Reference

Library and drives

Last updated November 10, 2026

There's no new library to move into. Your folders stay exactly as they are, on the drives you already use, and Grain builds a catalog on top of them. Every drive becomes part of one library you can browse and search.

Your sources

Your drives appear under Sources in the sidebar: your Mac's own disk, external drives, network shares and Dropbox. Each shows how many photos and videos Grain has cataloged on it, and the folders inside are one click away. To leave a drive or folder out of your library, Control-click it and choose Hide From Grain. Your files aren't touched. A drive you've unplugged stays in the list, marked as disconnected, and its work stays in your library.

Not another thing to manage

Most photo apps start with an import, and from then on you have two things to look after: your folders, and the app's copy of them. Move a shoot, rename a folder or add a drive, and the catalog falls behind until you fix it.

Grain's import works a little differently. All it does is scan and read your files where they are. There's no migration, no upload and no copying, and nothing to keep in sync by hand. Your folders are the library. Grain keeps a catalog on your Mac, a record of every photo and video it has seen and everything it has learned about them, and it watches your folders so the catalog keeps itself up to date as you add or remove files. Network drives are checked again each time Grain opens.

So there's no migration to plan and no second library to maintain, and nothing about Grain locks you in. Your folders keep working in Finder, Lightroom, Premiere or any other app, exactly as before.

Three words you'll see

Adding your work

Opening a folder is enough. Click its name in the sidebar, and Grain starts cataloging it and everything inside it. Click a drive to bring in the whole drive. To pick several folders at once, Control-click the drive and choose Select Folders…. To see everything Grain is cataloging, open File → Source Settings….

Not sure whether to add a whole drive or just some folders? Getting started walks through the choice.

While Grain gets to know a folder

Cataloging happens in two passes, and you don't have to wait for either one:

1. Search Index: Grain records each file, its details and a preview. Browsing works right away.
2. Visual Analysis: Grain looks at each photo and video on your Mac, so you can search by what's in them. Transcription and face grouping run in the background too.

Click the folder's title at the top of the window to see both passes for that folder. Search gets better as analysis completes, so keep working while it runs.

One library across every drive

Once a few sources are in, stop thinking in drives. All Media shows every shoot together, with photos and footage side by side.

• Collections gather work from any drive without moving it.
• Favorites pin the sources, folders, collections and searches you return to.
• A photo that exists on two drives appears once, and the inspector lists every copy.

When a drive is unplugged

A drive in a drawer is still part of your library. Its photos and videos keep their catalog details and the previews on your Mac. Turn on View → Include Disconnected Sources to bring them back into All Media and search. The inspector names the drive, so you know which one to plug in.

Plug the drive back in to open, export or reveal an original. Previews make browsing possible, but they aren't a backup of your files.

Shortcuts

Every shortcut in Grain is on one page: keyboard shortcuts.

What Grain never does to your files

• It never moves, renames or changes your originals. A file goes to the Trash only when you choose Move to Trash.
• Your ratings, tags and other edits stay in Grain's catalog. They aren't written back into your files or XMP sidecars.
• Removing something from a collection never touches the file.

For the details of what's stored where, see how Grain handles your files.

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