Importing

Importing copies video files from a source (camera card, external drive, etc.) to a destination, indexing them into your library in the process.

Source Selection

Click Select Source on the Import page to open a folder picker. Clipthesis scans the selected folder recursively for video files and:

• Calculates a quick content hash for each file
• Compares hashes against your existing library to flag duplicates
• Generates background thumbnails for the file grid

After scanning you'll see a count of new files and existing files (duplicates).

File Selection

The scanned files appear in a grid. Use the toolbar buttons to quickly select:

• All — every scanned file
• New Only — only files not already in your library
• None — clear selection

You can also click individual checkboxes. Shift-click selects a range.

A disk usage indicator shows the total size of selected files and warns if the destination doesn't have enough space.

Saved Locations

Clipthesis remembers source and destination paths you've used before. A dropdown shows your recent locations so you can re-select them with one click. You can rename or delete saved locations.

Batch Tagging

Before starting the import, type into the tag input to attach tags to every selected file. Tags are applied uniformly to both new and duplicate files. You can:

• Search existing tags with autocomplete
• Create new tags on the fly by typing a name and pressing Enter

Add to Collection on Import

Optionally select a collection from the dropdown (or create a new one). All imported clips will be added to that collection automatically.

The Import Pipeline

When you click Import, Clipthesis runs four stages concurrently:

Stage	Concurrency	What Happens
Copy	2	Files are streamed to the destination. Duplicate filenames get a _1, _2 suffix.
Hash	6	Final content hash of the copied file. Confirms new vs duplicate.
FFmpeg	3	Metadata extraction, thumbnail, and scrub frame generation (new files only).
Database	1	Atomic batch insert — media records, locations, tags, and collection membership.

A progress modal shows the current file, a progress bar, and accumulated errors (if any).

Duplicate Handling

Clipthesis uses content-addressable hashing to detect duplicates:

• If a file's hash already exists in the library, no new media record is created
• Instead, a new location record is added linking the existing media to the new file path
• Tags and collection membership from the import are still applied to the existing media

This means the same clip can live on multiple drives without creating duplicate entries in your library.

Import Batches

Each import creates a batch record. You can filter your library by the most recent import batch to quickly review what just came in. See Search & Filters for details.

Cancellation

You can cancel an in-progress import. Files already copied remain on disk, but unprocessed files are skipped.