Much better performance on long pages of results. Various optimizations to make scrolling through large folders and results pages significantly faster.
Playback position is remembered when switching between video tabs. Opening a video in a new tab and then switching away and back again now correctly remembers where you were instead of starting from the beginning again.
The free version now counts images and videos separately. One library can hold up to 10,000 images and 1,000 videos, instead of 10,000 total files. The dashboard shows how close you are to each limit. Nothing already in your library is removed: if you're over a limit, everything indexed stays and only new files of that type stop being added.
See what's taking up space. The dashboard's Library size card now shows how much of the space your images and videos each take up. It appears after your library's next scan.
Easier card resizing. The small and large squares either side of the size slider are now buttons: click them to make cards one step smaller or bigger instead of dragging. The search screens get the same buttons too.
A new volume control for videos. Clicking the speaker now opens a volume slider you can drag, so you can set the volume without a scroll wheel. The mute button sits inside it, and you can also press M to mute. Scrolling over a video changes the volume in smaller, smoother steps.
Fixed
The dashboard shows your library filling up while it scans. It used to show zero for everything until a first scan finished, even though files were already browsable. Counts now appear straight away and count up smoothly as the scan runs.
A tidier folder header beside the side panel. When the folder view is narrow, the bar that appears as you scroll down keeps its main buttons and tucks the rest into a "More" menu, instead of scrolling sideways.
Video controls in full screen. Full-screen videos now keep the playback bar and the usual buttons, so you can skip through the timeline, add tags, rate and open details without leaving full screen.
Volume control shows up for every video. Older formats played by the built-in player now show the volume slider too when you scroll to change it.
Browse your library folder by folder, and move files around. The new Browse page shows your folder structure: a folder tree on the left, then each folder's subfolders, photos and videos. Drag files around to move them. Tags, ratings, notes and collections stay with them. Any folder you open from Folders has a Browse button at the top to jump to it in Browse.
Move to… from anywhere. Right-click any photo, video or folder, or use the selection bar (shortcut: M), to pick a destination. You can search folders, jump to recent destinations and create a new folder.
Manage folders from the Browse tree. Use the new folder button at the top of the tree, or right-click any folder for New folder inside, Open in new tab, Open system folder and Delete. Drag folders around the tree to move them.
Loop control on videos. The new loop button in the video controls repeats the whole video or a section. Shortcuts: L loops the whole video, and [ and ] set the section's start and end.
View photos and videos in a side panel. The viewer's new layout switch (top right) docks it to the right of the window, so you can keep browsing and click through the grid while it stays open, even as you move between folders. Drag the panel's edge to resize it. You can also choose "Open in panel" or "Open full screen" from any photo or video's menu.
Changed
Folders with lots of videos open much faster. Videos now load as you scroll, like photos.
Folder banners pick a landscape photo. When you haven't chosen a banner, a folder now uses a wide photo from inside it (its cover if that's wide), which fills the banner far better than a tall one. A banner you've set yourself is never changed.
Notifications have a cleaner look, with a clear status icon, a close button and tidier action buttons.
Fixed
The dashboard's recent images and videos fill their rows. On wider screens they used to stop at six, leaving a gap; they now fill whole rows (up to two) at any width.
The dashboard no longer scrolls sideways. A stray horizontal scrollbar could appear at the bottom of the dashboard.
Sideways photos keep the right shape in the grid. Photos taken with the camera turned could be laid out as if they weren't rotated. This is fixed for photos added from now on.
Menus no longer hide behind the title bar. A long menu opened near the top of the window could disappear under it, cutting off some items.
The sidebar fits short windows. On a small screen, or with Loshelf tiled into a corner, the sidebar tightens its spacing and the menu scrolls on its own, so the scan status and footer always stay visible.
Release notes in Settings → Updates are now formatted properly, with headings, bullet points and bold text instead of raw markdown symbols.
Watch next. When a video finishes, the player can suggest up to six videos to play next: the next one in the folder, videos with the same tags, similar names and a couple of random picks, plus a Replay button. Turn it off in Settings → Video Playback.
Fixed
No more silent black screens. Some videos (HEVC / H.265 files on Linux, or on a computer whose graphics hardware can't decode them) used to play as a black picture with sound and no explanation. Loshelf now notices and offers the usual options to convert the video or open it in your system player.
Switching library while inside a folder no longer leaves broken thumbnails. Changing library from the sidebar now takes you back to that library's Folders list, instead of keeping the old library's folder open with nothing loading. The same applies to collection, person and single-file views.
Switching to a library on a slow or sleeping drive now says so. The dashboard shows a "Loading library…" spinner while the new library opens, instead of leaving the previous library's counts, charts and recent items on screen with no sign anything was happening.
The accent color changes as soon as you switch libraries, rather than staying on the previous library's color until the new one had finished loading.
Removed duplicated bullet point on the upgrade dialog.
Linux: the Loshelf icon is now bundled for the window and taskbar. Some desktops showed a generic icon instead.
Changed
The video controls fit smaller windows. When there isn't room for every button label, the toolbar shows icons instead of wrapping or running off the edge.
A tidier Tags page. With no tags yet, the page now explains what tags are and how to create your first one. Searching for a tag that doesn't exist offers a one-click way back to the full list.
Loshelf for macOS. A native build for Apple Silicon Macs (M1 or newer, macOS 11 or later), signed and notarized by Apple so it opens without any security warning. Download the .dmg from the website, drag Loshelf to Applications and go.
Open recently viewed items in a new tab. The Recently viewed images and videos on the dashboard now behave like the rest of the app: Ctrl+click (Cmd+click on a Mac) or middle-click opens the item in a background tab, and right-click offers "Open in New Tab".
Old video formats now just play. AVI, WMV, MPG and FLV files, and older codecs inside MKV and MOV files, play directly in Loshelf with normal seeking. No more converting them first or opening them in another app.
A setting to turn this off. Settings → Video Playback → "Built-in decoder for older formats" (on by default). Switch it off to go back to the previous convert / open-externally behaviour.
Automatic updates on Windows. If you have automatic update checks enabled, Loshelf lets you know when a new version is available, and Settings → Updates can download and install it for you.
Unindexed files are flagged. If a scan stopped because of the free plan's file limit, a banner on the folder and search pages says how many files are missing, with a link to upgrade. Pro users see a "Rescan library" button instead.
Changed
The "Legacy format handling" setting now only applies to the few videos the built-in player still can't handle.
Playback speed and picture-in-picture are unavailable while an older-format video is playing.
Good to know
The first scan of each library after this update takes longer than usual while Loshelf reads codec details for every video. It only happens once.
Videos with modern H.264 or HEVC video paired with AC-3 or DTS audio still use the convert option.
People. Tag the people who appear in your photos, videos and folders. Add an optional role, pin them to the moment they appear in a video, and browse by person from the new People page.