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macOS 15.4 or later, on a Mac with Apple silicon. Parergon is built with native SwiftUI. On macOS 26 (Tahoe) it adopts native Liquid Glass material for toolbars and system chrome. The styling is availability-gated: on macOS 15 the same controls use standard bordered buttons.

Yes. Parergon ships with 83 searchable help articles covering every feature, accessible from the Help menu.

Custom fields use the ms: XMP namespace. Choose data types (text, number, date, list, boolean), set validation rules and allowed values, and import or export definitions as JSON. Data is stored as standard XMP, either embedded or in sidecar files. Searching and filtering on custom fields is part of Pro metadata search.

It depends which of three things you mean, because the numbers differ by roughly six times. Reading metadata: over 300 file types. Writing metadata: over 100. Viewing and editing in the app: 50+ image and video formats. The everyday answer is the last one, and it covers JPEG, PNG, TIFF, HEIC, AVIF, WebP, JPEG 2000, JPEG XL, PSD, MP4, MOV and the 3GPP family, plus camera RAW.

Parergon reads metadata from 34 camera RAW formats and writes to 26 of them, counting RAW stills only. The writable set is ARQ, ARW, CR2, CR3, CRW, CS1, DNG, ERF, FFF, GPR, IIQ, MEF, MOS, MRW, NEF, NRW, ORF, ORI, PEF, RAF, RAW, RW2, RWL, SR2, SRW and X3F. That covers Canon, Nikon, Sony (including Minolta MRW and pixel-shift ARQ), Samsung, Fujifilm, Olympus and OM System, Panasonic, Pentax, Leica, Hasselblad, Phase One, Mamiya, Sinar, Leaf, Sigma, Epson, GoPro and Adobe DNG. Metadata is written into the RAW file itself, with no XMP sidecar required.

Editing and viewing come from two different engines. Metadata editing uses the bundled ExifTool, while previews use whatever macOS itself can decode. A few formats ExifTool can write are not decodable by macOS, so you can edit their metadata without seeing the image: among RAW stills they are X3F (Sigma), MEF (Mamiya), GPR (GoPro), ARQ (Sony pixel-shift) and CS1 (Sinar). Canon RAW movie files (CRM) behave the same way. The edit is written correctly; only the on-screen preview is missing.

The same split, in the other direction. macOS can decode some formats that ExifTool cannot safely write back, so they display normally but their metadata cannot be written back: 3FR (Hasselblad), DCR (Kodak) and SRF (Sony) are readable, so you can inspect and export their metadata and copy it onto a file that is writable. DXO and NEFX are decoded by macOS but not parsed by ExifTool at all, so they preview without metadata.

They are measured, not estimated. The read and write counts come from asking the bundled ExifTool 13.59 directly, and the viewing counts come from asking macOS which image and audiovisual types it can decode on the machine Parergon is running on. RAW counts include still formats only, so Canon RAW movie files and sidecar files are not counted as RAW. The numbers move when ExifTool is upgraded or macOS adds a decoder, so they are re-measured whenever either changes rather than carried forward.

Yes. Parergon can edit metadata directly in RAW files without creating XMP sidecar files, which fits professional photography workflows where the raw files are the canonical source. The Formats questions above list exactly which RAW formats are writable, and which are readable but not writable.

Parergon handles large batch operations with checkpoint recovery. Batch capabilities include metadata editing with templates, batch rename with stackable rules and live preview, batch date operations (including GPS date sync), privacy redaction, and metadata copying with per-field review. Progress tracking keeps you informed throughout.

Parergon exports metadata as PDF, HTML, CSV, JSON, XML, Markdown, Plain Text, YAML, and XMP Sidecar, with NDJSON for Elasticsearch. The Catalog Card PDF export produces per-asset cards with a hero image and grouped metadata. The Document Export wizard offers portfolio generation with typography presets, custom watermarks, and cover page templates.

Yes. Workspace Presets (3 built-in: Minimal, Standard, Full, plus custom presets) control field visibility and ordering. Create up to 8 custom Info Panel tabs with drag-to-reorder arrangement. The 142-field registry includes read-only Finder Tags and Finder Comment in Essentials and Favorites; those two fields are not editable. The Editor has a search/filter bar (Cmd+F), a category dropdown, an adaptive two-column grid at 700pt+ width, and safety indicators for field types.

Metadata Search covers writable metadata fields and custom fields with a source-list sidebar, compact filters, sorting, and advanced filters. Finder Tags and Finder Comment are read-only Essentials and Favorites fields and are not searchable. Saved filters can be kept as Smart Collections and saved filter presets; Smart Collections are a Pro feature.

Smart Collections are dynamic query-based groups that auto-update as metadata changes. They integrate with Metadata Search and require the metadata index to be built. Saved Sets persist a named selection. Both are available from the main window sidebar; Smart Collections are a Pro feature.

Meaning search (Pro) finds locally analyzed photos by a description of what they show, alongside ordinary filename and metadata matches. It can return no results when the description does not fit the library. The matching level is adjustable in Intelligence settings without re-analyzing the photos.

On first use, macOS prompts for Photos permissions. Approve to browse albums and assets natively. You can adjust access later in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Photos.

Yes. Unified video preview with parity controls across Files and Photos for MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV, and WebM. A video opens in the same field editor a photo does, showing the fields a video can carry, so Hide Empty Fields, keyword chips, per-field saving, Manage mode, field reordering, and workspace presets all work the same way. That covers Dublin Core, QuickTime, and Production and Media fields (genre, director, producer, composer), and the Intelligence drafting commands (Suggest Title, Suggest Headline, Draft Description) work on video too. GPS batch operations work for video files.

Parergon Pro unlocks the advanced feature set: Smart Collections, Linked Metadata Profiles, Transformation Rules, Extended Keyword Rules, Metadata Search and Meaning search, Metadata Copying with Review, Document Export, Catalog Card Export, Custom Label Sets, the Compare Tray, AI photo descriptions and Enhanced Recognition, Translate Metadata, Detected Events, Run Intelligence, batch Suggest Titles and Headlines, Enrich from Descriptions, Add Location from GPS, similar-shot duplicate grouping with metadata merging, and authoring multi-language field values. Pro is €5.99/month or €49.99/year (US$4.99/month or US$44.99/year). The free tier includes full read access and up to 5 metadata edits per day.

Linked Profiles are named presets that apply multiple metadata fields at once: copyright bundles, contact info, workflow tags. Expression tokens like {filename}, {year}, and {date:format} resolve dynamically when applied. Apply from the Editor header, toolbar, or with Cmd+Shift+P. Pro feature.

Yes. Transformation Rules offer comparison operators and multiple action types, Extended Keyword Rules support regex matching and hierarchy templates, and Linked Metadata Profiles support expression tokens. Rules and profiles can be imported or exported for team sharing. Pro features.

Parergon uses security-scoped bookmarks for persistent access. If prompts stop appearing, go to Settings → Advanced → Reset Security-Scoped Bookmarks. Version 1.1.2 also performs a one-time refresh after upgrade.

Use Load Full Now to fetch deep metadata on demand. Long operations are cancelable, and very large tag sets are paged to keep the UI responsive.

The metadata index needs to be built before searching. Verify auto-ingest folders are configured correctly, or use the re-index option to rebuild the search index. Files must be in a supported format.