Troubleshooting

Importing

HEIC photos are skipped as unreadable

The HEVC decoder for libheif is missing; many Linux distributions leave it out for patent reasons. Install libde265 support (on Fedora, libheif-freeworld from RPM Fusion; see Building and Testing), then click Retry failed in Activity.

A RAW file cannot be read

Very new cameras may not be supported by LibRaw yet. Activity lists the photo as failed with the reason; if the camera also wrote a JPEG, the photo is imported using the JPEG’s metadata.

Photos are reported as duplicates

A photo whose image file is byte-for-byte identical to one already in the library is not imported twice, even under another name (Import).

Importing stopped

Photos already copied stay in the library. When the app starts again, importing continues with the photos that were waiting; the one being copied when it stopped starts over. If Activity says importing is paused, it explains why (for example, no library folder is set).

Importing or analysis is paused because a disk is full

Free space on the disk named in Activity (the library disk, or the disk holding the catalog and thumbnail cache, see Data Locations); work continues on its own within a few seconds (When a disk is full). Deleting the thumbnail cache is safe and frees space on the system disk.

New photos in a watched folder are imported late

The pipeline log says Cannot watch … for new photos when the system refuses to watch a folder, usually because a large folder tree exceeds Linux’s limit on watches. The folder is still scanned every few minutes (import). To raise the limit: sudo sysctl fs.inotify.max_user_watches=524288 (add it to /etc/sysctl.d/ to keep it). Network shares often report no changes at all and rely on the periodic scan.

“Choosing a different library folder is not supported yet”

The catalog stores paths relative to the library folder, so it cannot point at another folder once it has photos. Keep the library where it is for now; moving a library is planned.

The library

Dates or places are missing

Photos without capture time in their metadata appear under No date; photos without GPS have no place. Places come from GPS coordinates via an offline database (Third-Party Data).

Thumbnails take a while

Thumbnails are made in the background after an import; RAW files without an embedded preview must be fully decoded, which is slower.

Ratings do not show up in another program

Picturesque writes decisions to XMP sidecars next to the photos. Choose the sidecar naming your other program expects (Lightroom reads IMG_0042.xmp, darktable and digiKam IMG_0042.CR3.xmp) under Settings (sidecar_naming).

Series look wrong

Adjust the longest pause and similarity limit under Settings → Series, or correct single photos with S (split before) and J (join) (Series).

AI features

A model download fails

Downloads need an internet connection to Hugging Face; a proxy is used when set in the environment (HTTPS_PROXY). A download that does not match its checksum is discarded with “download was corrupt”; press Retry. Files already complete are kept.

Analysis is slow or uses a lot of CPU

Analysis uses half the cores so the app stays responsive; with the CLIP model a photo takes about a third of a second on a laptop CPU. Photos on screen are analyzed first. A GPU provider may help (Local AI).

“Models run on CPU” although I chose a GPU

The chosen provider could not start and models fell back to the CPU; the reason is shown under AI acceleration. On Linux, WebGPU needs a working Vulkan driver for your GPU (vulkaninfo --summary); without one it runs on a slow software driver or fails. Choose Automatic (the CPU on Linux) if WebGPU misbehaves.

Text search finds nothing

Search needs both CLIP models (image and text encoder) and the photos’ embeddings: wait until Analyzing in the toolbar has finished. Unrelated photos are left out on purpose; try a more general description, in English.

Eyes are reported closed when they are not

Squinting, deep shadows, sunglasses and very small faces can mislead the face mesh. Faces too small to judge are left undecided. Your own decisions always win; choose the best photo yourself with B.

Exporting and moving rejects

“changed since it was imported”

An original in the library no longer matches the copy that was imported (edited in place, or damaged). It is not exported, so a damaged file is never passed on silently. Check the file.

A photo could not be moved to _Rejected

Usually a file of the same name is already there. The photo stays in place untouched; rename or remove the other file and move again (Moving Rejects).

Still stuck?

Open an issue on GitHub with what you did, what happened and your operating system.