Import Options

There are several ways to import Master Files into Bibble 5. Choosing between these options will determine where your underlying Master Files will be stored, and plays a key role in determining your best backup strategy and greatly affects the size of your Catalog. Each Catalog is comprised of a data file that stores the metadata from your image and image adjustments, and a set of folders to store imported Master Files, Preview images, and other files. Catalogs can be located on any drive or network storage facility that your computer can access, but should be located on a drive or network with fast read/write speed, and high reliability.

	Move / Copy Images to Catalog	Refer to Original Location	Refer to Original Files (Advanced) Pro only
Where "Master Files" are stored	Master Files are Copied or Moved from their original location to the Catalog.	Master Files are left in their original location, and the Catalog just maintains a pointer to the original folder location.	Master Files are left in their original location, and the Catalog just maintains a pointer to the original image location.
Where Previews are stored	Preview images are stored in a folder within the Catalog, relative to the Master File location
Size of Catalog	Includes Master Files, so the catalog can grow quite large	Catalogs stay relatively small, as Master Files are not located within the Catalog
What to Backup	The Catalog, and all sub-folders within	The Catalog, and all sub-folders within, as well as the folders containing the original Master Files
Notes & Usage	Used to Copy or Move Master Files from external media or memory cards onto your computer to be managed by Bibble 5.	This method of importing creates a one-to-one relationship between files and folders on your computer and images and folders in Bibble 5. Moving images between Referenced Folders will move the original images files. Some operations, like creating arbitrary stacks or unstacking Master Images and Versions, are not permitted. This is the simplest type of Catalog and will keep links between what you see in Bibble and what you see in file browsers (like Windows Explorer or Finder).	Operations like creating arbitrary stacks or unstacking Master Images and Versions and making virtual copies of Versions in multiple folders are allowed. Moving Master Files and Versions in this portion of your catalog will not move the files on your file system.

You can combine these import options within the same Bibble Catalog. For example, you could begin working with Bibble by Importing By Referring to Original Location all the images you already have. Bibble will create a browsable and searchable Catalog of your images, but will leave the original image files exactly where they already are on your computer. Then, as you continue to shoot and acquire more images, you can copy these image files to the Catalog. This will create a new folder structure within the Catalog for the Master Files, and will add these to your Catalog.

If currently your images are scattered across your computer and not well organized, you can use Bibble to Move Images to Catalog, while creating an organized folder structure, like Year / Month / Day. This will put some initial order to your images, which you can later change and move around as you see fit.

When importing by Moving or Copying, you can create new folder structures to organize your images, or you can recreate an existing folder structure. You can rename the images as you import them.

These are the ideal options when you are adding new images to your catalog from a camera, or memory card.

Bibble 5 will create any folder structure you specify when importing. You can always find your image files inside the "assets" sub-folder of the Catalog that you selected. Moving images from folder to folder within Bibble 5 will also move the images on your computer, so the file and folder structures will always match.

When Referencing Original Locations, Bibble will re-create in Bibble 5 the folder structure that your images are already in. For this reason, folder and file name choices are disabled in the Import dialog if you select this option.

This is the simplest way to get started if you already have images on your computer that you want to manage and edit in Bibble. Moving the images from one Referenced folder to another inside Bibble 5 will also move the files on your computer, so the folder structure in Bibble 5 will always match the folder structure on your computer.

In order to keep your view in Bibble 5 and in File Managers as similar as possible, some advanced features are not enabled in Referenced Locations. For example, a Master File and all Versions derived from that Master must be kept in the same folder and in a stack. This ensures that for every Master or Version you see in a specific Referenced Folder in Bibble 5, you can find the image file that corresponds to that photo in the same folder in Windows Explorer or Finder. Moving Versions from folder to folder is limited only to other Referenced Folders, and all versions of the same Master Version are moved together.

This advanced import method allows you to reference specific images from one or more folders from your computer and import them into a new folder structure in Bibble 5 Pro. This means that the folder structure within Bibble 5 will not necessarily match the folder structure on your computer. The added freedom to re-organize images in Bibble 5 without moving them on your computer can also complicate things, and can make finding images outside Bibble more challenging. For this reason, it's best to start off with one of the other Import options until you are more familiar with the the details of how Bibble 5 manages your images.