Overview
ImageFuel is a Mac media browser and editor. Point it at folders on your disk and it scans them to show all your images and videos in a fast grid. From there you can view, crop, rename, strip metadata, apply color filters, and delete files without leaving the app.
Getting Started Adding Folders
When you first open ImageFuel the sidebar says “No folders added yet.”
- Click the + button at the top of the sidebar (top left of the window).
- A file picker opens. Choose any folder that contains images or videos.
- Click Add. ImageFuel scans the folder (including all subfolders) and shows every image and video in the main grid.
You can add as many root folders as you like. Each appears as a row in the sidebar. Folder selections are saved and restored the next time you launch the app.
If files change on disk (new files added, moved, and so on), click Rescan All in the sidebar or toolbar to refresh the grid.
The Sidebar Folder Navigation
The sidebar (left panel, 260 px wide) lists every root folder you have added.
Selecting a Folder
Click a folder row to filter the grid so it shows only files from that folder and its subfolders. The selected folder gets a blue border.
Click the same folder again to clear the filter and show all files.
Expanding Subfolders
If a folder contains subfolders, a chevron appears on the left.
Click the chevron to expand or collapse the subfolder tree.
Double click a folder row as a shortcut to expand or collapse.
Creating a New Subfolder
Right click (Control click) any folder row in the sidebar.
Choose New Subfolder from the context menu.
Type a name and press Return or click Create.
The new folder appears on disk immediately and the sidebar refreshes.
Removing a Root Folder
Hover over a root folder row. An X button appears on the right.
Click the X to remove that folder from ImageFuel.
This does not delete any files. It only removes the folder from the list.
Sidebar Bottom Buttons
- Rescan All rescans every root folder to pick up changes on disk. It is disabled while a scan is already running.
- Clear All Folders removes all root folders from the list (no files are deleted). It is shown in red as a caution.
The Main Grid Browsing Your Media
After you add folders, all images and videos appear as thumbnails in the grid.
Thumbnail Size
Use View then Zoom In or Zoom Out from the menu bar, or press Command plus or Command minus to make thumbnails larger or smaller.
Command 0 resets to the default thumbnail size.
Item Counts
The right side of the toolbar always shows the total number of items, images, and videos. It also shows Scanning while a scan is in progress.
Drag to Reorder
Drag thumbnails within the grid to set a custom display order.
Drag one or more selected thumbnails and drop them before or after another thumbnail.
The custom order is saved per folder. Changing the sort picker clears the custom order for that folder and applies the chosen sort instead.
Context Menu
Right click a thumbnail for these options:
- Open in Lightbox
- Reveal in Finder
- Crop Image (images only)
- Apply Color Filter (images only, if enabled in Settings)
- Remove Metadata (images only)
- Rename
- Copy
- Move to Trash
Selecting Files
Single Select
Click a thumbnail to select it. The selection is highlighted with a border.
Multi Select
- Command click additional thumbnails to add them to the selection.
- Shift click a thumbnail to select a contiguous range from the last clicked item to the one you just clicked.
- Command Shift click adds a range to an existing multi selection.
Select All and Clear
Press Command A to select every visible item in the grid.
Press Escape, or click the X button in the toolbar.
Keyboard Navigation in the Grid
- Arrow keys move the selection one cell at a time. Left or Right moves one item. Up or Down moves one full row.
- Shift plus Left or Right extends the selection by one item.
- Home or End jumps to the first or last item.
- Return or Space opens the selected item in the Lightbox.
Toolbar Filtering and Sorting
The toolbar runs across the top of the grid area.
Search Button
Click the magnifying glass (or press Command F) to open the Search modal.
While a search is active, the button shows the current search term and glows blue.
Sort Picker
Choose how items are sorted:
- Date (newest first)
- Date (oldest first)
- Modified (newest)
- Modified (oldest)
- Name A to Z
- Name Z to A
- Size (largest)
- Size (smallest)
- Kind A to Z
- Kind Z to A
Sort is remembered per folder. The default sort for new folders can be set in Settings.
Kind Filter
Click Images to show only images, Videos for only videos, or All to show everything.
Rescan Button
Triggers an immediate rescan of all root folders.
Action Icons
- Crop the single selected image. Disabled if zero or two or more images are selected, or if the selection includes a video.
- Apply a color filter. Only visible when Color Filters are enabled in Settings. Disabled for SVG and RAW files.
- Remove metadata (EXIF, GPS, and so on) from selected images. Disabled if no images are selected.
- Rename selected files.
- Move selected files to trash (or a custom delete folder).
- Clear the current selection.
On narrow windows the search, sort, and kind filter collapse into a single filter popover button (three horizontal lines icon). A blue dot on the button indicates active filters.
Searching
Press Command F or click the magnifying glass button to open the Search modal.
The search field appears as an overlay in the center of the window.
Type to search by filename or full file path.
The grid updates instantly as you type.
Press Escape or click outside the modal to close it.
The search term stays active (shown in the toolbar button) until you clear it by opening search again and deleting the text.
Lightbox Viewing Images and Videos
Open a file by:
- Single clicking a thumbnail (default)
- Double clicking a thumbnail (if Open on double click is set in Settings)
- Pressing Return or Space when a thumbnail is selected
Lightbox Controls
Controls appear in the top right corner:
- Crop the current image
- Apply a color filter (if enabled)
- Reveal the file in Finder
- Zoom out
- Zoom in
- Reset zoom to 100 percent or fit
- Go to the previous item
- Go to the next item
- Close the lightbox
- Move the current file to trash
Lightbox Keyboard Shortcuts
- Esc, Return, or Space (images) closes the lightbox
- Left or Up goes to the previous item
- Right or Down goes to the next item
- Home jumps to the first item
- End jumps to the last item
- R reveals the current file in Finder
- C opens the Crop tool (images only, not SVG)
- Plus or equals zooms in
- Minus zooms out
- 0 resets zoom
Zoom and Pan
Use plus or minus keys, the toolbar buttons, or scroll the mouse wheel to zoom.
When zoomed in, click and drag to pan the image.
Video Playback
Videos open directly in the lightbox with native playback controls.
Space bar toggles play or pause for videos (it does not close the lightbox).
Info Panel
The panel below the image shows filename, file size, pixel dimensions, date created, format, and kind.
The full file path is shown below in muted text. Hover for the complete path.
Right Click Menu
Right clicking the image gives the same context menu as the grid.
Crop Tool
Open the crop tool by:
- Clicking the crop button in the toolbar (a single image must be selected)
- Clicking the crop button in the lightbox controls
- Pressing C while in the lightbox
- Right clicking a thumbnail and choosing Crop Image
How to Use
The image fills the screen with a crop rectangle over it.
The area outside the crop rectangle is dimmed.
The crop dimensions in pixels are shown below the image.
Adjusting the Crop
Drag any of the four corner handles to resize the crop area.
Drag anywhere inside the crop rectangle to move it.
Saving
- Cancel discards the crop and returns to the gallery.
- Save as Copy saves the cropped image as a new file alongside the original. The original is untouched.
- Overwrite Original replaces the original file with the cropped version.
Bulk Rename
Select one or more files, then click the pencil toolbar icon (or right click and choose Rename).
Pattern Field
Type a naming pattern using any combination of plain text and tokens.
Available tokens:
- name : the original filename without extension
- n : a sequential number
- date : the file creation date as year month day
- year : four digit year from the creation date
- month : two digit month from 01 to 12
- day : two digit day from 01 to 31
Examples:
- vacation n becomes vacation 001.jpg, vacation 002.jpg, and so on
- date name becomes 2024 06 15 IMG 1234.jpg
- year name becomes 2024 IMG 1234.jpg (slashes become underscores)
Number Options
Set the starting number for the n counter (default 1).
Set how many digits to pad n to (default 3).
Preview List
Every file shows its current name and the proposed new name side by side.
Duplicate names are highlighted in red. Fix the pattern before proceeding.
Renaming
Click Rename N Files to apply. A progress bar tracks the operation.
When complete, click Close.
Remove Metadata
Select one or more images, then click the tag slash toolbar icon (or right click and choose Remove Metadata). SVG files are excluded automatically.
What Metadata Can Be Removed
- GPS and location data
- Camera make and model
- Lens model
- Exposure settings (focal length, aperture, shutter speed, ISO)
- Date taken
- Software
- Copyright and artist
- Image description and keywords
Preview
Hover over any image in the left list to see its metadata in the right panel.
Options
Choose All metadata to strip all EXIF and IPTC fields, or Location only to strip only GPS coordinates while keeping everything else.
Overwrite originals modifies the files in place.
Save as copies writes new files alongside the originals.
Click Remove Metadata to start. A progress bar tracks completion.
After finishing, hover images in the list to confirm what was cleared. Cleared fields appear struck through.
Color Filters
Color filters are an optional feature. Enable them in Settings then Editing then the Color Filters toggle.
Once enabled a wand button appears in the toolbar and lightbox controls.
Right click menus gain Apply Color Filter.
SVG and RAW files are not eligible.
Select one or more images and click the wand (or use the context menu).
Using the Filter Sheet
The left list shows your selected images. Click an image to focus it.
The right panel shows a live preview of the focused image with the chosen filter.
The filter grid shows tiles of all available filter styles. Click to select.
The Apply to all selected checkbox is checked by default so choosing a filter applies it to every selected image.
Unchecked lets you assign a different filter to each image individually.
Save Options
- Overwrite originals applies the filter destructively in place. An Undo button is available after completion.
- Save as copies saves filtered files alongside originals. You can optionally choose a destination folder for copies. The default is the same folder as each original.
Click Apply Filter to start. Progress is shown in a bar.
After completion, click Undo to reverse the operation, or Close to finish.
Deleting Files
Select files and then:
- Click the trash toolbar icon
- Press Delete or Backspace
- Right click and choose Move to Trash
- Click trash in the lightbox controls
By default a confirmation dialog appears. You can disable this in Settings then Library then Confirm before moving.
Where Files Go
By default, deleted files go to the macOS Trash and can be recovered from there in Finder.
To send deleted files to a specific folder instead (for example an archive folder), go to Settings then Library then Send deleted files to then Choose.
Click Clear to revert to using the system Trash.
Copy and Paste
Copy
Select files in the grid or while viewing in the lightbox.
Press Command C. File URLs are placed on the clipboard so you can paste them directly into Finder, Messages, or other apps.
Paste
If you have copied file URLs or paths (from Finder or a text editor), press Command V in ImageFuel. Files that live inside any of your scanned root folders will be imported into the gallery without moving them on disk.
Settings
Open with Command comma or via the ImageFuel menu then Settings.
Viewing
Open image on lets you choose whether a single click or double click opens an item in the lightbox.
Editing
Color filters toggles the color filter feature on or off (off by default).
Library
- Default sort order is the sort applied to any folder that has not yet had its sort changed manually.
- Send deleted files to lets you choose a custom folder for deleted files, or leave it blank to use the system Trash.
- Confirm before moving toggles the Move to Trash confirmation dialog.
Keyboard Shortcuts Complete Reference
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Command F | Open or close the search modal |
| Command A | Select all visible items |
| Command C | Copy selected files to the clipboard |
| Command V | Import files from the clipboard (if they are inside a scanned folder) |
| Command plus or Command minus | Zoom thumbnails in or out (grid) or zoom the image (lightbox) |
| Command 0 | Reset thumbnail size (grid) or reset zoom (lightbox) |
| Delete or Backspace | Move selected files (or the lightbox file) to trash |
| Arrow keys | Move selection one cell (left or right) or one row (up or down) |
| Shift plus left or right | Extend selection |
| Home | Select the first item (grid) or jump to first item (lightbox) |
| End | Select the last item (grid) or jump to last item (lightbox) |
| Return or Space | Open selected item in lightbox (grid) or close lightbox / play pause video (lightbox) |
| Escape | Clear selection (grid) or close lightbox / cancel crop |
| R | Reveal current file in Finder (lightbox) |
| C | Open Crop tool (lightbox, images only, not SVG) |
| Plus or equals | Zoom in (lightbox) |
| Minus | Zoom out (lightbox) |
| 0 | Reset zoom or fit to window (lightbox) |
| Scroll wheel | Zoom images in or out (lightbox) |
| Click and drag | Pan when zoomed in (lightbox) |
Supported File Types
Images
- JPG, JPEG, PNG, GIF, WEBP, BMP, TIFF, HEIC, HEIF
- RAW formats: RAW, CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, ORF, RW2, RAF, DNG, PEF, SRW, 3FR, MOS, IIQ
Videos
- MP4, MOV, MKV, WEBM, M4V, 3GP
SVG files are supported for viewing but are excluded from Crop, Color Filter, and Metadata operations. RAW files are excluded from Color Filter operations.
Tips and Tricks
- The sort picker and custom drag order are saved separately per folder.
- Switching the sort picker on a folder with a custom drag order will clear that drag order for the folder.
- Hovering over a folder row in the sidebar shows its full path as a tooltip.
- Hovering over the truncated path in the lightbox info panel shows the complete file path.
- While the Rename or Metadata sheets are open, a progress note appears in the toolbar stats line even after you close the sheet, until the operation finishes.
- You can right click a folder in the sidebar to create subfolders without leaving the app.
- Command V in ImageFuel is a quick way to add a file to the gallery after you have copied it in Finder, as long as the file lives inside a scanned root.