Reference & FAQ
The tables behind the settings, the shortcuts, the honest list of v1 limits, and answers to the questions that come up on set. Deep topics have their own chapters — verification, disks, results, licensing — this page is the lookup layer.
Duplicate policy
When a copy would write a file that already exists at the destination, the duplicate policy decides what happens. The policy is chosen per Advanced Copy/Convert node; the default for new nodes is set in Settings (factory: New run folder). Simple mode has no policy picker — it always merges folders and resolves collisions by renaming (the incoming file gets a numbered name), so it never overwrites and never skips.
| Policy | What it does | Reach for it when |
|---|---|---|
| New run folder default | Each run gets its own numbered folder (named from the tab title), so nothing ever collides. | Always, unless you have a reason not to. |
| Skip | Copies only files that aren't already there; existing files untouched. | Resuming/completing an interrupted offload into the same folder. |
| Overwrite | Replaces colliding files; keeps everything else. | Refreshing a delivery folder in place. |
| Rename | Keeps both — the incoming file gets a number appended. | Merging into a folder where both versions matter. |
| Fail | Stops at the first collision. | When a collision means something is wrong and you want to know. |
Naming tokens
Copy and Convert nodes take two optional templates — a destination subfolder that wraps the copied content inside the run folder, and a per-file rename. Both are built from literal text plus draggable token chips:
| Token | Expands to |
|---|---|
| Source name | The card / folder / file being copied. |
| Drive name | The destination disk's name. |
| Run date | Parts of the date the run started (year, month, day…). |
| Original file date | Each file's own creation date (per-file rename only). |
| Counter | Per-run counter; restarts each run. |
| Global counter | App-wide counter that keeps climbing across runs — read once at run start, advanced only when the copy completes (a stopped run doesn't burn numbers). |
| Production metadata | Project, production, crew, location… from the workflow's Info panel. An empty field omits its path component instead of leaving a hole. |
Same-name collisions produced by a rename template fall through to the duplicate policy. Note: per-file rename templates are not carried into saved workflow templates in v1 — re-add them after loading.
Metadata preservation
A Copy carries file metadata across — each piece independently toggleable on the node (all on by
default): date created, date modified, permissions,
Finder tags & extended attributes. On exFAT/FAT destinations, tags travel in
AppleDouble ._ sidecars; APFS and HFS+ store them natively.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Where | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Anywhere | ⌘, — Settings · ⌘Q — quit (guarded during a run) |
| Advanced | ⌘S — save the tab to its template (or Save As) |
| Results browsers | Space — QuickLook · double-click — media player · right-click — reveal in Finder / column options |
| Disk browser | type a name — jump to it (diacritics ignored) · ↑↓→← — move & expand · ⌘/⇧-click — multi-select |
| PDF report builder | ⌘Z / ⇧⌘Z — undo / redo |
| Node details | Delete — remove the highlighted entry row |
Known v1 limitations
The honest list — things IngestDeck deliberately doesn't do yet, so you can plan around them:
- ARRI playback — ARRI files copy and verify like anything else, but the built-in player can't decode them yet.
- Convert: one destination per Convert node; whole-node failure on a broken file (no per-file failure rows yet); no timecode track or rotation metadata carried into proxies; output is H.264/H.265 (no ProRes/DNx targets yet).
- Pause is Advanced-only; Simple offers Stop (which keeps everything already copied).
- No undo/redo on the Advanced canvas (the PDF report builder has it).
- Compare takes a single compare-against target per node.
- Templates don't persist per-file rename templates; disk selections intentionally come back as placeholders.
- Offline ceiling ~1 month — a Mac kept completely offline for longer than about a month locks until it's online once. See working offline.
- The iOS monitor is read-only — no remote pause/stop, by design.
- Metadata columns aren't sortable in results tables yet (built-in columns are).
- Format targets local external media only — no whole-disk erases of internals, no network volumes, no live progress bar during the format.
Troubleshooting
Is it safe to press Stop mid-copy?
Yes. Every file that finished copying stays; only the in-flight partial file is removed. Nothing is rolled back, the stopped run stays browsable, and an Advanced re-run with the Skip policy completes the remainder (a Simple re-run is safe too — it renames collisions instead of overwriting).
Why won't a disk drop where I want it?
Drops are role-locked: a Source-role disk can't land in a destination slot and vice versa. Change the role in the disk detail panel first. The refusal toast names the reason.
Run is greyed out / the graph won't start.
Open the diagnostics pill at the bottom of the canvas — every blocking problem is listed with the node it belongs to (no destination, verify with nothing selected, destination inside source…). Waiting for source entries are not errors — they're flows waiting for a card (that's Watch working as intended).
My copy to a network share hangs / fails with "destination disconnected".
IngestDeck watches network destinations: after ~8 seconds of no progress it warns, at ~45 it fails the run cleanly with the diagnosis instead of hanging forever. Fix the share (or its Wi-Fi), then re-run with Skip to send the remainder.
A Verify-against-source run failed with "no ASC-MHL".
Auditing a source checks it against its existing manifest. If the card was never signed, there's nothing to audit — copy it once with the ASC-MHL report add-on to start its chain.
Convert skipped some files.
Convert transcodes what has a real route to your target; everything else follows the ineligible policy. Set it to pass through to carry those files unchanged, or fail to be told up front. The output editor's eligibility line tells you before running.
The app asks for approval when I format.
Formatting (only formatting) runs through a signed background helper — approve IngestDeck once in System Settings ▸ General ▸ Login Items. Copy/verify/convert never need it.
The destination refuses my selection.
A destination can't be the same volume as a source and can't sit inside a source folder — that would copy a folder into itself. Two different folders on the same disk are fine.
The app shows "Offline" — am I in trouble?
No — Offline · license active means you're covered: the app keeps working for about a month without a connection and switches back to the online state by itself when internet returns. Trouble only starts if the badge says access ended — see when the workspace locks.
Where do I find out why something failed yesterday?
The activity log — Older logs lists previous sessions, exportable as JSON. The run itself stays browsable in History with per-file reasons.
Still stuck? Manage your subscription and devices at your account, grab the latest build from the download page, or write to info@ingestdeck.com — attaching an exported activity log makes answers fast.