StillroomHelp
Using Stillroom
Installing, staying safe in the beta, where your data lives, and what to do when something goes wrong.
Before you start
Stillroom is in beta. It works directly with the real files on your disk: renaming, moving and deleting in the app changes them for real.
- Back up first. Keep a copy of any reference collection you can't replace before adding it as a library.
- Use a local folder. Libraries in cloud-synced folders (OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud) or on network drives can lose their tags and notes. Your images themselves stay safe. See What could be lost.
System requirements
- Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit. So far Stillroom has been tested on Windows 11 only.
- Microsoft Edge WebView2, which is built into Windows 11 and nearly all Windows 10 PCs. If it's missing, the installer downloads it, which needs an internet connection once.
- Disk space: about 8 MB for the app, plus room for thumbnails. As a rough guide, thumbnails take 50–150 KB per image, or about 0.5–1.5 GB per 10,000 images.
Linux and Mac versions are planned, but not available yet.
Installing
- Download the installer and run it. No admin rights are needed: Stillroom installs just for your Windows account.
- Stillroom isn't code-signed yet, so Windows shows "Windows protected your PC". Click More info, then Run anyway.
- Your browser may also warn that the file "isn't commonly downloaded". Choose Keep.
Smart App Control
If Smart App Control is turned on (a Windows 11 security setting), Windows blocks unsigned apps completely, with no "Run anyway" option. Stillroom can't run on that PC for now. Smart App Control affects your whole PC, so I don't recommend turning it off just for Stillroom.
Updating
From 0.4.0 on, Stillroom updates itself. A few seconds after it opens, it quietly checks for a new version and offers it. You can also check any time with Settings (sliders icon) → Check for updates…. When you agree, it downloads the update, checks its signature, installs it and restarts.
Coming from 0.3.0? It can't update itself. Download 0.4.0 and run the installer over the old version once; later updates arrive automatically.
Either way, your libraries, tags, notes and settings are kept. They live in your library folders and your Windows profile, not in the program folder. If an update ever fails, you can always download the latest installer from this site and run it.
A library saved by a newer version of Stillroom can't be opened by an older one. If that happens, Stillroom tells you and asks you to update.
Using the Lightbox
The Lightbox keeps the references for the task at hand in view while you work in another app.
- Fill the tray. Open the Lightbox tray at the right edge of the window, then drag images into it, or choose Add to Lightbox in an image's ⋯ menu. It holds images, not videos.
- Show on screen. Each image floats in its own small window that stays on top of every other app.
- Arrange them. Drag an image to move it. Drag its corner, or scroll over it, to resize it; it keeps its proportions.
- Fade them. Hover over an image for an opacity slider. Each image remembers its own setting.
- Lock them. Click the lock button or press Ctrl+Alt+L, from any app. Locked images stay put, and clicks pass through to the app underneath. Press it again to unlock.
The tray, and where each image was placed, survive restarts. The floating images start hidden each time Stillroom opens.
Deleting and The Cellar
Stillroom has two steps between an image and the bin, so nothing disappears by accident.
Send to The Cellar
Use the ⋯ menu, drag the image onto The Cellar, or press Delete. The file moves into the library's hidden .stillroom\cellar\ folder and disappears from boards and search, but keeps its tags and notes.
Restore
Hover over a card in The Cellar and click Restore to put it back in the library's top folder, with tags and notes intact. The card's ⋯ menu also offers Restore to "original folder"; if that folder no longer exists, the image goes to the top folder. If a file with the same name is already there, the restored one gets " (2)" added.
Delete
Deleting is only possible inside The Cellar, after a confirmation. The file goes to the Windows Recycle Bin and its tags and notes are removed from Stillroom. If you restore it from the Recycle Bin, Stillroom sees it as a new image, without tags or notes.
When deleting is permanent: for files on network drives and some external or USB drives, Windows skips the Recycle Bin.
Deleting folders
Only empty folders can be deleted. A folder holding files Stillroom doesn't show, like text files, goes to the Recycle Bin after a warning.
What could be lost
Your images are ordinary files in your own folders, and they're safe in almost every case. What's at risk is the information Stillroom adds: tags, notes, favorites, collections and custom order.
| Situation | Your images | Tags, notes and collections |
|---|---|---|
| Library in a cloud-synced folder (OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud) | Safe | Can be lost or reverted, because sync tools can make conflicting copies of the library's index. Use a local folder for now. |
| Library on a network drive or NAS | Safe, but deletes skip the Recycle Bin | Can be lost, for the same reasons |
Deleting a library's .stillroom folder | Safe, except images in The Cellar, which live inside .stillroom and are deleted with it | Lost: the library reopens as new and untagged |
| A damaged library index | Safe | Stillroom keeps a copy of the damaged index and offers Rebuild index; the rebuilt index starts empty |
Where Stillroom keeps things
Your images always stay in your own folders. Stillroom never keeps copies of them anywhere else, except images you've moved into The Cellar.
| What | Where | What's in it |
|---|---|---|
.stillroom folder | Hidden, inside each library | Your tags, notes, authors, favorites, custom order and collections (library.db), and the images in The Cellar (cellar\) |
| Thumbnails | %LOCALAPPDATA%\app.stillroom.desktop\thumbs\ | Generated thumbnails. Safe to delete; they're remade. |
| Settings | %APPDATA%\app.stillroom.desktop\settings.json | Which libraries are open, theme, sidebar and view preferences |
| Lightbox | %APPDATA%\app.stillroom.desktop\lightbox.json | What's in the tray, and each floating image's position and opacity |
| Log file | %LOCALAPPDATA%\app.stillroom.desktop\logs\stillroom.log | Errors and warnings, capped at about 1 MB |
To open a %LOCALAPPDATA% or %APPDATA% location, paste it into File Explorer's address bar.
Moving or renaming a library
- Folders inside a library: moving or renaming them in Stillroom, or in Explorer while Stillroom is open, keeps everything.
- The library folder itself (only possible in Explorer): your tags, notes, collections and favorites are kept, because they travel with its
.stillroomfolder. Stillroom will show the library as unavailable at its old location. To fix it, choose Remove on that entry, then add the folder again from + → Add existing folder…. Thumbnails are remade, and that library's images need adding to the Lightbox tray again.
Uninstalling
Use Windows Settings → Apps → Stillroom → Uninstall.
- Always removed: the program itself.
- Optional: a tick box, off by default, also deletes Stillroom's settings, Lightbox tray, thumbnails and logs.
- Never removed: your images, and the
.stillroomfolders inside your libraries, with your tags, notes and Cellar.
To remove everything
- Uninstall with the tick box ticked.
- Delete the hidden
.stillroomfolder in each library. Check itscellarfolder first: it holds the actual files you set aside.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+Z | Undo |
| Ctrl+F | Search |
| Ctrl+V | Paste images from the clipboard (imports them) |
| Ctrl+A | Select all images in view |
| Esc | Clear the selection or close the notes panel; in the viewer, reset zoom, then close |
| Delete | Send selected images to The Cellar (in The Cellar: delete them, after confirming) |
| Arrow keys | Move between images on a board; previous or next in the viewer |
| + − 0 | In the viewer: zoom in, zoom out, reset |
| F5 or Ctrl+R | Refresh (rescan the disk) |
| Ctrl+Alt+L | Lock or unlock the floating Lightbox images, from any app |
Supported formats
- Images: PNG, JPEG (.jpg, .jpeg, .jfif), WebP, GIF (including animated), BMP, AVIF, SVG, ICO.
- Video: MP4, M4V, WebM, OGV, MOV, MKV. Playback depends on the codecs Windows provides: MP4 (H.264) and WebM generally play. If a video won't play, Stillroom offers to open it in your default app instead.
Reporting a bug
Report bugs or suggest features on GitHub (there's a form for each), or with the feedback form.
What helps
- What you were doing, and what happened instead
- Your Stillroom version (at the bottom of the Settings menu) and your Windows version
- Roughly how many images the library has, and where it's stored: local, cloud-synced, network or USB
- Your log file: Settings (sliders icon) → Show log file opens its folder; attach
stillroom.log
What's in the log
It records startup details (version and system), failed actions and why they failed, damaged indexes, crashes, and errors shown on screen. It may include file and folder names and paths. It never includes image contents, notes or tags, and it's never sent anywhere automatically.
Known issues
- The app isn't code-signed yet: Windows shows a warning when installing, and Stillroom can't run with Smart App Control on.
- Cloud-synced folders and network drives aren't safe for libraries yet.
- Windows only for now, and Windows 10 hasn't been tested.
- Search takes about a third of a second per keystroke in a 30,000-image library.
- The first thumbnail pass on a very large library takes a while.
- Some video formats may not play (see Supported formats).
- 0.3.0 can't update itself: install 0.4.0 by hand once, and later updates arrive automatically.
Privacy
The app
- No telemetry, no analytics, no crash reporting, no account. Nothing about your images, tags, notes or how you use Stillroom is ever sent anywhere.
- The only time Stillroom goes online is to check for updates (from 0.4.0): a few seconds after it opens, and when you click Check for updates…. It asks GitHub, where Stillroom is published, for a small file describing the latest version. Like any download, that request shows GitHub your IP address; it sends nothing about your libraries. An update is only downloaded after you agree.
- Stillroom's interface can't reach the internet at all. It only loads content from your own PC.
- The installer may download Microsoft's WebView2 runtime from Microsoft, but only on PCs that don't already have it.
- Settings, the Lightbox tray, thumbnails and logs stay in your Windows profile. Tags, notes and collections stay in each library's
.stillroomfolder.
This website
- No cookies, analytics or tracking scripts.
- The site is hosted by Cloudflare and downloads come from GitHub. Like any web host, they receive standard technical information, such as your IP address, when you visit or download.
- The feedback form opens your own email app; nothing is sent until you send the email yourself.