Curatory · help

Collection

Each image in your selected folder is displayed in one list. View previews and details about each image, then file into a designated sub-folder with a single key. It is a non-destructive app that cannot delete your files and even keeps backups of your edits.

Overview

There are a few sections of the Collection page: the top bar, file list, image previews, filing destinations, and footer. Each section carries different information and functionality.

Top bar

This section tells you where you are.

• App name - Curatory
• Current mode - Collection
• Current folder - Current folder name (without lineage)
• Refresh button - Refresh to update changes made elsewhere
• Change Folder button - Switch to another folder of images

File list

The file list includes a filter bar and clickable headings for selecting ascending/descending sort order. It displays file Name, Type, Size, Pixels, and Timing.

Collection scans your chosen folder for images, not its subfolders, and skips hidden files. Supported extensions: PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, HEIC, AVIF, TIFF, and BMP. Unsupported extensions will not appear in the list. If you believe a file should be supported, edit the filename to include the correct extension.

The list is designed to feel familiar to Finder users. Tapping ⏎ will enable you to rename the file. Click away or tap ⏎ to commit, or tap Esc to cancel. Invalid or duplicate names will fail. Typing letters will jump to the first matched file, while ⌥↑ and ⌥↓ jump to the first and last file, respectively.

Filter

⌘F opens a filter field above the list and narrows it to matching filenames as you type. ↓ or Return shifts focus to the list with the first match selected. Tap Esc or click the X in the filter bar to clear it.

Headings

Click a column heading to sort by it, click again to reverse. Each of the five columns serves a different purpose for information and sorting.

• Name - Filenames that have been edited carry an "edited" pill. Right-click an edited file to restore its original from backup.
• Type - The file extension is extracted from the filename for independent sorting.
• Size - The file size on disk.
• Pixels - File dimensions reflected as width × height pixels. When the file header cannot be read, "—" is displayed.
• Timing - Animated file's most common (modal) frame delay. Files without a proper delay set will display "!" (see Previews for a quick fix button).

Previews

The preview section consists of its own header and two previews, each with a configurable background color so that you can see how your emoji will look in light and dark mode. Animated files play synchronously on both backgrounds. Select a file to preview it.

Preview header

The header above the preview shows useful information specific to the currently selected file.

• Filename - Displays the current filename or "No specimen" when nothing's selected.
• Play/pause - Shown only for an animated GIF. To toggle playback, click the button or tap /.
• Fix timing - Displays when the selected GIF has no real frame delay, i.e. a file with the "!" mark in the Timing column. Clicking this button opens Restoration with the timing repair ready to apply.
• Zoom - Click plus or minus to step through five sizes: 32, 64, 128, 256, and 512 px. Click the current size to reset to the default. Keyboard shortcuts are +, −, and 0. The default value is set in Settings.

Dark and light previews

Custom emoji are displayed on two backgrounds: light (the business side) and dark (engineering). Sorry, I shouldn't stereotype. Anyway, each specimen gets a preview on both light and dark backgrounds. The colors are configurable in Settings, so you can technically test your images against chartreuse and hot pink backgrounds if you want. Animations play simultaneously in both.

Filing

The initial point of the app is to quickly sort a directory of images into sub-directory categories. You can name them however you want in Settings. Each sorted file will be removed from the current view, and the next file will automatically be selected. In this way, you can work through an entire folder of images relatively quickly. A minimum of one sub-directory needs to be set, but up to 9 can be assigned. Tap 1 through 9 to move the selected file into the sort directory of that number. Paired with a number pad, this can be a very efficient tool. Unassigned numbers have no effect. Filing a duplicate filename will simmply rename the new file with an appended number to ensure it is unique.

Footer

A thin information bar runs along the bottom of the window. It shows the specimen count in your current collection (including the filtered list) and a list of useful keyboard shortcuts.

• Specimen count - How many images are in the folder. While the filter is active, this narrows to "{filtered number} of {total number} specimens shown."
• Key chart - A single-line legend of the most-used shortcuts, the app's own on-screen text, verbatim:
  1–9 move file · ↑↓ select · ⏎ rename · \ edit · / play · − + zoom · 0 reset · ⌘F filter · ⌘Z undo
  It truncates rather than wraps if the window's too narrow to show all of it. Type-to-jump and the numpad's own key layout aren't in this chart; they live in the keyboard section below.

Undo

Undo covers renaming and sorting actions in the same stack. Several keys invoke undo, for convenience. ⌘Z works per expectations, while ` is useful for number-row users and number pad users can tap ..

Keyboard shortcuts

If there's anything we love more than high quality software and metaphors, it's efficiency. And keyboard shortcuts are one of the most efficient ways to navigate some functions. Curatory's collection is fully keyboard-navigable, and is designed to work on smaller keyboards as well as fully from the numpad. To facilitate either approach, some shortcuts have a couple options. Each is detailed below, so you can choose your preference and reference the keys there.

Shortcut list

Sorting through hundreds of emoji can get tedious, so Curatory is loaded with keyboard shortcuts to make your work as easy as possible. All keys work interchangeably, so use whatever is easiest to reach for.

Numpad layout

I just thought it would be fun to to make a quick-reference key for the numpad. It is color-coded by filing, viewing, and altering. The restore key opens the Restoration panel for more elaborate file editing.