Browse the folder
A grid of thumbnails you can rate, filter and select, decoded as they scroll into view.
The library is a grid of thumbnails, decoded as they scroll into view, so a folder of several thousand photos is browsable in seconds instead of loading everything up front. Everything below happens with the grid in front of you — you never have to open a photo to rate it.
Rate as you go
The first pass through a shoot is about sorting, not editing. Give each photo a star rating from the stars in the bar under the grid, and the keepers separate from the misses before you spend time on any of them. Ratings are saved beside the photos, so they are still there next time you open the folder.
Flag and label
Next to the stars are the flag buttons: mark a photo picked or rejected, or clear its flag. For a second way to sort, give it a color label from Photo › Color Label. The Flag: and Label: filters then show only the photos you marked. The shortcuts page lists the keys for each.
Build a selection
Click to select one photo, Shift-click to take a range, and Cmd-click to add or remove a single photo. The selection is what the bar under the grid acts on — batch adjustments, stacking and export all apply to every photo in it.