The collection tree

The sidebar lists your places in four parts: Library, Collections, Sources and Devices.

LIBRARY holds All Photographs, every source at once, and your saved searches in Browse. COLLECTIONS holds the collections you make in Frames. SOURCES lists each Photos library and folder, with its albums and folders beneath it, and DEVICES appears while a card is in the reader.

A source and its tree. Click a source’s name or its status line to browse every photograph it holds; the search strip then opens with the source’s name. Click its triangle to open or close its albums and folders. Double-click its name for its settings. Each tree starts closed, and Frames remembers which you opened. A folder source’s tree starts with the folders inside it, since the source’s own row already stands for the folder you chose.

A disconnected drive or a folder whose permission lapsed keeps its tree, dimmed, and you can still browse it; Grant Access… beside its status restores the permission. A folder added on another device shows Choose Folder…, and the Photos library without access shows Open Settings; neither has a tree until then.

Select a folder to include its entire subtree. Album rows show photograph counts; folder rows omit them to avoid counting photographs in several albums more than once. Click a folder’s chevron to expand it, or its row to select it.

Filter. The field at the top finds collections, saved searches and every source’s albums and folders by name. A match opens its source and the folders above it while the filter stands, and clearing the filter puts the list back as you left it. The sources’ triangles do nothing while a filter stands.

Sidebar visibility. Resize the sidebar by its edge. Use ⌥⌘S or the first button in the status bar’s right-hand group to hide or show it. Frames remembers visibility, scroll position, open sources and folders, and filter text.

Photograph filters. The control band has RAW only, Edited, Kept, Monochrome and minimum-rating filters. Kept shows only photographs marked Keep. Edited and Monochrome use the selected version. The rating filter remembers its threshold when disabled. Browse filters persist across mode changes. When the filters hide every photograph, the empty grid says how many and offers Clear Filters, and Export stays in the band, disabled.

Order. Right-click a source and choose Sort Albums › Library Order (the default Photos order) or Name. Name lists folders before albums and uses Finder-style ordering, such as 01 - Madrid, 04 - Berlin, 10 - Madrid. Each source keeps its own order.

Hidden rows. Right-click a collection and choose Hide in Frames to hide it and its subtree; on iPhone and iPad, touch and hold it. Right-click its source and choose Show Hidden Albums to see hidden rows dimmed; on iPhone and iPad, touch and hold the source. Searching for a hidden collection also reveals it dimmed. Hidden choices persist across windows and sessions, and reach your other devices when Sync is on.

Ordering and hiding affect only Frames. Hidden collections retain their photographs and can still be browsed when revealed.

Saved searches. Library lists each saved search with a live count. Saved searches belong to Frames and are not sent to Photos. With decision sync enabled, their names, queries, edits and removals travel between devices.

On iPhone and iPad. The Library draws the same parts, each source’s tree under its row. Compact indentation leaves more room for folder names, and long names can use two lines. Sources start closed: tap a source’s chevron to open its albums and folders, and tap its name to browse the whole source. Touch and hold a source for its menu: Sync Now or Scan Now, Rescan, Improve Previews, Analyse for Search, its order, hidden albums, new albums and folders, renaming and removal. A source that needs something done shows Choose Folder…, Grant Access… or Open Settings on its row; a folder added on another device also says which device added it and what choosing the same folder here brings. Choosing a place closes the Library, and opening it again opens the source that holds the place. Typing in the filter opens every source with a match. Tap SOURCES or COLLECTIONS to fold that part away; a folded heading shows how many rows it holds. The Library opens the way you left it, after you close it and after Frames quits.

Library and Search. In Browse, swipe sideways across the Library’s list to move between Library and Search, as the two buttons at the top do. A swipe to the left shows Search and a swipe to the right shows Library; the list follows your finger.

Organising. Collection menus can also create, rename, move and delete Photos albums and folders. These operations change Photos and can sync to other devices. See Organising the library.

See Saved searches, Organising the library, Searching photographs, The Explore drawer.