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How do I start?
This section is here as a quick intro on how to get things working. It’s not a replacement for the more detailed documentation, but hopefully it will give you a jumpstart. More detailed information is included in the other sections of this document.
So what’s this thing do?
Snap Sifter is designed to import photos and videos from your digital cameras and smartphones, as well as SD Cards from digital cameras.
Snap Sifter will detect these devices when they are connected, find all of the photos and videos you have, and then it will copy those files into an organized folder structure within your Pictures directory. Without duplicates, without fuss. It will do this automatically.
Great, what do I do to start?
Follow the instructions below, and you should be off and running in no time.
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The Fine Print
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We genuinely hope that this tool saves you time and helps you keep your most valuable memories organized. We have thousands of customers around the world who use our tools to manage their photo libraries, and we hope this becomes a regular tool for you as well.
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[fusion_toggle title=”Technical Requirements”]
Snap Sifter requires Mac OSX 10.7.3 or later. Snap Sifter takes advantage of a number of features that are limited to Mac OS 10.7.3 or later.
Snap Sifter requires Intel 64bit processor architectures.
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[fusion_toggle title=”Development Notice”]
Snap Sifter is still under development and may contain bugs. Please make sure that it has centralized your files to your satisfaction before removing, deleting, or modifying your original files.
Although we perform extensive testing to avoid any issues, and Snap Sifter does not delete any original files unless you have asked it to do so, you should always take extreme caution with your files, and back them up prior to using Snap Sifter or any other application on them.
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SnapSifter is a registered trademark of Vector 15 Ltd.
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Step 1: Launch
Launch SnapSifter on your Mac
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The first step is to Launch SnapSifter on your Mac.
Once you have downloaded SnapSifter form the Mac App Store, it will be installed in your Applications directory. Just find the application ‘SnapSifter’ and launch it.
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Step 2: Connect Devices
Connect devices to your Mac that you want to import files from
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The second step is to connect devices to your Mac.
This typically means connecting a smartphone via USB cable, or a camera via USB cable, or an SD Card into the SD Card slot.
Once you have connected the device, Snap Sifter will detect the device and begin importing.
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When you connect a digital camera via USB cable to your Mac, you may need to perform additional steps before the Mac will recognize the device.
For example, many digital cameras must be powered on, and set into a specific download mode.
If SnapSifter is not recognizing your camera, check the documentation on your camera to determine how to enable your camera for downloading files to a Mac.
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[fusion_toggle title=”Connecting smartphones”]
When you connect a smartphone via USB cable to your Mac, depending on the device, you may need to give the Mac permission to access the photos on the device.
Specifically, with iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) when you connect your device to your Mac, the device may ask you ‘Trust this Computer?’. You must say ‘Yes’ to this question in order for SnapSifter to have access to your photo and videos.
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[fusion_toggle title=”Connecting SD Cards”]
When you connect an SD card to your Mac’s SD Card slot, it may not always be recognized as a camera SD Card. An SD Card that you fill with photos from your Mac will not be recognized by Silent Sifter; only SD Cards that contain photos/videos directly from a digital camera will be recognized and treated as ‘Cameras’.
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Step 3: Sift
SnapSifter will automatically import all of your files
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Once you have connected devices to your Mac, and SnapSifter has recognized them, it will immediately begin importing the files and organizing them.
Files will be pulled from the input devices, processed, deduplicated, and copied into the SnapSifter folder in your Pictures folder.
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You will see the status icon change from a SnapSifter folder with a circle, to a SnapSifter folder with an arrow to indicate it is importing files.
Also, if you click on the status menu icon, you will see the status of the import as well (what step it is on, estimated time remaining for that step).
Keep in mind that while you have the status menu open, SnapSifter will continue to run in the background, but the progress indicators will not update.
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[fusion_toggle title=”How do I know when it is done?”]
You will see the status icon change back from a SnapSifter folder with an arrow, to a SnapSifter folder with an circle to indicate it is complete.
Also, if you click on the status menu icon, you will see the status of the import indicates Complete for a few seconds after importing is complete. If more than a few seconds have passed, then the progress indicators will be hidden in the status menu once it is complete.
If you are running OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion or later, you will see a notification from Notification Center when SnapSifter is complete, including how many files were copied, and a button which will open the SnapSifter folder.
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[fusion_toggle title=”How does it organize the files?”]
Files are organized in a folder hierarchy using the date the photo/video was taken by Year (i.e. 2013), then by month (i.e. 01 – January).
Files that do not have a SnapSifter iOS album will be stored directly within the Year/Month folder.
Files with a SnapSifter iOS album will be stored within Year/Month/SnapSifterAlbum. Keep in mind that this means i the SnapSifter album name is ‘Crafts/Liam’ then the file will be stored in the folder Year/Month/Crafts/Liam.
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[fusion_toggle title=”What if the same photo is already in the folder?”]
SnapSifter will detect that the file is already there using it’s deduplication logic. This means it will check the ENTIRE SnapSifter directory structure for any exact duplicates of the file. If any exact duplicates are found anywhere in the SnapSifter directory, then the file will not be copied to the SnapSifter directory.
This means that if you slightly change the file, i.e. by cropping or changing metadata in the file, and then re-import it, it WILL be copied again. The reason for this is that the modified copy of the file will no longer be an exact byte for byte duplicate of the original.
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[fusion_toggle title=”What if there is a different photo with the same name in the folder?”]
SnapSifter will detect when filename collisions occur, and as long as the file in the folder is not an exact duplicate of the newly imported file, it will be renamed with an index (i.e. IMG_1234 00001.jpg) and copied into the folder.
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[fusion_toggle title=”Will it delete the files off of the camera?”]
By default SnapSifter will NOT delete files off the camera.
You can change this by going to the Preferences Screen and selecting whether you want duplicates and/or copied files deleted off the camera.
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Step 4: Viewing Results
Viewing imported files
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Once SnapSifter has imported all of the files, you can view the SnapSifter directory at ~/Pictures/SnapSifter.
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You can open the SnapSifter folder using the Status menu at any time. Just click on the SnapSifter status menu icon, and select the menu option ‘Open SnapSifter folder’.
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[fusion_toggle title=”Opening SnapSifter folder using the Notification”]
When SnapSifter completes an import, if any files were copied, it will show a notification that it is complete, including how many files were copied. The notification will have a button that says ‘View Files’, that when clicked will open the SnapSifter folder in Finder.
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