Why is PhotoStructure rebuilding my library?

May 17, 2020

When you upgrade to a new version of PhotoStructure, you may see this progress bar:

What’s going on here? 🔗

New versions of PhotoStructure frequently introduce new features.

Some of these features may require revisiting the photos and videos in your library.

Library rebuilding happens in several steps:

File metadata is updated.
Assets are regrouped.
Asset previews are refreshed.
New taggers may be applied.

What does “updating file metadata” mean? 🔗

PhotoStructure extracts and stores a bunch of metadata about the files in your library in your PhotoStructure library database. This database makes browsing and library synchronization fast, and is used to deduplicate your photos and videos.

What does “regrouping assets” mean? 🔗

PhotoStructure applies deduplication heuristics for all files associated to each asset.

This can result in the number of assets in your library increasing or decreasing as this step progresses.

What does “refreshing previews” mean? 🔗

PhotoStructure examines and rebuilds the previews, thumbnails, and transcoded videos in your library to make sure they are up to date.

This may mean your library takes a bit more or less disk space than it did before rebuilding.

What does “curating assets” mean? 🔗

New versions of PhotoStructure may come with new “curators,” which add tags to your assets automatically.

Please note 🔗

If you are not using automatic organization:

Plug in the external hard drives and mount the remote file systems that you’ve already imported into your library, and then
Restart PhotoStructure.
Leave these volumes turned on and mounted until your library finishes rebuilding.

This gives PhotoStructure a chance to visit those files and update your library database.

If you are using automatic organization, you can skip these steps. PhotoStructure will automatically backfill any missing file metadata by using the matching copy in your library.

Why does PhotoStructure wait until the rebuild is complete before importing any new files or directories? 🔗

Correct asset de-duplication during file imports and syncs require your library’s metadata to be up to date. By updating your library before running any sync jobs, PhotoStructure is ensuring your library stays correct and coherent.

Can I exit PhotoStructure or reboot my computer while my library is being rebuilt? 🔗

Yes. As soon as you restart PhotoStructure, you’ll see the rebuild process pick up where it left off.

Can I rebuild my library on multiple computers at the same time? 🔗

No. PhotoStructure can only run on one computer concurrently. If you’ve imported files from different computers, let the rebuild complete on one computer, shut down PhotoStructure, and start it on the next computer.