor does not show preview after switching from another application.
  • Fixed: Collections with non-ASCII characters not displayed correctly in contextual menu.
  • Fixed: Pasting into catalog search requires hitting 'Return' key twice to initiate search.
  • Fixed: Images with certain embedded profiles do not print.
  • Fixed: macOS Big Sur: Unable to select radio button when mouse pointer is over lower half.
  • Fixed: Save As/Copy photos snapshots don't save/restore correctly.
  • Windows:
  • Added: New keyboard shortcuts. Control+B will add (include) the selected images to the current Collection. Control+Alt+A will add the selected images to the current catalog(s) set to add/modify. Control+Alt+S will subtract (remove) the selected images from the current catalog(s) set to add/modify. Control+B no longer burns photos to disc.
  • Added: New command-line switch to output the machine ID. /machine will produce the machine ID.
  • Fixed: Catalog tabs do not use default Sort method in Contact Sheet Preferences.
  • Fixed: Opening File picker from Metadata windows always goes to 'This PC'.
  • Fixed: Legacy MAX_PATH limitation.
  • Fixed: Export templates failing to copy folders.
  • Fixed: Opening a contact sheet on a server share produces a contact sheet window with no tab.
  • Fixed: Drag and drop opening of a server share folder fails with an error.
  • Fixed: Drag folder from Navigator to Favorites is not creating a Favorites entry.
  • Fixed: Contact Sheet path doesn't update after folder move in Navigator and Favorites.
  • Fixed: Cannot unpack certain preferences files. When preferences are exported with SMTP settings, the .PMX file cannot be unpacked.

New in Photo Mechanic Plus 6.0 Build 5560 (Feb 13, 2021)

  • Both:
  • Search Performance: For the speedup implemented in the previous build (R5551) to take effect, it may be necessary to perform the "Optimize SQL Query Planning" function in the Maintenance options in the Manage Catalogs panel. This should only take a few minutes on large catalogs. (To obtain the maximum performance from the R5551 optimizations, a Re-index is required.)
  • Added: Set GPS Coordinates can now interpret decimal GPS coordinates from the clipboard and enter them into the latitude and longitude fields for you. The coordinates in the clipboard must be in the decimal format (ddd.ddddd, ddd.ddddd) and can be negative or positive.
  • Added: SFTP Connections - Added an option to force Key-Based Authentication.
  • Fixed: PhotoShelter - multi upload session errors. The errors occur when a second upload session to a different address is initiated. The errors occur with the first upload session still in progress.
  • macOS:
  • No macOS-specific changes were made to the build.
  • Windows:
  • Fixed: Unable to move/copy folders from the Navigator and Explorer window to the Favorites panel.
  • Fixed: Opening server folders via the Navigator/Favorites, Open Contact Sheet… on the File menu, now correctly open in a tabbed Contact Sheet window.
  • Fixed: Drag and drop opening of a server share folder as a Contact Sheet fails with an error.
  • Fixed: FTP fails to upload claiming upload cache directory structure cannot be built.
  • Fixed: Catalogs stored on the root of a disk can now be opened again.

New in Photo Mechanic Plus 6.0 Build 5551 (Feb 11, 2021)

  • Both:
  • Improved: Searches for long phrases, such as Folder Path searches in the Organizer, have been optimized. Up to 30x faster on large catalogs. (A re-index of the catalog via its Maintenance options in the Manage Catalogs panel is recommended to obtain the full speedup. However performance should improve somewhat even without the re-index.)
  • Added: The Set GPS Coordinates dialog is now resizable.
  • Added: The list of catalogs to be set to search and add/modify is now scrollable such that they no longer take large amounts of vertical space in various parts of the UI.
  • Added: New folder patterns to ignore when building/syncing catalogs. You can now ignore folders that are created by various applications when they’re managing your photos. For example, */CaptureOne will ignore any Capture One folders. */Settings* will ignore any folders that start with the name Settings and will match names like Settings123 or Settings101.
  • Added: New append (+) checkbox to Persons Shown in the Metadata Template dialog.
  • Added: The Manage Shared Folders window now has Help built-in (see the Help item in the window and click its expander triangle to show the help text.)
  • Added: Updated PhotoDeck upload template to support two-factor authentication.
  • Fixed: Adjusting the Absolute date via the Date picker in the Adjust Capture Dates and Times dialog no longer adjusts the time as well when the date of the photo is outside of the editable bounds of dates supported by the OS.
  • Fixed: Active Catalogs now displays the total number of catalogs needing maintenance, not just the subset which were also checked for search.
  • Fixed: Catalog paths and row keys are now Unicode-normalized in order to fix issues with certain character sequences causing duplicate images when using Catalog Sync to update a catalog. Before using this build, users should remove all duplicate images (both sets) and then update to this version and perform a Catalog Sync (Quick Sync) to add back in the missing images. Additional Quick Sync operations should then not cause duplicates to be added.
  • Fixed: Preview generation hangs that would occur with TIFF files that have minor issues with formatting of tags that would cause the TIFF library to issue warnings.
  • Fixed: Issue with sharepoint mapping with UNC (server) paths. This issue could cause both startup and shutdown issues.
  • Fixed: Issue where catalog tabs will show "Unsupported Format Variant" when doing a shuffled slideshow.
  • Fixed: Metadata field popup menus remove all instances of a string, including substring matches.
  • Fixed: Sync Color Class with IPTC Urgency preference description updated to reflect more closely how the preference works.
  • macOS:
  • Fixed: Catalog dialogs become unresponsive after dragging files out of Photo Mechanic Plus.
  • Added: Better support for long file/folder paths.
  • Added: Restore Sidebar command on the View menu.
  • Fixed: Disc Burning is now an opt-in feature. Stability issues require that it be disabled by default. You can enable the feature in the General page of the Preferences dialog or just try to use the feature.
  • Fixed: Setting ratings/color class in Preview window on video items via keyboard shortcuts does not update the rating/color class widget visually.
  • Fixed: Ingest no longer lists installer disk image volume as a source for Ingest.
  • Windows:
  • Added: Long paths are now supported. If a folder located on a path that is longer than 260 characters is opened as a contact sheet, it will open and work normally, but it won’t participate in the “Open Recent” documents submenu on the File menu.
  • Fixed: Moving folders in the Navigator and Favorites now updates catalogs with the new location of a folder.
  • Fixed: Catalog/Collection-related contextual menu items now correctly work on a selection of photos.
  • Fixed: Using Ctrl-C to copy selected text in the Info text pane of the Preview window now works correctly.
  • Fixed: The default location for the cache folder is now the user’s local app data directory.
  • Fixed: "Photo Mechanic Shell Extension CreateProcess failed" error when opening a folder in Photo Mechanic from Windows Explorer.
  • Fixed: Missing Favorites cannot be removed permanently.
  • Fixed: Favorites can now copy and move folders.
  • Fixed: Metadata popup menus: recent metadata items get mixed in with submenus when the overall list of items is long. Now, recent metadata items get their own “Recent Items” submenu.
  • Fixed: Emailing on Windows does not produce separate email for each photo when desired.
  • Fixed: Separate emails now evaluate variables for each email.
  • Fixed: Unable to bring the Preview window forward after opening the Structured Keywords panel when the Structured Keywords panel is opened via keyboard shortcut.

New in Photo Mechanic Plus 6.0 Build 5438 (Feb 9, 2021)

  • Both:
  • Added: Optimize bulk add/remove from Catalog. On large catalogs, batches of images should be added to catalog up to 2x as fast, and removed from catalog up to 5x as fast.
  • Added: Slideshow and Live Slideshow now have an option to keep the mouse cursor visible during the slideshow.
  • Added: Preview contextual menu now supports adding/removing items to/from Collections.
  • Added: Preview contextual menu now has the Catalog Info submenu.
  • Added: Contextual menu normalization between platforms. The order of menu items is now consistent between macOS and Windows. Also added separators on either side of Delete/Move to Trash menu items to make them less likely to be chosen by mistake.
  • Fixed: Folders with an ampersand (&) now display correctly as a path in Scan to Catalog.
  • Fixed: Scan to Catalog is now tolerant of folders that cannot be accessed during the scanning process.
  • Fixed: Catalog Sync (Full mode) now detects and regenerates missing preview proxy images that have been unexpectedly deleted from disk, even if they are still extant in the cache index.
  • Fixed: Structured Keywords now draws Categories and Synonyms in different colors from Keywords. Synonyms are also drawn in boldface style.
  • Fixed:Non-constrained crops can now be moved again.
  • Fixed:Black edges on saved images with crops applied when the crop has only a very slight rotation angle (< 1º).
  • Fixed: If malformed path record files (.pmshare files) are encountered on disk, the Catalog system now purges and recreates them.
  • Fixed: Case where Catalog preview generation would stall, retrying the same file repeatedly if it could not be loaded.
  • Fixed: Text Exporter template now only adds .txt to a user-provided filename when no extension is provided.
  • Fixed: Copy menu item on contextual menus for Contact Sheet and Preview renamed to Copy/Move to better indicate the available options when choosing that menu item.
  • Fixed: Load Selection now preloads metadata (to get filenames) prior to attempting to select them.
  • Fixed: Catalog database is now closed when the catalog is Forgotten.
  • Fixed: Catalog proxies folder is now recreated if it is missing. (The proxy images themselves may be regenerated using a Full Catalog Sync.)
  • Fixed: Location Taken fields not participating in metadata recent items.
  • macOS:
  • Fixed: Catalog Preview generation stalls for some images (EPS-TIFF), application fails to shutdown gracefully.
  • Fixed: Setting ratings/color class in Preview window on video items via keyboard shortcuts does not update the rating/color class widget visually.
  • Windows:
  • Fixed: "Photo Mechanic Shell Extension CreateProcess failed." error when opening a folder in Photo Mechanic from Windows Explorer.
  • Fixed: Missing Favorites cannot be removed permanently.
  • Fixed: Metadata popup menus: recent metadata items get mixed in with submenus when the overall list of items is long. Now, recent metadata items get their own “Recent Items” submenu.