Getting Started¶
This page covers everything between launching Jade GT and being ready to edit: how files come in, which saving mode to pick, and how the workspace is organised.
Loading Your Photos¶
Jade GT brings your images into the app through the Unified Open system.
- Open Photos button: in the centre of the empty workspace, this reveals your selection options.
- Select Individual Files: opens your system file picker.
- Select Entire Folder (Desktop only): connects Jade GT directly to a directory for high-volume workflows.
- Drag and drop: drop image files or folders anywhere on the workspace.
- Shift + Click shortcut: holding Shift while clicking Open Photos jumps straight to the folder picker.
- Session persistence: file handles and staged edits are restored automatically if you refresh the tab or come back later on the same device.
Mobile workflow
On mobile devices, the "Select Entire Folder" option is automatically hidden because mobile browsers don't support directory access. Use "Select Individual Files" to pick photos from your gallery.
Choosing a Saving Strategy¶
Before editing, decide how you want to save your work. The Saving Strategy toggle is at the top of the Photos panel.
Indicated by a gray dot. Creates new copies of your photos with updated metadata.
- Single photo → downloads a standard image file.
- Multiple photos → packaged into a single ZIP archive so you aren't prompted for each download.
Indicated by a green dot. Updates your original files in place on disk.
- Safety fallback: if a direct save fails due to a permission change, Jade GT automatically falls back to a download so your work is never lost.
- Not available on Safari or Firefox. Those browsers always use Export Mode.
Exploring the Workspace¶
Once your photos are loaded, the workspace is a side-by-side layout: the Photos panel on the left, the Details Panel on the right.
The staging model
Jade GT never writes changes to disk as you type. Every edit is staged: a pulsating dot appears on the tab that has pending changes, and the Commit button in the panel header shows a running count. Changes are only applied when you commit, and once you commit, the change cannot be undone inside the app. See Review & Commit.
flowchart LR
A[Open Photos] --> B[Select & triage<br/>in Photos panel]
B --> C[Edit in tabs<br/>Location · Tags · Rename · ...]
C --> D[Changes auto-stage<br/>tab dot pulses]
D --> E[Review Hub<br/>per-category checkboxes]
E --> F{Saving strategy}
F -->|Direct Save| G[Write in place<br/>Pro · Chromium]
F -->|Export Mode| H[Download ZIP]The Details Panel shows six tabs. Each one operates on the current selection: a single photo when one is selected, every selected photo at once when several are.
- Preview: the photo's identity dashboard. Triage flags, a large image preview, conditional Camera/Exposure/Date/Location cards, plus an inline summary of any staged changes.
- Location: mapping hub. Search addresses, import GPX tracks, manage location presets.
- Tags: metadata engine. IPTC descriptions, keywords, Subject and Scene codes, the Stock Readiness dashboard, and Metadata Templates.
- Compress: re-encode images to AVIF, WebP, or JPEG with WASM codecs.
- Rename: batch renaming with smart tokens.
- EXIF Info: camera data, Shift Time, the EXIF Data Viewer, and the Privacy Scrub.
Selecting Photos¶
The gallery supports the selection patterns you already know from file managers.
- Click a photo to select it.
- Shift + Click another photo to select a contiguous range.
- Ctrl + Click (Cmd-click on Mac) to toggle individual photos in and out of the selection.
- Use the selection controls at the top of the Photos panel to select everything or clear the current selection.
How batch editing works
When more than one photo is selected, every edit applies to every photo in the selection. Setting a Copyright value in the Tags tab, for example, writes that value to all selected photos. To edit a single photo, click it individually first.