---
title: "The Library"
description: "The Library is a window listing every capture Bigshot knows about: every Project's captures and the session captures, grouped by day."
url: https://www.bigshot.pics/docs/library
---
# The Library

The Library is a window listing every capture Bigshot knows about: every
Project's captures and the session captures, grouped by day.

Open it with **⌃⌥O**, **Library…** in the menu bar, or the Library button in
Expanded View. The window remembers its size and position. Settings opens in
the same window.

## Sidebar

- **All Captures**
- **Session Captures**: captures taken with no Active Project
- **Projects**: each Project with its colour and count. Expand a Project to
  see its tags; click a tag to show only its captures.
- **Settings**: General, Projects, Shortcuts, Licence. See
  [Settings](https://www.bigshot.pics/docs/settings).

## Browsing

- Captures are grouped under **Today**, **Yesterday**, then dates.
- Sort **Newest first** or **Oldest first**.
- The slider sets the thumbnail size.
- Each thumbnail carries its Project's colour.
- Hover a card for **Open in Editor**, **Show in Finder** and **Move to
  Trash**.

### Search

The search field matches file names, notes, tag names, source app, web
address, OCR text and Project names. Every word you type has to match
somewhere. Case and accents are ignored. Captures only have OCR text if the
Project has **Extract text (OCR)** on.

## Selecting

| Action | Result |
|---|---|
| Click | Select one |
| ⌘-click | Add or remove one |
| ⇧-click | Select a range |
| ⌘A | Select all |
| Click a day's title | Select that day. ⌘ or ⇧ adds it. Click again to deselect. |
| Drag from empty space | Select what the rectangle touches. ⇧ adds, ⌘ flips. |
| Arrow keys | Move the selection. ⇧ extends it. |
| Click empty space | Deselect |
| Double-click / Return | Open in the editor |
| Space | Quick Look |
| Delete | Move to the Trash |

Point at a screenshot and press a key to act on it without selecting it
first. When the pointer is on a selected screenshot, the key acts on the
whole selection.

| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| S | Select or deselect it |
| T | Tag it |
| P | Move it to a Project. 1–9 picks a Project, 0 the Session. |
| K | Keep / Don't keep |
| E | Open in the editor |
| ⌘C | Copy |

## Acting on a selection

The toolbar acts on everything selected:

- **Show in Finder**
- **Copy**
- **Share**
- **Keep** / **Don't keep**. A mixed selection becomes all kept.
- **Export…** copies the files to a folder you choose, starting in
  Downloads. Existing files are never overwritten.
- **Move to Trash**

The context menu adds **Open in Editor**, **Quick Look**,
**Screenshot Context…** (one Project capture), **Move to Project** ▸ and
**Tags** ▸.

Most actions show a notice for a few seconds with **Undo** or **Show in
Finder**.

### The inspector

With captures selected, the inspector shows their Project and a tag field.
Type to add a tag, or to create one; click a tag's × to remove it. When only
some of the selection carry a tag, it is drawn dimmed and dashed; adding it
gives it to all of them.

## Organising

### Moving between Projects

Use **Move to Project** in the context menu, the inspector, the editor's
file card or a thumbnail's chip, or drag captures onto a Project in the
sidebar.

- The file moves into the target Project's `.screenshots/` folder, or to the
  Desktop for Session Captures.
- Tags go with it by name, and are created in the target Project if needed.
- Moving to Session Captures removes all tags, since session captures cannot
  be tagged.
- The target Project's Hooks do not run on a moved capture.
- A move can be undone from the notice.

Moving needs a Licence.

### Tags

A tag is your name for a piece of work: a bug, a feature, a branch. Tags
belong to a Project. A capture can carry several.

- A new capture gets the Project's **active tag**, chosen in the island's tag
  pill.
- Add or remove tags afterwards from the Library inspector, the **Tags**
  menu, a thumbnail's chip, or the editor.
- Drag captures onto a tag in the sidebar to tag them. If they belong to
  another Project they move into the tag's Project first; hold **⌥** while
  dropping to tag them without moving.
- Archive a tag in Settings › Projects › Edit › Task tags. Archived tags
  leave the pickers but stay on the captures that have them, and remain
  searchable. Typing an archived tag's name restores it.

Tags are also how you point an agent at a set of screenshots. See
[Projects](https://www.bigshot.pics/docs/projects).

## Keep and automatic cleanup

Bigshot can move old captures to the Trash for you. Set how long in
Settings › General › **Keep screenshots**:

- 5 minutes, 60 minutes, 1 day, 1 week, or **Forever** (the default).

A Project can override this under **Move old captures to Trash** in its
settings, or inherit the global choice.

**Keep** exempts a capture from cleanup. Turn it on from a thumbnail's
right-click menu, the Library toolbar, or the Screenshot Context dialog.
Kept captures still go when you delete them yourself.

Cleanup runs at launch, when the setting changes, and every minute. It skips
any capture open in the editor, being shared, or with a Hook running. Files
go to the Trash, so a capture removed too soon can be put back from there.

## Session captures

Captures taken with no Active Project are saved to the Desktop. Bigshot
remembers the most recent 50 across relaunches, so the island and the Library
still show them. Older ones drop off the list, but their files stay on the
Desktop. A file you delete or move yourself disappears from the list.