RapidRAW Logo RapidRAW
Verified in v1.6.7
Documentation Menu

Importing Photos

RapidRAW works directly with the folders on your disk. You don't need to import photos before you can edit them: add a folder and the photos are there. If you want to copy photos from a memory card into a tidy folder structure first, the Import Images dialog does that.

Adding folders

  • On the start screen, click Open Folder (or Add Folder).
  • In the library, open the Options menu (☰) in the Sources panel and choose Add folder, or hover the Folders section and click + Add folder.

You can add as many root folders as you like, for example D:\Photos and an external drive. All of them appear in the Sources panel and are reopened by Continue Session. To remove one from the list, right-click it and choose Remove Root Folder. This only removes it from RapidRAW, nothing is deleted.

Pin folders you use often: right-click → Pin Folder. They appear in the Pinned section at the top.

Tip: to see all photos of a shoot spread over subfolders (for example one per camera or per day), choose View Options → Display Mode → Recursive.

Import Images

Use this to copy photos from a memory card, phone or download folder into your library.

  1. Right-click the target folder in the Sources panel (or empty space in the grid) and choose Import Images.
  2. Select the files to import. Filters let you show only RAW or only standard images.
  3. The Import Settings dialog opens:
Setting What it does
File Naming A name template. Default {original_filename} keeps the names. Click the tokens to build your own.
Organize into subfolders by date Creates subfolders from the capture date. Date Format sets the structure, for example YYYY/MM-DD gives 2026/10-25.
Delete originals after successful import Moves the source files to the trash after they were copied. Leave this off unless you have a backup.
  1. Click Start Import. Progress shows in the Jobs list in the header.

Name template tokens:

Token Becomes
{original_filename} Original name without extension, e.g. DSC04512
{original_filename_number} Only the number at the end of the name, e.g. 04512
{sequence} 1, 2, 3, ... padded to the number of files (001, 002, ...)
{YYYY} {MM} {DD} Capture year, month, day
{hh} {mm} Capture hour and minute

Example: {YYYY}-{MM}-{DD}_{original_filename_number} turns DSC04512.ARW taken on 25 October 2026 into 2026-10-25_04512.ARW.

If a file with the same name already exists in the target folder, that file is skipped and reported as an error, so nothing is overwritten.

What files RapidRAW shows

All common RAW formats (Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, Panasonic, Olympus/OM, Pentax, Leica, Hasselblad, Phase One, DJI, Apple ProRAW and many more) plus JPEG, PNG, TIFF, WebP, JPEG XL, BMP, GIF, EXR, HDR and a few others. The full list is in File Formats. Unsupported files are simply not shown.

How edits are stored

Your original files are never changed. Everything you do is stored in a small JSON file next to the photo:

IMG_2231.NEF               ← your original, never touched
IMG_2231.NEF.rrdata        ← edits, masks, crop, rating, flag, label, tags
IMG_2231.NEF.3f9a1c.rrdata ← a virtual copy (its own edits)
IMG_2231.xmp               ← rating, label and tags for other apps (if XMP sync is on)
  • The .rrdata file is created when you first edit, rate, flag, label or tag a photo. If you reset a photo completely, the file is removed again.
  • Each virtual copy has its own .rrdata with a short ID in the name.
  • When you move or rename photos inside RapidRAW, all of these files move with them.
  • If a .rrdata file goes missing, the photo opens without edits. The original is safe either way.
New to non-destructive editing?

"Non-destructive" means your original RAW or JPEG is never overwritten. Your edit is a list of settings stored in the .rrdata file, and the image is rendered from the original plus those settings every time. To get a finished file, use the Export panel (E). It writes a new JPEG, TIFF or other file in a folder of your choice.

Backing up and moving to a new computer

Because edits live next to the photos, backing up is mostly copying folders:

  • Copy your photo folders including the .rrdata files. Some sync tools skip unknown file types; make sure *.rrdata is included.
  • Copy RapidRAW's app data folder to keep your presets, albums, settings (root folders, pins, export presets, shortcuts) and saved lenses. See Installation → Where things are stored.

Thumbnails, AI models and caches don't need to be backed up. RapidRAW rebuilds them when needed.

Large folders

The first visit to a folder with thousands of photos builds thumbnails in the background; you can start working right away. Later visits are instant. If thumbnails look wrong, see File Issues.

Immich

If you use an Immich server, RapidRAW can show its photos in the library and edit them directly, without importing. See Immich.

See also