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This guide takes you from a fresh 1Archive installation to finding your first file. By the end you’ll have at least one hard drive indexed and searchable, including when that drive is unplugged. The whole process takes around ten minutes, plus however long your first scan takes.
Make sure you’ve completed installation and signed in to your organization before starting this guide.
1

Plug in a hard drive

Connect a hard drive to your Mac using USB, Thunderbolt, or any other connection your drive supports. 1Archive detects mounted drives automatically.Once the drive mounts, switch to 1Archive. You’ll see it appear in the Drives section of the left sidebar. Each drive is listed with its name, capacity, and available space.
2

Start a scan

Click on the drive you just connected to open its detail view. Then click Scan in the top-right corner.1Archive shows you an estimated scan time based on the drive’s size and file count. You can also enable Create Thumbnails before the scan starts. That option generates preview images for photos and videos and makes your library much more browsable later. Thumbnail generation does take additional time, so for a quick first run you can skip it and generate thumbnails separately afterward.Click Scan to begin. A progress bar tracks the scan as it runs. For a 2 TB drive with typical media content, expect the scan to take a few minutes.
You can use 1Archive normally while a scan runs in the background. Start a scan and explore the interface while it completes.
3

Browse your files

When the scan finishes, click the drive in the sidebar to see all indexed files. The file list shows filenames, sizes, and dates. You can sort and filter by file type, date, or size.Click any file to open a preview panel on the right side of the screen. The panel shows metadata (file path, size, creation date, format) and a thumbnail if one was generated during the scan.
4

Add drive details

Give your drive a meaningful name so your team can identify it at a glance. Click the ⋯ (more options) button on the drive card and select Drive Info to open the drive details sidebar.Here you can set a custom name, add a description or notes, and see a summary of the drive’s contents. Good drive names, like “NYC Shoot March 2024” or “Archive Backup 4”, make your catalog much easier to navigate as your library grows.
5

Search your library

Click Search in the left rail. Choose a search type from the menu to the left of the search box, type your query, and press Enter. 1Archive searches across all indexed drives simultaneously, even if those drives are not currently connected.There are three ways to search:
  • AI Image Search (the default): Describe what you’re looking for in plain language (for example, “outdoor interview with mountains” or “close-up of hands on keyboard”). 1Archive uses AI to match your description to image and video content.
  • File Name: Type at least three characters of a file or folder name.
  • Transcript: For video and audio files that have been transcribed, search by spoken words or phrases. Results link directly to the moment in the file where the phrase appears.
Results appear under Search Results as a grid or list of files. Click a result to see its details in the sidebar, double-click it for a larger preview, or right-click it and choose Reveal in Source to jump to the folder where it lives.
AI image search works best with descriptive phrases rather than single words. Try “sunset over water” instead of just “sunset”.
6

Create your first Collection

Once you’ve found files you want to group together, select them, right-click, and choose Add to collection > Add to new collection. 1Archive creates a collection called New Collection, which you can rename from the Collections panel (for example, to “Client Deliverables Q1” or “B-Roll Selects”).Collections let you organize files from any number of drives into a single view. You can share a Collection with people and teams, or create a web link. Public and password-protected links open without a 1Archive account.To create a link, right-click the collection in the Collections panel, choose Share Collection, pick a link type, and click Generate Link.

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What happens when you unplug the drive?

1Archive keeps your full catalog (thumbnails, metadata, and search index) even after you disconnect a drive. You can still search for files, view their metadata, and browse the indexed content. The only thing you can’t do with a disconnected drive is open the original file itself. This makes 1Archive useful for archiving decisions: you can search your entire historical library without needing every drive plugged in at once.

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Next steps

Connect more drives

Add and manage multiple drives to build a complete catalog.

Search in depth

Learn all the search modes and filter options available.

Collections

Organize files and share curated sets with your team or clients.

Invite your team

Add teammates to your organization so everyone shares the same catalog.