Browsing and tagging

The file browser

The main view shows the contents of the current directory as a grid of thumbnails (or a list). Click any thumbnail to open the detail panel on the right.

• Navigate — click a folder tile to enter it; use the breadcrumb at the top to go back.
• Switch view — use the grid/list toggle in the toolbar.
• Sort — click column headers in list view, or use the sort menu in grid view.
• Zoom — drag the slider in the toolbar to resize grid thumbnails.

The activity rail switches between Files, Chats, Documents, and—when enabled—Videolab. Management tools such as Tag Manager and Collections live below the content sections. A floating chat or text editor can remain open while you move between sections.

Collections

Collections are named working sets of documents; they do not move the source files or replace directory scopes. Add the current selection from its context menu, then open Collections from the activity rail to create, rename, or delete sets and remove individual members. A non-empty collection can be opened as one chat context or sent to a multi-document transformation project.

Split-pane view

Press F3 (or click the split-view button in the toolbar) to open a second browser pane side by side. Each pane browses independently — different directories, different searches, different roots.

• Active pane — click anywhere in a pane to make it active. The active pane has a coloured top border and a tinted header. The sidebar, search bar, and detail panel all operate on the active pane.
• Resize — drag the handle between the panes to adjust the split.
• Close — press F3 again or click the toolbar button to collapse back to a single pane.

The detail panel

Click any file to open its detail panel. From here you can:

• View and copy the file path.
• See all tags attached to the file.
• Add tags using the tag input field (type and press Enter, or pick from the autocomplete list).
• Remove tags by clicking the × on a tag chip.
• Preview the file (image, video, PDF, archive pages, etc.).

Adding tags

Type a tag into the input field in the detail panel and press Enter or click Add. The autocomplete list shows existing tags in the database — use it to avoid typos and keep tags consistent.

For key=value tags, type the whole expression: year=2024, rating=5.

Removing tags

Click the × button on any tag chip in the detail panel.

Tagging multiple files

Select multiple files by holding Shift or Cmd/Ctrl while clicking. When more than one file is selected, the detail panel switches to bulk-tag mode: you can add or remove a tag across all selected files at once.

File operations

Right-click any file or folder to open the context menu. Available operations:

To operate on multiple files at once, select them first (Shift/Cmd+click), then right-click for the multi-file menu.

Completed file operations can be undone and redone from the operation history. For reversible archive moves, undo restores the original items and removes the created archive or directory when nothing new has since been added to it.

Standalone text editor

Open a supported text file from its context menu, or create one with New text file… on a directory. The editor is a movable, resizable window independent of document-transformation projects. It provides local undo/redo and saves with a modification-time check so an external edit is never silently overwritten.

Saved edits are also recorded in filesystem history. Undo saved edit can restore the recovery copy after the editor has been closed or the page reloaded.

Trash

Trashed files are stored in .tessera/trash/ and can be restored at any time. Open the Trash panel from the toolbar to review, restore, or permanently delete trashed items.

The sidebar

The left sidebar has two tabs:

• Tags — shows all tags in the current root. Click a tag to add it to the current query; click an active tag to remove it. Existing manual query terms are preserved and simple added criteria are combined with AND. Clicking the ▶ arrow next to a hierarchical tag (e.g. genre) expands it to show subtags.
• Files — shows a navigable file tree of the current root. Click a directory to navigate the main panel to it; click a file to navigate to its parent directory and select the file.

Click the split-view button (⊞) in the sidebar header to show both tabs side by side.

File tree navigation

• Click a directory — navigate the main panel to it and use it as the sole direct search scope.
• Cmd/Ctrl+click or Shift+click a directory — toggle an additional scope. Multiple directories from different roots can be combined.
• Change a scope between only direct and with subfolders from its labelled control in the query composer.
• Click a file — navigate to the file's parent directory and open the file in the detail panel.
• Drag a file onto a tag in the Tags pane to apply that tag.
• Drag a file or directory onto a directory row to move it there. Hold Alt before or during the drag to copy instead of move.

Keyboard shortcuts

When a query is active, Escape first clears its criteria and reloads the active directory. It does not remove the directory scope.