Keep several photo libraries
Keep family and work photos apart in separate libraries, each with its own folder and catalogue, and switch between them from the library menu.
A library is a photo folder, its catalogue and thumbnails, and its originals folder.
The library menu
Click the library's round avatar at the right of the top bar. The menu shows which library this window has open, then:
- Switch to — the other libraries on this computer. Clicking one restarts Portman2 on it. If a long job such as a scan or an import is running, it asks first, because that job stops with the restart; whatever was already done stays done.
- Beside each, a button to open that library in a separate window and stay where you are.
- Choose a library… — restarts Portman2 at the library picker.
- New library — see Creating a library.
- Manage libraries — opens Settings ▸ Libraries.
A library whose drive cannot be reached right now — a sleeping NAS, an unplugged disk — is still listed, dimmed, with the reason. It can still be opened: the drive may be back by then.
One window per library
Each library opens in one window. Starting Portman2 again for a library that is already open brings its window to the front instead of opening a second copy; starting it for another library opens a second window.