PhotoDesktop Support

JPEG, PNG, HEIC / HEIF, TIFF, and camera RAW (such as ARW, CR2 / CR3, NEF and DNG). RAW files are decoded by macOS itself, so whether a file opens depends on whether your macOS version already supports that camera; if it doesn’t open, update macOS first.

Open with ⌘O, drag an image into the window or onto the Dock icon, or choose PhotoDesktop from “Open With” in Finder.

No. Every adjustment is stored as parameters, and a new file is created only when you export. The original stays untouched.

Yes. Edits are saved automatically in the app’s own folder (Application Support/PhotoDesktop in the sandbox container). Reopening an image at the same path restores them and shows “Last edit restored”; press ⌘Z to undo the restore and return to the original. Every step during the current session can be rolled back or jumped to in the Y History panel.

Edits are linked to the original’s path: if you move or rename the original, the old edits won’t match automatically, so export your finished image before moving it. To switch Macs or reinstall, use “File ▸ Back Up Edit Data…” to copy edits, presets and LUTs to a folder you choose, then restore them with “Import Edit Data…”. A backup does not include your originals, so back those up too.

Use “Edit ▸ Reset All Adjustments…” or “Reset All” in the History panel. It clears adjustments, masks, crop and retouching and returns to the state when the image was opened. You’re asked to confirm first, and the reset itself can be undone with ⌘Z.

Press M for the Masks tool and pick a mask: radial, gradient, brush, luminance or color (color range), or use the magic wand, or select the subject / sky / background in one click. The selection is shown as a red overlay. Each mask can have its own exposure, color, curves, HSL and more, and you can invert, feather, stack several masks, or “subtract” an area from a mask.

Subject and background use the system’s Vision foreground segmentation; the sky is found by analyzing color and position. Most common scenes work well, but complex ones (such as sky between branches, or a subject close in color to the sky) may need a little manual cleanup with a brush mask.

Press H for the Retouch tool and paint over passers-by, clutter or skin blemishes; PhotoDesktop finds similar texture nearby and blends it in. You can stack strokes and undo anytime. It suits small targets; results aren’t guaranteed on very busy backgrounds or large removals, where it helps to use several strokes that follow the direction of the texture. [ / ] change the brush size.

Use “Red Eye” in the Retouch tool: “Auto Detect” uses the system’s Vision framework to find eyes in faces, or turn on “Manual” and click the eyes in the image. Detected spots are marked with red circles and can be removed one by one.

Hold \ (or hold the toolbar’s compare button) to view the original temporarily. Click “Split Compare” in the toolbar to show “Original” on the left and “Edited” on the right; drag the divider to change the range, and click again to exit.

⌘1 switches to actual size (1 image pixel per screen point), ⌘0 fits to the window, and double-clicking the canvas toggles between them; scroll or pinch to zoom around the pointer. When zoomed in, just drag to pan — holding Space and dragging, or a two-finger swipe, works too. In Fit to Window, dragging draws a zoom selection.

Press C to crop: pick a common aspect ratio (including portrait) or crop freely, and drag any of the eight handles. “Straighten” accepts any angle and zooms in automatically to avoid empty corners, or click “Auto” to have PhotoDesktop detect the horizon. Press Esc to cancel the current crop.

The filter library on the left has 24 built-in filters: click one to apply it, adjust the amount with the “Strength” slider, and use “Remove Filter” to go back. You can import .cube LUTs, or save the current set of adjustments as your own preset (it appears in the “Mine” category).

⌘S (or ⇧⌘E) opens the Export panel: format JPEG / HEIC / PNG / TIFF, quality, long-edge limit, color space sRGB / Display P3 / Adobe RGB, output sharpening (screen / matte paper / glossy paper), and whether to keep shooting info and location. TIFF / PNG are written at 16-bit and HEIC is encoded at 10-bit. When the export finishes, you can show the result in Finder.

Not by default: exports keep shooting info (camera, lens, exposure settings and so on) but remove GPS and common IPTC location fields. If you need it, turn on “Include location” in the Export panel; turning off “Keep Shooting Info” stops EXIF / TIFF / GPS / IPTC from the source being copied at all. Note that if the picture itself shows location or identity details (street signs, documents and so on), they still appear in the exported image.

Choose “File ▸ Batch Process…” (⌘B): pick a source folder and an output folder, choose a preset and adjust its strength, set the format, quality, long edge and color space, then click “Start Batch”. By default each image’s saved edits are applied, and results that already exist in the output folder with the same name are skipped (to overwrite old results, turn off “Skip existing output files”). Failed images are listed with reasons and can be retried in one click.

PhotoDesktop runs in the macOS sandbox and can only access what you explicitly hand it through the Open panel, drag and drop, the Save panel or a folder picker. This protects your privacy: it doesn’t scan your disk and never reads files you didn’t choose.

PhotoDesktop uses macOS security-scoped bookmarks to remember files you opened, so after a restart you can still open them from “File ▸ Open Recent” without choosing them again. Bookmarks stay on your Mac only; to clear them, choose “File ▸ Open Recent ▸ Clear Recent Items”. Clearing the list doesn’t delete images or edits.

You’ll find a summary under “Help ▸ PhotoDesktop Guide & Privacy…”. The most common: A Adjust · C Crop · M Masks · H Retouch · F Filters · Y History; ⌘Z Undo · ⇧⌘Z Redo; ⇧⌘C / ⇧⌘V copy / paste adjustments; ⌘S Export; ⌘B Batch. Double-click a slider label to restore its default, and double-click a value to type one in.

No. PhotoDesktop is fully offline, with no accounts and no analytics, and the app itself has no network permission. See the Privacy Policy for details.

The interface follows your system language and supports 简体中文, 繁體中文, English, 日本語, 한국어, Français, Deutsch, Español, Italiano, Português (Brasil) and Русский; if your system language isn’t one of these, it appears in English.