Table of Contents

Views Include subfolders Thumbnail quality View types Thumbnail Grid Rich List Detailed List Classify view Multi search Quick Text

Different ways to view your files

This topic details the different views in FotoStation and how they work.

28. March 2025

Table of Contents

Views Include subfolders Thumbnail quality View types Thumbnail Grid Rich List Detailed List Classify view Multi search Quick Text

Views

There are many ways to view and organize your files in the archives in FotoStation.

The toolbar in the image window contains different functions for viewing, searching for, and selecting files/images.

If the size of the toolbar is very small, the descriptive labels are not displayed for the last four buttons. To see the descriptive labels you can resize the side panels or collapse them by clicking (double-click on the Mac) on the currently open tab.

Include subfolders

You can display and search for all assets in subfolders. To do so, right-click the main folder and select Include subfolders.

Thumbnail quality

The icon outlined in green in the main screenshot above is a toggle button. Turn the toggle on for fast-loading, lower-quality thumbnails, or turn it off for higher-quality thumbnails that may take a little longer to load. High-quality thumbnails are displayed with PV (preview) in their name.

If you experience that FotoStation responds a little sluggishly, for example when browsing a folder on a slow network connection, you can turn on the toggle button to speed up the process of loading thumbnails. The thumbnails will be of slightly lower quality, but it may be worth the improvement in speed.

View types

Select Views option (outlined in yellow in the main screenshot above) and choose one of the following views from the drop-down list;

Thumbnail Grid
Rich List
Detailed List
Classify view
Multi search
Quick Text

The active view is displayed next to the view icon and it is displayed with a checkmark in the drop-down list.
The views (other than Quick Text) are configurable and allow you to categorize your pictures' metadata.

Tip: When Configuring an archive in FotoStation, you can set the default view that is used when you access the archive.

Thumbnail Grid

Select Thumbnail Grid to display an overview of all the files in the folder selected. Thumbnails are displayed for the files available. This view looks a bit like the Thumbnails view in Windows Explorer or the Mac Finder, but offers more options and functionality.

The file name and current sort value are displayed below each thumbnail. You can change the information displayed below the thumbnails, if necessary.

You can select the number of visible thumbnails by clicking on the size and number icon shown above. From the drop-down menu that appears, select the number of thumbnails to display. The first number specifies how many thumbnails appear in each row, while the second number specifies how many rows there is room for with the current window size and screen resolution.

If there is enough space in the FotoStation window, you can view high-quality previews of the files. The letters PV (preview) appear on the right-hand side of the number of thumbnails.

Tip: You can display a preview of the thumbnail by hovering over it and selecting the Z key. Once you move the mouse pointer away from the thumbnail, the preview disappears.

Rich List

Select Rich List to display each file as a thumbnail in the left column, together with metadata such as file name and file size. You can customize what type of metadata is displayed in this view.

Detailed List

Select Detailed List to display the files with details such as File name and Modified date. This view is similar to the Details view in Windows Explorer or the Finder on the Mac. You can sort the files by column content by selecting the required column label. You can also change a column’s content by right-clicking on a column label and selecting the required content from the drop-down list.

Even if you don’t have thumbnails in this view, you can still preview the files by hovering over the file name.

Classify view

When you select the Classify view option, you must select a subcategory; Basic or Refined. You can sort the files into different classes, depending on what you want to do with them.

The files are shown as thumbnails. If you have not yet classified the files, all files will be part of the Unclassified category. You can move files between the classes by dragging and dropping, or by using the shortcut keys for each class. (Ctrl-digit in Windows; Alt-digit on Mac.) Note that you can have a maximum of ten classify columns.

Multi search

The Multi search option is used to create classes that have pre-defined searches attached to them. This means that it is possible to sort files into different classes based on for example the image agency from which the image originates.

The default installation of FotoStation contains three different multi search views. Categories, Categorize, and News agencies. The difference between the first two is that while Categories only shows the different categories, you can use the Categorize multi-search to drag and drop files from one category to another. The corresponding Category metadata field will be updated according to the column the file is dropped into. You can also use the shortcut key shown in each column’s caption to move a file to that category.

Quick Text

Select the Quick Text option to easily add or change a specific metadata field for several files. Since the files are shown as thumbnails, it is easy to select the files for which you want to change the metadata field:

Select the files for which you want to change the metadata. For more information about selecting files, see Selecting files.
From the Text field drop-down list, select the metadata field you would like to change.
Select your choice of Operation mode from the drop-down list.
If applicable, enter text in the Content field.
Select Apply