File System mode

File System mode lets you access and edit uncataloged photos. It is a quick way to access any supported image file on your computer, without needing to import images into a catalog. It's a good way to access photos that you may not keep, but when you don't import photos, you'll miss out on some features that are only possible when working on images in a Corel AfterShot Pro catalog. If you start working with photos in File System mode, you have the option of importing the photos to a catalog later.

For more information about File System mode, see Understanding the Library.

Image settings in File System mode

Since the File System mode does not maintain a persistent catalog, the image adjustment and metadata settings are written to a Corel AfterShot Pro XMP file after each adjustment. Each time you browse to a new folder, Corel AfterShot Pro will scan the folder, removing any files from Corel AfterShot Pro that have been deleted from your computer, adding any new images found, and refreshing the settings for all existing files with the latest settings found in the XMP files. This ensures that what you see in Corel AfterShot Pro in File System Mode matches exactly what is saved on your computer. This also means that the edit history (as seen in the History palette) is reset between each session.

Note: If you're editing in File System mode and Library mode, it can cause issues — edits to photos may not be visible if you edit the same file in both File System mode and Library mode (the information is written to the file in a different way). Therefore, it is recommended that after you import a file into a Library catalog, you always access the file from the Library.