Browse

Grid and List

The view is the set of videos currently shown: whatever search, filters, a smart library, or an album leave on screen. Grid (⌘1), List (⌘2), and Storyboard (⌘3) are layouts. Each one shows the same view in a different way. Focus is the one clip the Inspector follows. The batch selection is a separate group you build while you browse, and it stays put when focus moves. Clicking a clip focuses it. It does not select it.

1. Switch layouts with the Grid, List, and Storyboard buttons in the toolbar. ⌘1 is Grid. ⌘2 is List. Storyboard (⌘3) is covered in the next section.
2. A Grid card shows the thumbnail, duration, Title, date, rating stars, and up to three tags. Further tags appear as a count, such as +2. The card does not grow taller as tags add up. List rows do not show those tags. A captions badge appears when the video is marked as having subtitles. A thin bar along the card shows watch progress after you have started it.
3. Click a card or row once to focus it. Grid draws a dashed ring. List highlights the row. That clip is what the Inspector shows, unless the orange batch bar is up.
4. ⌘-click a clip to add it to the selection or remove it. ⇧-click selects every clip from the last click through this one. Press A to add or remove the focused clip. ⌘A selects every video in the current view. Selected clips show a blue checkmark.
5. With two or more clips selected, a pill above the grid or list reads “N videos selected.” The Inspector title bar turns orange and reads N Videos Selected. Ratings, tags, and custom fields you change apply to every selected clip. TAGS notes that you are tagging the selection.
6. Click one selected clip to inspect that clip alone. The title bar turns light blue and shows the clip’s name. Click that same focused clip again to return to the selection. On the light blue bar, click N Videos, or click the “N videos selected” pill, to return to the selection as well.
7. Clear the set with the pill’s ✕, with Clear on the orange bar, or with ⇧⌘A. Arrow keys move focus and leave the checkmarks where they are.
8. Rest the pointer on a Grid card or a List thumbnail for a silent Live Preview. Double-click a card or row to play that video in Skagway.
9. On a Grid or Storyboard card, click a star to rate that clip, and click the same star again to clear it. Click a tag to remove it. If that card is selected, the change applies to every selected video. If it is not selected, only that card changes.
10. Option-click a star to show that rating and every higher one. Option-click a tag to show only clips with it. Option-click the same star or tag again to clear. A pill above the grid names the filter.

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

Keys 1–5 and the Inspector follow the orange or light blue bar. A click on a card follows whether that card is selected. See Organize. See Organize.

Storyboard layout

Storyboard (⌘3) gives every clip a six-frame collage, which helps when one poster frame is not enough to tell two videos apart. It is a layout for the whole view. The Inspector filmstrip and the strip inside the player are separate.

1. Press ⌘3, or click Storyboard in the toolbar. The arrow on that button chooses the density: Normal or Compact.
2. Normal is the default and uses at most three columns. Compact fits more columns, up to four. At some window widths both densities land on three columns, so they look the same.
3. Collages appear as you scroll. Prepare previews while idle (Settings → Video) is on by default. While nothing is playing, scanning, or scrolling, Skagway also builds the missing collages for the current view, starting near what is on screen.
4. Click a frame once to focus that clip, even if the clip is already selected. Click the same focused collage again to play from that frame’s sample time. Playback leaves the selection as it is.
5. Click the title or the footer under a collage to focus or to toggle batch inspect, without starting playback. Clicks on the frames themselves never toggle batch inspect.
6. ⌘-click, ⇧-click, and A select clips the same way they do in Grid. Hover preview is off here; use the collage frames.
7. Stars and tags sit under the collage, as they do on a Grid card. Click a star or a tag there. Clicks on the frames still focus or play, and do not rate or tag.

Click to enlarge

Inspector Filmstrip (⌥⌘T) is a preview of one focused clip. It is not the Storyboard layout. See Play from the filmstrip.

List columns

List is a table. Title is always there. The other columns are optional, and you can resize or reorder the ones that are showing by dragging their headers.

1. Optional columns are Duration, Resolution, File size, Rating, Date added, Plays, Created, and Last played. Custom metadata fields become columns too. Up to 16 custom columns can be shown at once, in alphabetical order.
2. Turn columns on or off under Settings → Library → List view columns, or right-click a column header in the table.
3. When the Rating column is visible, click the stars in the row to rate that video.

Sort, shuffle, and Surprise Me!

1. Open the Sort menu in the toolbar. Sort by Title, Date Added, Duration, File Size, Rating, Resolution, or Plays, or by a custom field you have defined.
2. Click the arrow beside the Sort menu to flip between ascending and descending.
3. While an album is open, Album Order appears at the top of the Sort menu. That order is the one you arranged by dragging.
4. Choose Shuffle, or press ⇧⌘R, to put the whole current view in a random order. Choosing any other sort leaves shuffle. Click Shuffle again for a new order.
5. Choose Surprise Me!, or press ⇧⌘S, to jump to one random video in the view. To play that video as well, turn on Surprise Me! auto-plays selected video under Settings → Video.

Scroll index

On a long view, a rolodex-style chip sits beside the scrollbar while you scroll. Its label is the sort value you are passing, so a Title sort shows titles and a Date Added sort shows dates.

1. Set the order with the Sort menu. The chip uses that field.
2. Scroll the Grid, List, or Storyboard. The chip stays beside the scrollbar and updates as the videos go by.
3. Read the chip to see where you are in the sort without stopping on every card.

Click to enlarge

Play All

Play All walks the videos in the current view: whatever search, filters, and sort are showing right now. In an album with Album Order selected, that saved order is the sequence.

1. Click Play All in the toolbar, or press ⇧⌘P. Playback starts at the first video that can play. When a video finishes, the next one starts.
2. Click Loop Play All to repeat the list after the last video. That option also appears under Settings → Video.
3. Stop playback, or start a single video on its own, and the Play All session ends.

Search

1. Press ⌘F, or click the Search videos field, and type part of a title, filename, tag, or custom-field value.
2. Every word must appear somewhere in those fields. The words do not have to sit in the same field. More words narrow the list.
3. Click the × in the field, or delete the text, to show the full library again. Filters you set stay in effect until you clear them.

Search is text. Ratings, duration, quality, and other structured tests belong in the filters. See Filter.

Getting around quickly

These shortcuts work in Grid, List, and Storyboard. If the cursor is in a text field, press Esc once so the keys move through the library instead of typing.

1. Arrow keys move focus one clip at a time. They leave selection checkmarks alone. Home jumps to the first video. End jumps to the last.
2. Press ⌘J to scroll the focused clip back into view.
3. ⌘-click toggles one clip in the selection. ⇧-click selects the range from the last click. ⌘A selects every video in the current view. ⇧⌘A clears the selection.