digital asset management on darktable 5.6 user manual

collections & film rolls

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A collection is a group of images matching a given set of selection criteria.

The most basic kind of collection is a film roll, which contains all of the images that have been imported from a specific folder on disk – whenever you import images from the filesystem, those images are organized in a film roll whose name is derived from that of their parent folder.

You can easily construct other kinds of collection in the collections module based on one or more image attributes (e.g. Exif data, filename, tags). The collection filters module allows you to refine a collection by setting additional selection and exclusion criteria.

image sequence

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A collection of images is always presented in a specific sort by sequence that determines the order of their display, processing, and export. It is often convenient to be able to control this sequence (e.g. for a slideshow or document).

You may choose to sort by an image attribute (filename, capture time, rating, title, etc.) using the sort by drop-down menu at the left-hand-side of darktable’s top panel or combine multiple sort criteria by clicking on new sort in the left panel at the bottom of the collection filters module.

thumbnails

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Each image in the current collection is represented by a thumbnail in the lighttable view and filmstrip module. A cache of the most recently used thumbnails is stored in a file on disk and loaded into memory at startup.

🔗thumbnail creation

A thumbnail is created when an image is imported into darktable for the first time, after an image has been modified in the darkroom, or when revisiting an image whose thumbnail is no longer available.

star ratings & color labels

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Star ratings and color labels help you to sort and rank images according to your own criteria. An image’s star rating and color labels can be displayed over thumbnails in the lighttable view and filmstrip module.

🔗star ratings

You can give an image a rating from zero to five stars. Whenever you import images, each image receives a default rating which you can define in the import module. You can also mark an image as “rejected”.

image grouping

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Grouping images helps to improve the structure and clarity of your image collection when displayed in the lighttable view.

You can combine images into a group by selecting them and clicking the “group” button in the actions on selection module, or by pressing Ctrl+G. Likewise, you can remove selected images from a group by clicking the “ungroup” button, or pressing Ctrl+Shift+G.

Duplicated images are automatically grouped together. Similarly, if you import multiple images from the same directory, having the same base name, but different extensions (eg. IMG_1234.CR2 and IMG_1234.JPG), those images automatically form a group.

metadata and tagging

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

darktable allows you to store additional information about your images to allow them to be more easily searched and grouped. This information is stored in darktable’s database and XMP sidecar files and can also be included within exported images.

🔗metadata

Metadata (e.g. title, description) is free-format text that usually differs for each image. You can add metadata to images in the metadata editor module.

🔗tagging

Tags are usually shared between multiple images and are used to categorise, group, and/or sequence them. You can add tags to images in the tagging module.