rExif
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Shortcuts and Smart Filters
Complete list of native macOS keyboard shortcuts and intelligent selection filters for high-speed metadata workflows.
Complete Keyboard Shortcuts
rExif exposes all core curation and metadata operations through native macOS keyboard shortcuts:
File Management and Session
| Action | Shortcut | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Add Photos and Videos… | ⌘ + O | Opens the standard system open file/folder panel |
| Add from Photos Library… | ⌥ + ⌘ + O | Opens the native photo picker sheet to edit items directly in Photos |
| Export Originals from Photos… | ⇧ + ⌘ + E | Exports unmodified originals to a folder to edit all metadata fields |
| Save Changes | ⌘ + S | Writes all orange staged changes to disk |
| Clear List | ⇧⌘⌫ | Removes all items from the window (⌘Z immediately restores the list) |
| Reveal in Finder | ⇧ + ⌘ + R | Reveals the selected file in its parent Finder directory |
| Settings | ⌘ + , | Opens application settings (Language, Theme, Thumbnail size) |
Metadata and Batch Operations
| Action | Shortcut | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Batch Edit… | ⇧ + ⌘ + D | Opens the multi-tab batch edit sheet with row-by-row live preview |
| Align Dates to Date Taken | ⇧ + ⌘ + L | Synchronizes digitization and APFS filesystem dates to the capture date |
| Copy Metadata | ⌥ + ⌘ + C | Copies all metadata tags from the selected picture |
| Paste Metadata | ⌥ + ⌘ + V | Applies copied tags across all currently selected items |
| Star Rating 1–5 Stars | ⌘ + 1 … ⌘ + 5 | Assigns star ratings (xmp:Rating) compatible with Adobe Lightroom |
| Remove Rating | ⌘ + 0 | Clears star rating from the selected items |
| Undo Modification | ⌘ + Z | Reverts the last metadata modification |
| Redo Modification | ⇧ + ⌘ + Z | Re-applies the previously reverted action |
View Modes and Navigation
| Action | Shortcut | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Table View | ⌃ + ⌘ + 1 | Switches to the multi-column tabular list |
| Map View | ⌃ + ⌘ + 2 | Switches to the interactive full-window Apple Maps browser |
| Larger Thumbnails | ⌘ + + | Increases preview thumbnail dimension in the table |
| Smaller Thumbnails | ⌘ + - | Decreases preview thumbnail dimension in the table |
| Quick Look Preview | Space | Opens the native high-resolution full-screen Quick Look preview |
| Find in Catalog | ⌘ + F | Moves focus to the real-time search field in the toolbar |
Smart Selection Queries
The Select pop-up menu in the toolbar provides one-click queries to identify files requiring curation:
- Missing Date Taken: Isolates media lacking authentic
DateTimeOriginaltimestamps. - File Dates Differ from Date Taken: Identifies files whose filesystem creation/modification dates disagree with the camera capture time (ideal before pressing
⇧⌘L). - Missing Location: Selects all pictures lacking GPS coordinates for rapid geotagging.
- Has Location: Isolates geotagged files (e.g. for sanitization or map review).
- By Camera: Dynamic hierarchical submenu grouping files by detected camera body or lens model.
- Photos Only / Videos Only / From Photos: Filters files by format class or origin.
- With Unsaved Changes: Isolates all items holding orange staged diffs awaiting disk write.
- With Errors: Highlights read-only files, locked volumes, or missing folder access permissions.