Portable treatments and catalogues

Carry folder metadata and Frames treatments to another Mac, and recover a catalogue while keeping the previous file.

Frames treatment sidecars (Mac). In Info → Metadata → Sync, choose Write treatments, review the proposed replacement, then Apply. Frames writes original.ext.frames.json beside a connected folder original. Read treatments adds the sidecar’s named treatments and keeps existing treatments. Confirm before applying. Every treatment the sidecar carries is imported. Repeating an import reuses identical treatments. ⌘Z reverses an import while its treatments remain unchanged.

The sidecar preserves each recipe’s original JSON, including unknown operations and fields. It keeps ORIGINAL selection. A sidecar for another photograph, an unsupported envelope version, or a file or catalogue changed since review is refused. Rendering still depends on the tools and decoder supported by the receiving Frames version. These sidecars carry Frames treatments; they do not translate rendering into another editor’s pipeline. Originals remain unchanged.

Automatic XMP (Mac). Enable Automatic XMP exchange in Settings › Library to exchange metadata beside connected folder originals. Changes on disk and saved metadata are debounced. Independent changes merge. A field changed on both sides, a deleted linked sidecar or an unreadable file waits under Sidecar changes need review. Choose Show, then Info → Sync, to review it. Pick and Reject use Frames’ namespaced verdict property; they are not colour labels. Changed Frames treatment sidecars also wait for manual review; treatments are never imported automatically. Network folders refresh when the source is refreshed or reconnects.

Catalogue recovery and transfer (Mac). The section of that name in Settings › Library lists available backups and offers Export catalogue… and Import catalogue…. An export is a consistent snapshot containing metadata and treatments, including committed WAL changes. Originals and caches are kept separately. The transfer removes installation identity and filesystem grants; reconnect folder sources on the receiving Mac. Photo Library references need that device’s Photos library.

A restore or import is validated and staged for the next launch. Quit Frames normally and reopen it to finish. Cancel pending replacement cancels it before quitting and retains the staged copy. The current catalogue and its WAL are retained beside the replacement as catalog-corrupt-<date>.sqlite. Sync is turned off after a transfer. A catalogue requiring unknown migrations is refused. Keep a copy of the exported catalogue and your originals when moving to another Mac.