Finding masters

[Joe Austin]

If I have identified an assortment of version files with different masters and I want to select the masters just for those version files, what is the best (hopefully quick) way to tell Imatch to "display the masters of these versions"

[bonsai]

Right click, Versions, Goto Master (F4,G) 

[Ferdinand]

I think that suggestion will only show one master.  I think the OP wants to show all the masters for all the selected versions.

How about
.  Show All Versions [F4,S]
.  Then in the "Show files with Hierarchy" enable "Include Originals in the Results"
.  Then filter on the master collection

It's a bit klunky, but it works.

[Joe Austin]

Thanks Ferdinand,  that does work , but you're right its kinda klunky.   I think I'll put in a feature request for something easier and with a more concise display of the results.

also , my F4-x type commands only work very sporadically.  Usually I get no response or a chime and no effect.

[Ferdinand]

The find all versions feature was created during beta testing in response to user feedback.  There are some rather diverse workflows in use, and Mario aimed to find something that would not conflict with any of them.  I suspect that if anyone asked to change it now here would be howls of protest.

I've created a little script that is a little less klunky:  https://www.photools.com/community/index.php?topic=519.0
It still requires filtering, but I've also indicated how you can easily edit the script to return only masters and avoid the need for filtering.

I understand why you want this.  I often have a situation where I have selected a number of versions that I wish to reprocess, and want to be able to select the corresponding masters (RAW files) and send them to my RAW processor.

Re [F4,S] commands, by understanding is that you press and hold F4 and while doing so you then press S.  Is that what you are doing?

p.s.  I wonder if the sole reason that this script was necessary is because of a bug - that the "Show with Hierarchy" button in the results window is broken, i.e. it's always on?

[Mario]

<F4>,<S> means to press <F4> and then (within one second) <S>.
<Ctrl>+<S> means hold down <Ctrl> while pressing <S>.

that the "Show with Hierarchy" button in the results window is broken, i.e. it's always on?

Not broken. Behavior is by design. The result window always groups by the original image (or in this case the master).
You can optionally include the original/master as part of the result (to make it selectable etc.) but the result window always groups by the original/master. The only exception are results produced by features which don't use originals, e.g. Sketch Match, or results produced by Scripts / Apps.

Tip: Since build 5.0.106 you can not only open result windows from within an App, you can also create Files collections from scratch, fill them with files from whatever source and then pump them into a result window.

[Mario]

It's a bit klunky, but it works.

It's not really clunky, it is actually the way to do it.
100 users will come up with 101 way to work with versions and masters. It will be impossible to implement features which support all these specific requirements and workflows. I can only add the tools which allow users to get the job done in a way which supports most of the standard use cases.

I just checked: Identify some versions and select them. Press <F4>,<S> to bring them into a result window. Now I can already see which masters belong to each of the selected versions.
I can locate each master by right-clicking it and using Goto.
If I want to select all masters, I switch the result window to include the originals/masters in the result (I usually have that on anyway).
Now I can select the masters using <Shift>+<Click>.
If there are too many masters to select this way I can apply my saved filter "Show only Masters" to limit what I see in the file window, and then press <Ctrl>+<A> to select all masters.

Note: It would be a 10 minute job to create a script which produces a result window containing only the masters for all selected versions.

[BenAW]

p.s.  I wonder if the sole reason that this script was necessary is because of a bug - that the "Show with Hierarchy" button in the results window is broken, i.e. it's always on?

The hierarchy display has been fixed for result windows in one of the previous builds. I remember some discussion with Mario about it.
I have a feature request to restore the Hierarchy selection:
https://www.photools.com/community/index.php?topic=480.msg2672#msg2672
You may want to support it.

[Ferdinand]

Not broken. Behavior is by design. The result window always groups by the original image (or in this case the master).

It's not really clunky, it is actually the way to do it.  100 users will come up with 101 way to work with versions and masters.

The reason I thought that it might be broken is that the "Show Hierarchy"  button doesn't actually do anything.  Yes, the little arrow alongside does allow you to include the masters, but the button doesn't turn the hierarchy on and off like it does in other views, e.g. the category view.  So the reason why I think it's klunky, and also Joe and I assume also Ben is that you are forced to view the results with the hierarchy, when the same behaviour as in the category view would make sense sometimes - i.e. to include the masters but view without hierarchy.  This is Ben's feature request as I understand it.

Tip: Since build 5.0.106 you can not only open result windows from within an App, you can also create Files collections from scratch, fill them with files from whatever source and then pump them into a result window.

Note: It would be a 10 minute job to create a script which produces a result window containing only the masters for all selected versions.

Which is what my new little script  does, or can do with a bit of tweaking.  But I thought we were trying to use native functionality rather than scripts as far as possible

You may want to support it.

I do.