I’m on a Mac Studio M1 Max, with MacOS 15.2 (“Sequoia”). I like to review images in the Customize view, simply hitting Command-Delete, then Enter (or Return) to move an image to the Trash. It’s super fast and easy. At some point recently that has quit working. I hit Cmd-Del, but a mouse click is the only way to close the dialog box and send the image to the Trash. Sounds trivial - unless you are reviewing a large batch of photos and doing this over and over. Has anyone else noticed this? Was it an intentional change? I’d love to get this keyboard shortcut back. Thanks!
1 Like
Yes, I’ve seen this too. The current versions of PhotoLab 7 and 8 work differently. While DPL7 puts focus on the “remove” button, PL8 doesn’t do that any more, all versions of DPL8, that is.
From left: DPL8, DPL7
Judging from the modified text, I’d say that the change is intentional and to prevent hasty deletes. While we can use TAB to switch focus, the red button is immune to ENTER.
(tested on 2019 iMac with macOS 14.7.2)
UX wise, a destructive action should never be the default action, which is applied on hitting Enter.
And it should never be placed on the far right side - in a western language interface as we read from upper left to lower right.
The text of the buttons actions should always describe what will happen is used.
It should never be a Yes or No - but Abort, Delete, Save, Open etc.
2 Likes
In PL8.2.1 (Windows) the keyboard shortcut to remove a selection is <Shift+Delete>
and the confirmation command remains highlighted in the following screen
to either click ON with the mouse or hit Enter to remove things to the trash,
which is the standard behaviour in Windows.
1 Like
So it seems this change was only made on the Mac version. I understand the UX aspect, and I can live with it. It’s just interesting that after all these years they finally changed it. BTW, it doesn’t actually delete the file, just moves it to the Trash. Oh well, thanks for the info and comments.
The user has already pressed the delete button. Return to delete seems a reasonable default action. As @ddixon752 points out, delete doesn’t move the photo very far. I don’t use PhotoLab as a principal culling tool, but an extra mouse click to delete a single image would disqualify it for me.
The workaround (which I do use in other programs) is to nominate another marker as “to be deleted” (I use 1 star in FastRawViewer). When I have finished grading a shoot, all the 1 star are moved en masse to trash. That way I don’t have to click enter a second time on every deletion.
3 Likes
But I’ve already mean that I want to delete the image by pressing the Delete key, so ok for asking confirmation of deletion by this popup but this one should be by default to confirm the delete by Enter key.
And as said before even this delete is not definitive as you can retrieve the image from the dustbin.
So DxO please come back to the previous mode that we had until v7.
1 Like
@ddixon752 I also use a Mac Studio with MacOS 15.2 and have upgraded from PL7 to PL8. I noticed the same issue and thank you for posting. Like you I find this annoying and wish the change had not been made as it conflicts with MacOS design and user experience.
For culling I just reject the images using the x key and then after culling I filter by rejected then select all and remove.
I’ve found this a very quick way to cull, I know it doesn’t solve your problem but I hope you might find it helpful.
2 Likes
Complained about this a month ago and promptly received the following reply from DxO support:
Yes, it was an intentional change, as we had quite a few customers still accidentally deleting their images.
As others have, I pointed out that the images were only being moved to the trash and are, therefore, completely recoverable. As well, I requested a “switch” be added to allow the user to decide which method is preferable.
The response before closing the ticket was:
I am happy to pass along your suggestion to the developers with the closure of this ticket.
2 Likes
This is typical DxO. Instead of adding an option for different behaviour, they just change it and annoy/inconvenience a new group of people.
1 Like
A lot of us had problems with this when making the error of having select all and then deleting. Yes they should have an option but recovering was more of a pain than the current deletion.
Well, as a software developer, I’d say the right choice here would have been to default to delete on a single image and add a more challenging confirmation for multiple images.
This is typical DxO. Instead of adding an option for different behaviour, they just change it and annoy/inconvenience a new group of people.
More and more, DxO seems to take its users for fools. Both in terms of design decisions and its commercial policies. Still in a race with Adobe and CaptureOne for customer alienation policies, happily DxO cannot contend. Management is working on it.
I’d like to point out that certain removal drives to not offer the Apple trash bin. They simply delete and I therefore unrecoverable.
Can you be more specific?
A Trash Folder (or directory) exists for every kind of Drive (or Volume) on a Mac. As they are considered a System File, they are invisible and not directly accessible to users. When you view the files in the Finder’s Trash Can, the Finder displays all the files from each volume’s trash folder as though they all actually live in a single folder, the Trash Can.
The files will remain in their respective Trash Folders until you Empty the trash. Two exceptions to that are:
-
If the deleted file is from an iCloud drive, it will be automatically deleted after 30 days.
-
You, the user, may choose to have the Finder automatically permanently delete trashed files after 30 days in the Trash Can. This option can be found in the Advanced Tab of the Finder’s Settings. Finder>Settings…>Advanced>Remove items from the Trash after 30 days
A file which resides on a mounted network volume will be deleted directly and will not reside in Trash.
Yes, regrettably you’re right. Network volumes are not directly managed by Mac OS / Finder, so Trash directories are not created. Network volumes require a great deal more awareness and diligence of users. Frequent backups of them are the primary, perhaps only, defense against lost files.
It should be noted that deleting a file from such a volume will likely never proceed without the server first presenting a warning that the file can not be recovered, which almost makes the DxO dialog redundant, if not doubly annoying.
I don’t currently work with network volumes and, admittedly, might be missing something. But I can’t see the harm in making this a configurable option with, perhaps, the default behavior being as it currently is.
Here’s the two dialogs from PL 7 and 8.
The PL7 have a incorrectly descriptive button labeled “Remove” as default action when hitting Return, which means that a photo located on network storage will be permanently deleted.
The PL8 have the same incorrectly labeled button “Remove” but it is not the default action and hitting Return will not cause any action. Clicking the Remove button will permanently delete the photo if is resides on a network storage.
Screenshots are taken in Dark mode.
So, out of curiosity, do you receive a message in addition to the above PL8 screenshot warning you that the file will be deleted immediately. If not, then the PL8 “Remove” message is inadequate, misleading and just plain wrong regarding network volumes
That’s the only information I’m given.
The moment I hit Return or click on the Remove-button the photo is deleted from the network storage.
Nothing additional varnings or confirmation.
The views in PL is instantly updated to reflect that the photo is not there any longer.