Support

Will Chronoframe delete or modify my original photos?

No. Chronoframe only reads your source folder. Your originals are never moved, modified, or deleted. You control when, and whether, to delete the source folder yourself.

What can I undo?

Open Organize → History to undo supported transfers, dedupe commits, and reorganize runs. Chronoframe acts only when each file still matches its receipt, so it won't touch files that already existed or were changed afterward.

What happens after an interrupted run?

Reopen Chronoframe with the destination drive connected. It reconciles durable copy, Trash, and move evidence before new work starts. History shows Interrupted · Needs Drive, Trash Location Unverified, or Manual Recovery Needed when it cannot safely finish without more evidence.

Why is another Chronoframe operation using my destination?

The app, command-line tool, and system actions share one destination lock. Wait for the active run to finish, then try again. This prevents two valid plans from changing the same library at once.

What are the system requirements?

macOS 14.0 or later, on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. You'll need roughly as much free space as the size of your source folder, since Chronoframe copies files as-is.

How does Chronoframe figure out photo dates?

It checks photo metadata (EXIF capture time) first, then filename date patterns, then file creation and modification dates, and always defers to any date you set yourself in Review. Photos with an unknown date go to an Unknown_Date folder unless you provide one.

Why didn't Deduplicate find duplicates I know exist?

Exact-duplicate detection compares file content, not filenames, so two photo or video files match only when their bytes are identical. Files saved with different compression, metadata, or formats won't be exact matches. Use similar-photo review, the optional visual-video setting, and the Detection preset (Strict, Balanced, or Loose) to surface more candidates.

Does Deduplicate find similar videos?

Yes. Exact video copies are always detected by content. To review transcodes and re-exports that look alike, enable Find visually similar videos in Settings → Deduplicate and use Balanced or Similar Shots. Visual video matches are never accepted automatically.

Does Deduplicate permanently delete files?

No. Deduplicate moves only the files you approve to the macOS Trash. It does not hard delete files, and low-confidence groups stay review-only until you choose what to remove.

Does Chronoframe work with cloud drives like iCloud or OneDrive?

Yes, but more slowly. Cloud drives aren't optimized for the file operations Chronoframe performs. Make sure originals are downloaded locally, and use local or external drives for the best performance.

Where does Chronoframe store its data?

Inside your destination folder, in .organize_cache.db, .organize_logs/, and .organize_log.txt. Keep them while a run is active or interrupted: they can contain resume, recovery, History, and Revert evidence. Completed-run caches can be rebuilt if you intentionally remove them later.

How do I uninstall Chronoframe?

Quit the app, then move Chronoframe from your Applications folder to the Trash. Chronoframe doesn't install anything system-wide.

The first scan or preview is taking a long time.

Large libraries (50,000+ files) can take several minutes on the first run because Chronoframe reads metadata, computes content hashes, and resolves dates. Subsequent runs are faster thanks to the on-disk cache.

A transfer stopped partway through.

Check that you have write access and enough free space on the destination, and that no other app is locking the files. Reconnect the destination drive, reopen Chronoframe, and check History before retrying. Chronoframe reconciles recorded copies and resumes pending work; your originals are untouched.

Chronoframe is asking for permission to access a folder.

macOS requires apps to ask before reading folders outside your home directory, including external drives. Choose Allow and select the folder in the picker.

My external drive isn't showing up in the picker.

Make sure the drive is mounted in Finder (try unplugging and reconnecting it). If it's encrypted, unlock it first.

The Move to Trash button in Deduplicate is grayed out.

It activates once you've marked at least one file for removal. Select a group and choose what to keep and what to remove, or use Auto-Accept Safe to clear the obvious exact copies.

Deduplicate says a planned file changed.

Chronoframe rechecks every planned mutation by content before Trash. Close any editor or sync process changing the folder, start a new scan, and review the updated group. A changed file, pair, or sidecar is preserved instead of being deleted from a stale plan.