Before the first photos are read into the database, it should be ensured that the program settings correspond to the user's intentions. While it is possible to change the settings at any time, in some cases this can result in the need to re-analyze directories, which can add additional time that may be unnecessary if the possible settings are considered in advance.
While the default settings meet the needs of most users, Excire Foto is used by very different types of photographers, so we have provided additional flexibility via the settings.
In the Excire Foto -> Preferences menu, various settings can be made via the different tabs.
Before importing photos for the first time, these settings are important:
In the "Add" tab, you will find the option to enable reading of PSD files created with Adobe Photoshop. The default setting is "off", as this slows down the process of reading in folders.
Under "Previews" there is an option to set the quality of compression for the preview images. The size of the previews that Excire Foto generates is always 1280x720 pixels. If this resolution is not sufficient, the 1:1 preview can be activated. This option is always available in the preview, but is usually generated only after confirming a demand, because 1:1 previews consume significantly more disk space on the hard disk where the Excire Foto database is stored.
This request can be disabled in the settings. In addition, the 1:1 preview image can then be used as the default preview image. However, this may delay the quick browsing of photos a bit, since the larger file has longer loading times than the smaller preview version of the photo.
In the "Metadata" tab, you can set whether Excire Foto should always save the metadata in sidecar files in XMP format when the "Save metadata" function is selected from the menu. This is a special case, as normally XMP files are only used for raw formats; for JPG and TIF files the metadata will be saved directly in the image file. Users who want to exchange metadata between Excire Foto and the Capture One image editor must enable the "Always use sidecar files" option, otherwise Capture One will not read the metadata.
If you want your existing keywords to be imported into Excire Foto, make sure to activate the option "Load keywords from photos".
Setting "Append metadata array content"
This setting ensures that keywords are not overwritten but added (appended to the list) when saving. Existing keywords are not removed. The default setting is "enabled" so that existing keywords from other applications are not accidentally overwritten. In some cases, it may be useful to disable this setting, for example, if keywords have been removed in Excire Foto and you now want to remove them from the saved file as well.
