First Steps

Welcome to IMatch! Start organizing your files today.

IMatch Learning Center

Free video tutorials and know-how articles for IMatch and general DAM topics.

Keyboard Cheat Sheet

A list of all keyboard shortcuts for frequently used commands and features.
We recommend to print out the cheat sheet and keep it around while you learn about IMatch.

Meet IMatch

This topic gives an overview of all important features and functions in IMatch.
Read this first if you are new to IMatch..

IMatch - Frequently Asked Questions

Answers to frequently asked questions about IMatch.

After Installing IMatch...

After installing the IMatch software on your computer, you need to perform a few simple steps to create your database and configure IMatch to fit into your software environment and workflow. This takes only a few minutes.

IMatch guides you through these steps when you launch IMatch for the first time.

1. Create the Database

The database stores all the information about your files. IMatch databases are created as normal files on your hard disk.

Quick Info:

• IMatch databases contain an index of the files you manage in IMatch. They don't contain copies of your files
• IMatch manages your files where they are ‐ no need to change anything
• Store the database on your fastest disk ‐ SSD preferred

More information about IMatch databases...

Watch the video tutorial.

2. Indexing Folders and Files

In this step you tell IMatch which files you want to manage in your database. IMatch then retrieves information about these files from Windows, creates thumbnails, cache images, extracts metadata like keywords and descriptions etc.
Once this step has completed, you can start managing your files.

More information about adding folders and files to your database...

Watch the video tutorial: Adding Files to Your Database

Tip: Command Palette

Press Shift + Ctrl + P to open the Command Palette.
The Command Palette gives you direct access to virtually all IMatch commands, features, settings and more, just by searching:

Usage Hints

IMatch displays usage hints for many of its features. These hints are displayed automatically and only for a short time. Here is an example:

Usage hints like this automatically vanish after a few seconds. Most of them are shown only once per IMatch session.

Move the mouse into the tip to keep it visible so you have time to read it.

If you don't want to see the usage hint anymore, tick the Don't show again check box.

Advanced Topics

Some settings in IMatch depend on the files formats you use, the other software you work with and your personal workflow.
IMatch comes with carefully chosen safe default settings which work great with a wide range of applications and usage scenarios. You might want to review these settings, however, to ensure everything works the way you like it.

• Configure File Relations

  IMatch allows you to define rules about which files belong together. Using file relations you set up buddy files, versions and stacks.
  
  

• Configure Face Import Options

  If your files contain face regions in the XMP metadata (e.g. added there by Google Picasa™ or Adobe Lightroom®) you can configure IMatch to import the face data into Annotations and to create keywords from the tags given to the faces in the image. The corresponding options are in Metadata 2.
  
  

• Configure Metadata Options

  Depending on the files you work with and the software you use in addition to IMatch, you may want to review and change certain metadata options. You can do this under Edit menu > Preferences > Metadata and Edit > Preferences > Metadata 2.
  

  The default settings used by IMatch have been designed to work out-of-the box with a wide range of typical photographic workflows and software products. Don't make changes to these options unless you have to.

  The Metdata options control how IMatch imports metadata, how IMatch maps legacy IPTC and EXIF metadata into the modern XMP metadata format, if IMatch is allowed to write data to RAW files etc. If your files contain face annotations created by other software (e.g., Google Picasa™ or Adobe Lightroom®) these options allow you to control if and how IMatch imports the faces into annotations and keywords.

  All this is best tried out in a small test database with only a few of your files. You can create any number of databases via Database menu > Create a New Database.
  Once you have configured IMatch the way you like, create your 'real' database and import all your files. See also the Introduction in Metadata help topic for an overview over image metadata.

• Configure the Cache

  The cache allows IMatch to display even very large images or RAW files quickly.
  The default settings work well for most users, but you may want to check and see if they fit your needs.
  
  IMatch sets the cache to on-demand for new databases. This means it creates cache images as needed when a file needs to be displayed for the first time. This speeds up the initial loading of files and also conserves disk space.
  
  

Next

Now comes the fun part: Learning about all the cool features in IMatch and experiencing them.

See Meet IMatch for an overview of the IMatch software and its main features.