Caregory Icons and Tons of other stuff

[Panther]

Mario - just updated from 2023 to 2025 and everything seemed to go fine.  I wasn't a big fan of the various menu/ribbon bar  icons getting huge in the new version, but it didn't take me too long to figure out how to shrink them back down again so no biggie there.  I don't remember the folder icons in the category view being bright green like that - I'd prefer them to look more like manila folder color, and I found several color-related settings in the edit/preferences menus, but I couldn't find a way to change those particular colors.  It was much more noticeable before I managed to shrink those icons down, so it's not really a big deal, but if there's a way to change that color I'd love to know it.

Performance seemed to be fine in some very cursory testing, but I did run into one small issue that seems new with 2025.  My workspace generally looks like the following:



Normally, I click on a category in the list on the far left to bring up all the files in that category into the file window (middle left), and then use the list on the far right to assign (or sometimes correct) the appropriate categories to the selected image file(s).  Previously (versions 2023 and prior), when I would click on a file in the file window that already had some categories assigned to it, the category list on the far right would have checkboxes ticked in all (and only) the assigned categories.  After installing 2025, however, I noticed that sometimes that list on the far right would show check marks in several categories that were NOT actually assigned to that image (which would be confirmed by switching to the "current" view in the list to the far right).  Those extra/spurious checkmarks all tend to disappear when I click on any one of them to remove it, but their presence is rather disturbing nonetheless. 

I just ran another test trying to see if it was just a matter of something taking too long to refresh, but that does not appear to be the case as I waited at least a couple of minutes (while taking some screenshots) and the excess checkmarks did not go away until I un-ticked one of them, after which they all disappeared.  The before, during and after screenshots are shown below, if you want to see exactly what I'm talking about (it took me a while to figure out how to include images in posts here, and I never did figure out how to not make them so huge, so sorry for that):

Screenshot showing spurious checkmarks on far right: 


Screenshot showing actually-assigned categories in "current" view:


Screenshot showing spurious checkmarks removed after unticking one (1940):



BTW - forgot to mention that I LOVE peek view - that's going to save us so much time!

[Mario]

I have split this topic out of the general discussion thread because it is way to long and answering it will among all the other posts will not do any good.

Please always consider where you post and if a post with this amount of text and questions is not better posted as a separate thread, so we can concentrate on it and not mix it with 20 posts made by other users.

[Mario]

but it didn't take me too long to figure out how to shrink them back down again so no biggie there.

That's the idea of the icon size setting. You can shrink or grow the icons without quality loss to whatever works for your screen resolution and preferences.

I don't remember the folder icons in the category view being bright green like that -

We ran a six month beta test of the new ribbons and icons here in this community last year.
Folders use "manila folder" colors and regular/data-driven categories use green now.

To summarize your section part:

You are in the Category View and you show the Category Panel.
When you click on a file in the File Window, the Category Panel does (sometimes) not update to tick the boxes of the categories assigned to the focused file.

This sounds like an update/repaint problem not reported before.
I tried to reproduce this with a scope of about 600 files, each file having a different set of categories.
Clicking files or navigating between files using the cursor keys always updated the Category Panel, showing the correct categories of the focused file (or a combination, when multiple files are selected).

Questions:

How large is the database (number of files and categories) See Dashboard for info.
Does this happen in all Views or only in the Category View?
Is this dependent on the number of categories assigned to files?
Or only to some categories in a specific branch?
Is there a difference when you make the Categories Panel smaller or larger?
What happens if you enable the follow option with this ribbon button (it's off in your screen shot)



I've tried with on and off, but it make no difference.

Since I could not reproduce this within a couple of minutes, we need to figure out more details.

Maybe some other users can test this and check if they have the same effect. The more info we collect, the better.

For performance reasons, the Category Panel employs several techniques to avoid unnecessary updates, scrolls and redraws. If there is a situation where it, for some reason, skips the repaint or ticking boxes, this would result in the effect you see. We need to find out when this happens.

did figure out how to not make them so huge, so sorry for that):

When you press the button to insert an image into the post, you can set the size.

[hro]

Hello Panther,
Could you perhaps elaborate how to shrink the menu / ribbon bar icons?
Much appreciated.

[thrinn]

It's part of Preferences > Application Settings. Link to the help topic:

High Resolution Monitors: Adapt Ribbon Size, Folder Icons and Icon Sizes

[Mario]

@hro

the settings are in the "User Interface" group in the Application Settings.
The icon size in File Windows is dynamic, but you can set individual icon sizes in File Window layouts.

Tip: Using the search function in the IMatch Help System is a good way to find information, e.g.:

[Tveloso]

I see this effect when I first activate the Categories Panel.  But once I focus a new file, it updates accordingly...(and does so for all subsequently selected files).

In my case, I keep the Keywords and Categories Panels in the same Panel Group.  If I have been working on Keywording (so the Keywords Tab is the active one in the group), when I first switch to the Categories Tab, the checkboxes there do not reflect the category assignments of the focused file.  But once I focus a new file, everything updates correctly.

[Mario]

When the Category Panel is opened or becomes active (you switching from the Keywords tab to the Categories tab in your group) the Category panel automatically fetches the data for the currently focused file.

Strange. Just tried that and it works. 
Select file A with categories a, b, c.

Switch to Keywords Panel (Categories panel not visible anymore).
Change some keywords, bla-bla, switch to file B.
Now switch back to the Categories Panel. It shows the categories assigned to file B.


Closing and reopening a database with the Categories Panel hidden by the Keywords Panel (same group) and then switching to the Categories Panel loads the categories of the currently focused file. This initial switch must first construct the panel, load all categories into the tree and then tick the boxes of the focused file (or all selected files if there is more than one). Works just fine.

I've also tried with a closed category panel. Showing it via <F9>,<C> also loaded the categories of the currently focused panel.


Any specific sequence I need to use?
Is your PC on the slower end perhaps, or the database huge with more than 15,000 categories (I used that for my test, also a smaller database).

[Tveloso]

Mario, I just tried a few things to repro this behavior, but was not able to.  Every time I activated the Categories Panel (after the Keywords Panel had been the active one), it updated to per the focused file.

I know that I've seen this fairly regularly though - where the initial activation of the Categories Panel might not represent the Categories of the focused file (until a new file is selected).

If I see this happen again, I'll pay closer attention to the steps I took.

[Mario]

f I see this happen again, I'll pay closer attention to the steps I took.

Very good.

The first and most vital step is to make the bug/problem/issue reproducible. I cannot do much without being able to reproduce an issue here.

[Panther]

Mario - thanks for moving this into its own thread - I realized after I saw how long the post was that it probably should have been a separate thread, but I didn't know how to move it at that point so I was hoping you would if that was a problem.

How large is the database (number of files and categories) See Dashboard for info.
Does this happen in all Views or only in the Category View?
Is this dependent on the number of categories assigned to files?
Or only to some categories in a specific branch?
Is there a difference when you make the Categories Panel smaller or larger?
What happens if you enable the follow option with this ribbon button (it's off in your screen shot)

1.  There are 33,980 files, and 3,568 categories (during the last few years when my wife was handling the project and I wasn't paying attention she fell in love with what categories could do in iMatch and she radically altered my original concept/approach and went nuts creating way more categories than I imagine any normal person would probably do).

2. I don't know what other views besides Category View would show categories checked or unchecked so I'm not sure if this happens elsewhere or even how to test for that.

3. Most of my images have somewhere between 6 and 13 categories assigned to them, and I haven't been able to discern any particular pattern as to when this effect appears based on number of categories assigned.

4. I have most frequently noticed this effect in connection with the date-related categories branch or the people-related branch, but that may just be because those are the branches most typically expanded in view so I would tend to spot them more easily at a glance, and the effect has been so sporadic that it's hard to see any pattern there either.  I'll run some more tests later today and see if I can spot a pattern.

5. I haven't been able to find any more files in my tests today that exhibit this behavior, so I haven't been able to test and see what happens if I change the window size.

I'll keep looking to see if this issue keeps recurring.  If I can't find any more instances of it, then the chances of anybody else replicating it seem slim (and maybe it's fixed itself somehow?), so you probably shouldn't spend any more time on this one unless someone else is also seeing the issue or I come up with more instances that might shed some light.

[Mario]

You cannot move posts, only moderators and Admins can.

1. Small database, so probably not performance related.
2. The Category Panel is visible in many other Views, From Media & Folders to People.

4. What is a data-related or people-related branch?

[Panther]

4. What is a data-related or people-related branch?

These are just some groupings of categories that we created, not any of the stock iMatch categories. The date-related branch I was referring to is showing in the screenshot I posted above where the spurious check marks are showing - as shown in that shot, multiple decade and year categories are shown as ticked when only one of each should be.  The people-related branch isn't shown in these shots, but it just consists of lists of family members and other types or groups of people, and when the effect would happen typically several family members would be ticked when only one or two of them were actually in the picture.

[Mario]

Until we find a way for me to reproduce this, there is little I can do.
I've made some test on 3 PCs, and could not reproduce this. This does not mean it does not happen on your PC, but we need to figure out in which situation this happens, what is special etc.