Make virtual copies

A virtual copy is a second catalog photo of the same file. It has its own edits, rating, label and keywords, so you can try a black-and-white version or a different crop without touching the first. The file on disk is never duplicated.

Make a copy

Select a photo and choose Image › Create Virtual Copy, press Shift+C (by default), or right-click the photo and choose it. In Edit, the same works on the photo you are editing, and Edit opens the new copy.

Select several photos to make a copy of each. A copy of a copy is a copy of the original photo, which DarkRay calls the master.

Each new copy:

• is named Copy 1, Copy 2 and so on, using the lowest number that is free;
• starts with the source photo’s current edits, rating, flag, color label, caption and keywords;
• joins the collection you are viewing, if it is a regular collection;
• joins its master’s stack, right after the master’s last copy, and that stack opens so you can see it;
• is selected when it appears.

Image › Undo removes a copy you just made.

Recognize a copy

A copy has a folded corner at the top left of its thumbnail. Its file name is in italics and blue, followed by its copy name: DSC_1203 · Copy 1. Hover for “Virtual copy of DSC_1203.NEF: Copy 1”. You can find all copies with the search word copy.

In the info panel, a copy shows its name in an editable Copy field and a Master link that selects the original.

Rename a copy

Type in the Copy field in the info panel, or select the copy and press F2 (by default). That renames the copy, never the file. F2 on a master renames the file, and its copies follow. See Move and rename.

Swap master and copy

Select a copy and choose Image › Set Copy as Master. The two swap roles: the old master becomes a copy under the copy’s old name, and the new master becomes the stack’s cover.

What a copy shares with its master

A copy has its own edits, undo history, rating, label, keywords, collections, Quick Collection state and export. It shares the file, and so:

• Moving, renaming or locating the file acts on the master, and the copies follow.
• A copy is never missing on its own; if the file goes missing, all of them do.
• Removing a copy alone needs no confirmation and Undo brings it back. Removing a master removes its copies too, and the dialog counts them separately. See Remove photos.
• Exporting names the file with the copy: DSC_1203 Copy 1, so versions never overwrite each other.
• Choosing a master and its copy together for a merge counts the file once.

Importing never makes copies: a file already in the catalog stays one master.

Technical details: how copies are stored

A virtual copy is a catalog row with a link to its master and a copy name. The file columns (path, size, camera data, place) belong to the master and are mirrored to its copies automatically, so anything that changes the master’s file, such as a sync or a move, reaches its copies. A new copy keeps the AI mask results of its source, since the file is the same.