Reference
Browse and review
Last updated November 10, 2026
Reviewing is looking closely at a lot of work and keeping track of what you pick. The gallery gives you the overview, an enlarged view gives you the detail, and the selection holds the set you're building.
The gallery
- Every photo and video in the view, as thumbnails
- Bigger for judging, smaller for an overview
Enlarged
- One photo or video, full size
- Arrow keys move through the rest
The selection
- The set you're building
- Shown in the dock, ready to act on
Most review moves between these three. Scan the gallery, enlarge what catches your eye, add the keepers to a selection, and keep going without reaching for the mouse.
Set up the gallery
How you want to see thumbnails changes with the job. Culling a shoot wants many small frames; comparing compositions wants fewer, larger ones. Press + or − from anywhere in the window to resize the grid.
The rest lives in View Options in the toolbar:
- Grid Size, as a slider or as XS, S, M and L presets. The number of columns adapts to the window.
- Display: Fit keeps each image's shape, so you compare compositions as shot. Fill gives every tile the same square, for an even grid.
- Show Labels puts names and info under every thumbnail, useful when nearby frames or versions look alike. Selected items always show their labels.
- Sort sets the order of the gallery.
Look closer
Press Space or double-click to enlarge a photo. Use ← and → to move to the previous and next one, and Space or Esc to go back to the gallery. Zoom in with ⌘+, out with ⌘−, and back to fit with ⌘0.
RAW files enlarge too. How much detail you see depends on the file and the preview it carries. Videos open the same way; Space then plays and pauses. For video, see view photos and play videos and the clip controls.
The details beside the picture
The inspector sits beside the gallery or the enlarged view and shows what Grain knows about the item: file information, dimensions, size, camera data and whatever other metadata the file carries. Expand the groups you care about and leave the rest folded.
Open and close it with View → Show Inspector (⌘I). It's also where ratings, labels and tags live, covered in collections and metadata.
Build a selection
A selection is the set you're working with right now: the frames for a client, the shots for a sequence. Build it from the keyboard or the pointer.
- ⌘-click adds or removes one item.
- ⇧-click, or ⇧ with an arrow key, extends a range.
- ⌘A selects everything in the current view.
- Esc clears the selection.
The selection dock shows the count and small previews of what's selected, so you always know what you're holding. Its actions work on the whole set: Add to Collection, Export Originals, Enlarge and More Actions. What happens next is on export and hand-off.
Shortcuts
| Keys | What they do |
|---|---|
| + − | Bigger or smaller thumbnails, from anywhere in the window |
| Arrow keys | Move the selection |
| ⇧ + arrow, or ⇧-click | Extend the selection |
| ⌘-click | Add or remove one item |
| ⌘A | Select everything in the current view |
| Space | Enlarge the selected photo or video. Double-click works too |
| ← → | Previous and next, with a photo enlarged |
| ⌘+ ⌘− ⌘0 | Zoom in, zoom out, zoom to fit |
| Esc | Back to the gallery, or clear the selection |
| Tab | Move between the sidebar, gallery and inspector |
Every shortcut in Grain is on one page: keyboard shortcuts.
Every control, at a glance
- Adjust thumbnail size
- Choose between an overview and a closer look. Resize the gallery grid to show more frames or give each frame more space.
- Fit or Fill thumbnails
- Choose how you compare compositions. In View Options, choose Fit to see each image’s full shape, or Fill for an even grid of cropped thumbnails.
- Thumbnail file labels
- Keep identifying details close to the image. Show file labels in the gallery when you need to distinguish nearby frames or versions.
- Large photo previews, including RAW
- Judge the image beyond its thumbnail. Press Space or double-click to enlarge a photo. Use the left and right arrows to browse; Space or Escape returns to the gallery. RAW preview detail depends on the file and its available preview.
- Details beside the photograph
- Check the technical context while you review. Open the inspector for file information, dimensions, size, camera data, and other available metadata. Expand the detail groups you need.
- Keyboard and pointer selection
- Work with a whole set of frames. Command-click toggles an asset. Shift-click or Shift-arrow extends a range; Command-A selects the current result, and Escape clears selection.
- A visible selection summary
- Keep track of the set you are building. The selection dock shows the selected count and thumbnail previews, with actions for the selected media.