A super-fast desktop app for triaging photos — keep / reject / undo — with a slick, keyboard-first workflow and RAW support.
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File Browser Added a file browser pane that displays image files from the selected folder. You can click around and scrub between photos without losing your place.
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RAW Image Support You can now triage RAW photos alongside your JPG/PNG images while keeping the same super-quick folder navigation. (Note: RAW decoding availability may depend on your platform/Qt plugins.)
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UI Colours Updated the theme to be easier on the eyes. Added colour accents to the keep, reject, and undo buttons for at-a-glance clarity.
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Arrow-key Navigation Zip through the folder with ← / →. You’re no longer locked into deciding on just the current photo.
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Asynchronous Thumbnail Loading The file list appears instantly with lightweight placeholders; thumbnails load asynchronously to keep the UI responsive.
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Optimized Image Pipeline The lightning-fast image pipeline now uses a symmetric sliding-window cache around the current index so navigation stays snappy.
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Thumbnail Queue A path-based thumbnail queue with a small concurrency gap prioritizes relevant images and avoids stalls during heavy I/O.
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Better Thread Management Background tasks use queued connections and clean up their threads properly on completion, improving stability and resource usage.
When you launch the app, select a source directory. The program scans the folder for images and shows them one at a time. You can:
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Keep the current image — press Z or click Keep. The file moves to a sibling folder named
keep. If a file with the same name exists, a numerical suffix is appended (e.g.,image.jpg→image_1.jpg). -
Reject the current image — press X or click Reject. The file moves to a sibling folder named
discard(same suffix behaviour). -
Undo the last action — press U or Ctrl+Z or click Undo. The most recent move is reversed; the file returns to its original location and position.
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Open a new source directory — press O and choose another folder.
The status bar shows the current index, total images, and filename. Images are scaled to fit while preserving aspect ratio.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Z | Keep |
| X | Reject |
| U | Undo |
| Ctrl+Z | Undo |
| ← / → | Previous / Next image |
| O | Open folder |
- Raster: JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF, TIF/TIFF, WEBP, AVIF
- RAW: Common RAW image files (triage support; decoding depends on your platform/Qt setup)
If a specific RAW from your camera doesn’t decode, it’s typically a codec/plugin issue rather than the triage workflow itself.
Photo-Triage is built with Qt (tested with Qt 6; should also work with Qt 5). A CMakeLists.txt is provided.
Requirements
- A C++17-compliant compiler (e.g., GCC 10+, Clang 10+, MSVC 2019+)
- Qt development libraries (Qt 6 recommended)
- CMake 3.15+
Configure & Build (Unix-like)
mkdir build
cd build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build . --config ReleaseWindows Notes
You may need to pass -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH to point CMake at your Qt installation. Refer to Qt’s docs for details.
After a successful build, the executable is placed in the build directory. On first run you’ll be prompted to select a folder of images.
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Natural Sorting Files appear in a human-friendly order so
image2.jpgcomes beforeimage10.jpg. -
Dynamic Caching Images are loaded on a worker thread and cached by index. The cache prevents redundant work if you advance quickly.
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Undo Stack Up to 20 move operations are retained. Undo restores both the file and your browsing position.
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RAW Coverage Varies RAW compatibility can differ by camera model/codec and your Qt/plugin setup.
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Very Large Folders Initial scanning of huge directories can take a moment before the first render, though navigation remains responsive thereafter.
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Animated Images Animated formats (e.g., GIF) are treated as single frames during triage.
I wanted a tool that lets me skate around a folder of photos at high speed, make confident keep/reject calls, and get out of the way. That’s the whole point: tight feedback, instant actions, and a workflow that feels effortless.
I pretty much couldn't find something that fit exactly my use case, I got annoyed, so I made it myself lol. Unironically, I use this app all the time.