Library and scanning

Your library is a list of folders on your disk. The app reads every file in them into a local database (the index) and never moves, renames or changes your files unless you ask it to. Reading the folders is called a scan.

Library folders

You add a folder, or a .zip of assets, with Add to library in the top bar, by dropping it on the window or with Cmd/Ctrl+O. Add your first library walks through the dialog.

• A folder stays where it is. The app indexes it in place.
• A zip is extracted once into the app’s data folder (see Where your data lives), and the extracted copy becomes the library folder. The zip itself isn’t watched or rescanned.

The Folders section in the sidebar

The sidebar’s Folders section lists every library folder with the number of assets in it. Hover a row to see its full path.

• Click a folder to show only its assets. The grid title changes to the folder’s name and a folder: chip appears under the toolbar; click the chip, or another view, to go back.
• Hover a folder to show two buttons in place of the count:
  • the circular arrow (Rescan folder) scans just that folder;
  • ··· (More) opens a menu with Reveal in file manager, Edit pack info… (opens Settings, where the folder’s pack is edited) and Remove folder….
• + next to the section title (Add folder…) opens Add to library.

Remove folder… asks for confirmation, then drops the folder and all its assets from the library, along with their tags and collection memberships. The files on disk are not touched, and Cmd/Ctrl+Z brings the folder back until you quit (see Remove a folder).

Folders you’ve switched off under Settings → Folders + packs aren’t listed here and aren’t scanned. Their assets stay in the library.

Start a scan

Adding a folder starts a scan of it straight away (or as soon as a scan that’s already running finishes). After that, scan again whenever files have changed outside the app:

From	Scans
The circular arrow in the top bar (Rescan all library folders)	Every folder
Scan all roots in the command palette	Every folder
Settings → Folders + packs → Rescan all	Every folder
A folder row’s Rescan folder button in the sidebar	That folder
Rescan folder in a folder’s menu in Settings → Folders + packs	That folder
Folder watching, when it’s on	Each folder that changed

Only one scan runs at a time. Asking for a full scan while one is running shows “A scan is already running.” in the status bar.

What a scan does

A scan walks through every file and subfolder of the folder and compares what it finds with the index:

• New files are added. Each gets a type from its extension (texture, 3D model, audio, shader, font, video, archive, doc and so on; see Supported formats). Files with an extension the app doesn’t know are added too, as Unknown.
• Changed files (different size or modified time) are updated.
• Unchanged files are left alone, so a rescan is quick.
• Files that are gone are marked missing (see Missing files).

While it reads a file, a scan also records the details the inspector shows: a texture’s dimensions; a sound’s duration, sample rate, bit depth and channels (WAV; duration only for OGG and MP3); a model’s vertex, triangle and mesh counts (formats the app opens itself); a font’s family and style; and the list of files inside an archive. It also looks for license files next to each asset (see Packs and licenses) and applies your auto-tag rules.

Tags, collections and the archived flag of an asset are kept across rescans.

What a scan skips

These are never indexed, and the scan counts them as ignored:

• Folders named .git, .svn, .godot, Library, Temp, Saved, Intermediate or DerivedDataCache (version control and game-engine caches), with everything inside them.
• System files: .DS_Store, Thumbs.db, desktop.ini.
• Game-engine files that only make sense inside their engine:
  • Godot: .tscn, .scn, .tres, .res, .gdshader, .gd, .import, .uid
  • Unity: .unity, .prefab, .asset, .mat, .anim, .controller, .meta, .unitypackage
  • Unreal: .uasset, .umap, .uproject, .uplugin

Zips and other archives inside a folder

An archive found inside a library folder (.zip, .7z, .rar, .tar, .gz) is indexed as one Archive asset. It isn’t extracted. For zips the scan records the names of the files inside, so a search finds the archive when you type the name of a file in it, and the inspector can list and preview its contents (see Archive contents). For .7z and .rar files the same needs the 7z or unrar command-line tool installed and on your PATH. .tar and .gz archives are indexed without a file list.

To turn an archive into a library folder of its own, add it with Add to library, or use Import as pack… in the inspector when it contains a license file.

Progress, Cancel and the status bar

While a scan runs, the status bar at the bottom of the window shows what’s being scanned (“Scan all roots…”, “Scan root: Textures…”, “Import pack: …”), then “Scanning · 250 files” as it goes, with a progress bar and a Cancel button. The grid and the rest of the app keep working.

When it finishes, the status bar sums it up, for example “Scan complete · +12 added, 3 updated, 1 missing, 4 ignored”, and the grid, sidebar counts and search placeholder update.

Cancel stops the scan (“Cancelling…”). Whatever it indexed so far is kept, but a cancelled scan doesn’t mark anything missing (it didn’t look everywhere) and doesn’t start the hash pass.

The hash pass

After every scan that wasn’t cancelled, the app computes a SHA-256 hash of each new or changed file in the background. It runs on its own after the scan, with no progress shown, and the app stays usable.

The hashes are how the app recognizes identical files, so Duplicates only counts files that have been hashed. Until a file’s hash is ready, File details in the inspector shows “Not hashed yet”. Starting a new scan stops a hash pass that’s still running; the next scan’s pass picks up the files it didn’t get to.

Job history

Click History at the right end of the status bar (or run Show job history from the command palette) to see the scans you’ve run.

Each line shows when the scan finished, what was scanned and how many files were added, updated, unchanged, ignored and missing, with “(cancelled)” for a scan you stopped. The newest is at the top. The list keeps the last 10 scans of the current session; it starts empty each time you open the app. Clear history empties it.

Missing files

When a scan doesn’t find a file that’s in the index (you deleted, moved or renamed it outside the app), the asset is marked missing rather than removed:

• Missing assets disappear from the grid, search and every sidebar view, and are counted under Health → Missing files.
• They keep their tags and collection memberships. If the file comes back to the same place, the next scan un-marks it.
• A file you moved or renamed within the folder being scanned shows up again as a new asset at its new path, without the old one’s tags. The old entry stays in Missing files until you remove it there.

If a whole folder is unreachable when it’s scanned (an external drive that isn’t plugged in, a network share that isn’t mounted), every asset in it is marked missing. Reconnect the drive and rescan the folder to bring them back. Health views covers Locate… and Remove from library….

Folder watching

The app can rescan folders for you while it’s open. Turn it on under Settings → General → File watching → Enable file watching, or tick Watch for new and deleted files when you add a folder. It’s off by default, and it applies to every library folder.

Poll interval sets how often the app checks: every 30 seconds, 1 minute (the default), 5 minutes or 15 minutes. On each check it looks at the modified time of every enabled library folder; when a folder has changed since the last check, that folder is rescanned. If several folders changed, they’re scanned one after the other, and a check never interrupts a scan that’s already running. The first check after you turn watching on only takes note of the folders, so nothing is rescanned until the second one.

While watching is on, the status bar shows “Watching · last checked 14:05:30” when nothing else is going on.

Note

The check uses each library folder’s own modified time, which changes when a file or folder directly inside it is added, removed or renamed. Changes deeper down, in its subfolders, usually don’t change it, so watching can miss them. Rescan the folder when you’ve changed files in a subfolder.

See also

• Search and filters: narrow the grid down to what you need.
• Health views: missing files, duplicates and unlicensed assets.
• Settings: folders, packs and file watching.