Smarter Defaults, Faster Imports, and More Reliable Shutdowns · Release Candidate 49

Smarter Defaults for New Libraries

We've changed the default storage mode for new library instances from "all originals" to "manual selection." The previous default meant that simply adding a new instance could trigger immediate, unintended synchronization of your entire photo collection. The new behavior gives you explicit control over which folders get synced, which should reduce surprises—particularly for photographers managing multiple drives or selective workflows.

Performance Gains for Large Libraries

Two changes here should be noticeable if you work with substantial collections. First, we've resolved a UI responsiveness issue where typing search terms would lag in libraries with extensive keyword hierarchies. Second, and more significantly, we've cut both time and memory consumption when creating library revisions after bulk-adding files to existing folders. For photographers importing hundreds or thousands of images from a single shoot, this should eliminate the lengthy waits and memory pressure that previously accompanied those operations.

More Transparent and Reliable Shutdown

Shutdown behavior gets two updates. The application now displays an explicit "SHUTTING DOWN" status page while finalizing operations, so you're not left wondering whether the process has stalled. We've also addressed two specific failure modes: a crash that could occur when shutting down from the details view, and a hang caused by message dialog conflicts during the shutdown sequence. These were edge cases, but frustrating ones when they appeared.

Platform-Specific Hardening

On Windows, we've added mitigation for a specific external behavior: background processes (antivirus, indexing tools, etc.) that lock files immediately after creation. This was causing intermittent image cache update failures; the new code detects and works around these locks more gracefully.

Additional Fixes and Notes

• The storage warning notification now updates correctly even when no other library instances are online
• A crash when disconnecting an external drive containing the active library has been resolved
• The scanned folder settings page now includes documentation about multi-drive library configurations

As always, see the change log for the full list of changes.