Projects

A qrate project is one .qrate file. It is a portable SQLite database. It holds the collection grid, column settings, notes, and other project metadata. Copy or move this one file to move the project.

Linked files, such as photos and documents, stay where they are. qrate never copies them into the project. If you move a linked-files folder, open Settings ▸ Project and point the files-folder path at its new location.

Create a project

Choose File ▸ New Project… or press Ctrl+N to start a blank project in the wizard. To pick how you start, open the launcher with File ▸ Open Projects… or Ctrl+O. The launcher offers three ways to start:

1. Blank project. Start with an empty grid, or choose files and folders to start from. Each folder becomes a parent row and each file a row inside it, so the grid keeps the folder tree as an archival hierarchy. See Groups.
2. Import a spreadsheet and its folder. qrate reads a CSV, Excel workbook, or OpenDocument spreadsheet as the grid. If you also give it a files folder, qrate links rows to files in that folder by filename, or by a custom pattern such as {id}_*.jpg. If one file is named by several rows, the wizard asks what to do with it.
3. Start from a Google Sheet link. qrate reads the sheet once to build the project. Date cells come in as dates, written YYYY-MM-DD, the same as from an Excel workbook. See Export and Google Sheets for how to keep the two in sync afterward.

When a project starts from folders, pick an Archival description standard: RAD, DACS, ISAD(G), Records in Contexts, or Custom. It supplies the level names, and you choose what folders and files are called, for example Series and Item. You can change all three later in Settings ▸ Project ▸ Description (see Project settings).

The wizard suggests saving the new project in the folder you last created a project in, or in a qrate folder in your Documents folder the first time. To choose a fixed folder instead, set Settings ▸ Application ▸ New projects ▸ Save new projects in.

The wizard can also load a column configuration file, such as the column_config.csv that Settings ▸ Columns ▸ Config file ▸ Export… writes, so a new collection starts with the same column types and descriptions as an earlier one. To apply one to a project that is already open, choose Data ▸ Load Column Config….

You can drop material onto the launcher instead of browsing: a .qrate file opens it, a spreadsheet starts a spreadsheet import, and files or folders start a folder-based project.

You can also choose Open with qrate for a folder in your file manager. This opens the blank-project wizard with the files folder selected, a suggested name from the folder, and the default Title and File columns. Review the name and save location, then continue through the wizard to create the project. Files stay in their existing folder.

On Windows, the installers and Microsoft Store package add the folder action to Explorer's right-click menu, including the background menu inside a folder. The Store package supports the Windows 11 context menu; the other installers use Show more options. On macOS, choose Services ▸ Open with qrate in Finder. On Linux, launch the installed app once to register it, then choose qrate from your file manager's Open With menu; its location varies by desktop.

Open a project

Choose File ▸ Open Projects… or press Ctrl+O to show the launcher. It lists recent projects. Pick one to open it, or browse to any .qrate file. If a project cannot be opened, the launcher says why above the list.

Installed copies of qrate also appear in the operating system's Open With choices for .qrate files. Choosing qrate opens that project directly.

If the open project has unsaved changes when you open or create another one, qrate asks first. See Saving.

Saving

qrate saves cell edits to the project file on its own. By default it writes them after a short pause in your typing, in the background, so a large project does not stop you working. Column settings, layout, and other project settings always save as you change them.

Settings ▸ Table ▸ Saving controls autosave:

• Autosave turns it on or off. With it off, edits reach the file only when you save.
• Method chooses After a short pause or On every edit.

Press Ctrl+S, or choose File ▸ Save, to save at any time, whatever the autosave setting. A dot in the title bar means the project has changes that are not saved yet.

If a save fails, for example because the drive is full or the file is read-only, qrate tells you and keeps your changes open. Autosave tries again after your next edit, and Ctrl+S tries at once and shows the reason if it fails again.

Before qrate quits, closes its window, switches to another project, or creates a new one, it asks about unsaved changes: Save, Don't Save, or Cancel. If saving fails there, qrate asks again with the reason, so your edits are never dropped without your choice. Press Ctrl+Q or choose File ▸ Quit to quit. Restart to update asks the same question before it restarts qrate.

Autosave is one of the settings a project can override; see Your defaults and project overrides.

Add files to an open project

Choose File ▸ Import Files or Folders…, or drop files and folders onto the grid or the gallery. qrate shows how many rows it will add. If some of the files are already in the project, choose Skip duplicates, Update existing (re-link the existing row to the file), or Add all as new. Drop a single file onto a Filename cell to link that row to it.

Settings ▸ Project ▸ Import ▸ Files already in the project holds this project's choice for such files: Leave the existing row alone (the default), Re-link the existing row to the new file, or Add it as a new row. The wizard sets it when the project is created. An import that finds files already in the project still asks, with this choice as the default button, and the button you pick becomes the project's new choice.

Add spreadsheet rows to an open project

Choose File ▸ Import Spreadsheet… and select a CSV, TSV, Excel, or OpenDocument file. qrate matches the first row's headers to existing column names, ignoring case and surrounding spaces. It shows any unmatched source columns before you confirm. Confirming appends the data rows to the current project as one change you can undo; existing rows and columns stay in place.

Project settings

Settings ▸ Project holds the linked-files folder, the import choice above, and the Description group:

• Description standard: RAD, DACS, ISAD(G), Records in Contexts, or Custom.
• Imported folders are and Imported files are: the level names that imported folders and files, and new rows, get.

Changing the standard never rewrites rows. It sets what new rows and imports default to from then on; rows already filed keep their level, and the old level names stay available.

Settings ▸ Columns holds this project's column configuration (see Columns), and each plugin's settings have a page of their own. Settings ▸ Application holds settings that apply to every project you open. Set Application ▸ Identity ▸ Author name to sign new notes and history entries; the active name appears in the project window. Application ▸ Appearance ▸ Interface size scales the text and controls of every qrate window: 90%, 100% (the default), 110%, 125%, or 150%.

Application ▸ Updates and downloads holds Automatic updates, which checks for and downloads signed qrate updates in the background, and Download source. Leave the download source blank to get updates from GitHub and the plugin catalog from the qrate website. If your network cannot reach them, your IT staff can keep a copy on a server or a shared folder: enter its address, such as https://mirror.example.org/qrate, or a folder, such as file:///D:/qrate-mirror. qrate checks everything it downloads against its own signatures, so a mirror cannot change what you install. Anything the mirror does not have comes from the usual place. The mirror's layout is in Setup and releases.

Your defaults and project overrides

Some settings are a default of yours that a project can override. They are autosave, row stripes, row density, row height, undo steps, date format, spelling, and the CSV export options. The User and Project tabs at the top of the Settings window choose which one you are editing:

• User sets your default, which applies to every project that does not set its own.
• Project sets a value for the open project only, stored in its .qrate file, so it travels with the project. Most rows that hold a project value say Set for this project and offer a reset button that returns them to your default.

The Project tab is available while a project is open.

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