Catalog Folder Behavior
Multiple folders can be added in the Catalog. To add them, click Add Folder. For every folder that has been added to the Catalog, an icon is shown on its right. Clicking it offers these options: Delete Previews and Remove Folder.
In addition to this, every line with a folder contains a 
Settings button, which opens a separate window with options for the given folder. It contains these options: Picture indexing mode, Video indexing mode, Preload previews for offline use, Download online files from OneDrive, and Automatic reindexing mode.
Picture indexing mode has these options:
- Perform cataloging only – only the metadata needed for cataloging and searching will be automatically preloaded for files added to this folder. The actual preview loading will not take place until you browse the files. With this option, only a limited amount of information is preloaded and storage demands are reduced, and so it’s useful for extra-large photo archives where you need to search, but you don’t necessarily need to browse photo previews.
- Preload Fast Previews for developed – for files added to this folder, ZPS will preload metadata and thumbnails, and for developed pictures, it will create a preview with reduced resolution that reflects any adjustments from the Develop module. This enables both quick searches and quick browsing, even for large photo files. Because the previews are only preloaded when absolutely necessary, this setting is optimal for the widest range of uses.
- Preload Smart RAWs – for files added to this folder, metadata, photo thumbnails, and Smart RAWs will be preloaded automatically. This ensures quick searching and browsing, as well as faithful RAW previews in the Manager and quick loading of them in the Develop module. Because this setting is very demanding in terms of storage space and of the time needed for preloading previews, it is most useful for small archives where you expect to be making edits frequently. To check the progress of smart RAW loading, see the bell icon in Zoner Photo Studio.
- Preload Smart RAWs and 1:1 Fast Previews for undeveloped – metadata, photo thumbnails, and Smart RAWs at full resolution will be preloaded automatically for any files added to this folder. This ensures quick searching and browsing, as well as faithful RAW previews in the Manager and quick loading of them in the Develop module. Because this setting is very demanding in terms of storage space and of the time needed for preloading previews, it is most useful for small archives where you expect to be making edits frequently. To check the progress of Smart RAW loading, see the bell icon towards the top right of Zoner Photo Studio.
The default value for folder behavior is Preload Fast Previews for developed.
Video indexing mode has these options:
- Catalog only – for picture files added to this folder, only metadata will be preloaded automatically. This ensures fast searches, but pictures’ thumbnails and previews will only be loaded after they have been added to a project in the Video module. This setting is useful in archives with the final videos.
- Preload interactive thumbnails – for video files added to a folder, metadata and interactive thumbnails will be preloaded automatically. This ensures faster searches, and it also enhances browsing of the video materials in the folder. This is a balanced setting for a wide range of uses. It’s useful because interactive thumbnails let you slide the mouse over a video to see stills from it—a total of 360 representing its full length. This feature is available in the Browser and the Filmstrip.
- Preload Smart Video Previews – for video files added to a folder, metadata, interactive thumbnails, and smart video previews will be preloaded automatically. This ensures faster searches, and it also enhances browsing of the video materials in the folder and speeds up work in the Video module. This setting demands significant extra space in the Catalog, and so we mainly recommend it for low-volume working folders that will be processed fairly soon.
The default value here is Preload Interactive Thumbnails.
If the Detect Faces option is active, then when cataloging a picture and preloading its data, the program analyzes each picture and caches data stating whether or not the picture contains a human face. Preloading this data speeds up work with the AI Close-ups feature.
To enable offline browsing of a folder’s photos, use the Option named Preload previews for offline use. This option makes the program create large previews for the pictures inside it. These are available even when the device with that folder is offline (e.g. a flash stick, USB disk, etc.) Such unavailable files remain listed in the Catalog, and you can view their previews and their file information.
Download Online Files from OneDrive – this takes the files in the given folder that are only available online on OneDrive and downloads them onto your disk.
Automatic Reindexing Mode – this contains several methods for the automatic indexing of a folder’s contents. We recommend you use the Automatically option, which gives the best results and chooses the most appropriate mode out of those available.
Cache Maintenance
- Automatically cached previews – previews loaded when you view the given pictures and when you use the lightning-bolt icon for folders in the Catalog.
- Manually cached previews – previews preloaded based on your settings in the Catalog Folder Behavior section. The default option here is Preserve at Least One Month.
The trash icon is used for deleting previews immediately.
Smart Video Previews
Cataloging also enables preloading of video previews, which are then available in the Video module as 
Fast Previews. Use the settings here to define the quality and resolution at which previews are preloaded.
Resolution offers options for 240p, 360p, 480p, 720p, and 1080p. The default value is 480p.
Quality offers three options: Low, Medium, and High. The default value is Medium.
The Catalog stores thumbnails and information for your pictures. That speeds up the browsing of cataloged pictures. Also, the Browser’s Quick Search box only works with cataloged pictures. By default, the Catalog’ index is stored in your Windows user profile folder. If you need to free up some disk space, change the Catalog location or the Maximum size.
Note that the Catalog merely stores a copy of the information that is already contained inside your picture files. For this reason, Delete Cache does not remove your data – it only removes quick access to previews and metadata.
The language for full-text search in Catalog setting tells the Catalog how to inflect words used in the indexing of text information when you’re adding files to the Catalog. It’s what lets Quick Search know that e.g. it can show you “goose” if you look for “geese,” even though the words don’t look the same.
More information
New Springtime Surprises in Zoner Photo Studio X That Will Save You Hours: Smart RAWs!
Full 1:1 Previews: Enjoy Faster, More Precise Work With Your RAWs