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The file browser is where most of your day-to-day work in 1Archive happens. Click any source in the sidebar to open its contents in the file browser. From there you can navigate folders, select files, apply annotations, and access context menu actions. 1Archive models its rating, flag, and color system after Lightroom, so the workflow will feel familiar if you use Adobe products.

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Grid view and list view

Toggle between views using the buttons in the toolbar at the top right of the file browser.
  • Grid view displays files as thumbnails. This is the best view for visual media (photos, video, and graphics) when you want to see the content at a glance.
  • List view displays files in rows with columns for name, type, size, date, rating, and flag. Use list view when you need to compare metadata or sort by a specific attribute.
Both views support the same selection methods, annotations, and context menu actions.

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Selecting files

Click a file to select it. The selection highlights the file and opens its metadata in the sidebar on the right (if the metadata sidebar is open).
Click the first file in a range, then hold Shift and click the last file. All files between the two clicks are selected.
Hold Cmd (macOS) or Ctrl (Windows) and click to add or remove individual files from your current selection without clearing it.
Click and drag on an empty area of the file browser to draw a selection rectangle. Any files whose thumbnails fall within the rectangle are selected when you release the mouse button. This is the fastest way to select a large group of files in grid view.
To select all files in the current folder, use Cmd+A (macOS) or Ctrl+A (Windows).

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Rating files

Ratings are a 1–5 star scale you can apply to any file. They persist in the catalog and are visible to your whole team.
  • In grid view: hover over a file to reveal the star bar beneath its thumbnail, then click the star you want.
  • In list view: click the star column for the file.
  • Keyboard shortcut: with one or more files selected, press 1 through 5 to apply that rating. Press 0 to clear the rating.
You can filter the file browser by rating using the filter toolbar to show only your selects or your rejects.

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Flagging files

Flags mark a file’s editorial status. Each file can have one of three flag states:
FlagMeaning
PickedThis file is a select: worth keeping or sharing.
RejectedThis file should be excluded from selects.
NoneNo editorial decision made yet.
  • In grid view: hover over a file and click the flag icon to cycle through the states.
  • Keyboard shortcut: press P to mark as Picked, X to mark as Rejected, and U to clear the flag.

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Applying color labels

Color labels let you tag files with a color for any purpose your team defines, urgency, category, approval status, or anything else. Each file can have one color label at a time. Click the color swatch on a file’s thumbnail (grid view) or in the color column (list view) to choose a color. Click the same color again to remove it. You can also right-click a file and choose Label from the context menu.

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Right-click context menu

Right-clicking any file, or a selection of files, opens a context menu with actions available for that selection. Common actions include:
  • Open: open the file with the system default application (requires the drive to be connected).
  • Export: copy the file to a destination folder.
  • Add to Collection: add the file to one or more collections.
  • Label: apply or remove a color label.
  • Detect People: run face detection on the file (images and videos only).
  • Show in Finder / Explorer: reveal the file in the operating system’s file manager.
When multiple files are selected, actions that support bulk operations apply to all selected files simultaneously.

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Metadata sidebar

The metadata sidebar shows detailed information about the currently selected file. To open it, click the info icon in the toolbar or press I. The sidebar displays:
  • File name and path on the source.
  • Technical metadata: file type, dimensions or duration, size, creation date, and modification date.
  • Ratings, flags, and color label: you can edit these directly in the sidebar.
  • EXIF / camera data: for photos: camera model, lens, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and GPS coordinates if available.
  • Video metadata: for video files: codec, frame rate, resolution, and audio channels.
Metadata is read from the file at scan time. If you update metadata in an external application after scanning, the values in 1Archive will not update unless you rescan the source.

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Duplicates and backups

If 1Archive detects that the same file (identified by its content hash) exists on more than one source, it flags both instances. The file browser displays a duplicate or backup indicator on the thumbnail so you can identify which copies you have and where they live. This is useful for auditing your storage: you can confirm that a drive has been backed up before taking it offline, or identify redundant copies that are consuming space across multiple drives.