Opening a Photo Folder
Opening your library
LunaFinder works with folders already on your Mac—there is no import step that copies photos into a separate vault. When you click Open Folder, you choose which directory becomes your active library.
Best practices
- Open the highest useful folder (for example the main
Picturesproject folder, not one single shoot inside it, unless you only need that shoot). - Make sure external drives are mounted before opening.
- For synced cloud folders, open the path where files are stored locally on the Mac.
Switching to another library
To work with a different collection:
- Click Open Folder again.
- Select the new folder.
LunaFinder will load the new tree, thumbnails, and tags for that location. Tags and AI data are per library folder, not global across every folder on your computer.
Refresh current folder
After you have a folder open, the Refresh button (circular arrow next to Settings) reloads the current folder view and updates the folder tree.
Use Refresh when:
- You added or removed files in Finder while LunaFinder was open
- Thumbnails look out of date
- A subfolder’s contents changed on disk
Refresh is disabled while you are viewing search results or filtering by a tag, because those modes show a special list rather than a normal folder browse. Clear search or clear the tag filter first, then refresh if needed.
Footer path
The bottom of the window shows the path of your opened library. If nothing is open, it displays No folder selected.
What LunaFinder does not do
- It does not automatically scan your entire Mac—you choose each library folder explicitly.
- It does not merge separate folders into one view unless they live under the same opened root.