Daminion is a professional photo, video and document management software
Daminion is a photo, video and document management solution for Windows that is available as a free standalone version and a commercial server version.
The core difference between free and commercial versions of Daminion is that you can run and access the standalone version on a single computer while the server version supports the creation of repositories that can be accessed from multiple devices.
If you need to handle a large number of media files or documents, then you have probably a well thought out system for that.
While you could handle thousands of files using Windows Explorer, management solutions may improve significantly how you work with large collections of media.
You can use drag and drop or the add files button to add as many files as you like to the program's database. The add file dialog displays previews of files you have added this way and provides you with a handful of options that determine how the files are processed by Daminion.
You may assign tags for example for easier recognition, create categories based on folder names, or select to copy all files to a folder you specify and add them to the catalog afterwards.
The same page lists grouping options, by date, folder or file type, which you may find useful as well as it allows you to select files based on that.
All files that you have selected get imported to the program's database based on your configuration.
The main program window displays several modules by default of which you can remove those that you don't require. While you may find the map view useful if you have added files with location information, you may not require it all the time. A click on the close icon removes it from the interface and frees up space for modules that you work with regularly.
The two main modules that you may want to keep at all times are the catalog tags sidebar and the area listing the files based on selections you make.
The Catalog tags sidebar lists several filters that you can use to filter files. You may filter files by keywords, categories or the camera leans used for instance, or sort by folder or media format.
The file area displays previews and information about each file. You may change the layout of the area, use quick search to find specific files, or change the sorting order.
Media can be rated right away with a click on the stars, and a right-click displays several additional processing options for the selection.
Among the many options provided here are options to view the full image, locate it on the system, manipulate it (e.g. rotate or tag), to set labels or flags, group it, or use the built-in version control feature.
But there is more. The main menu bar at the top lists several tools and options as well, for instance an option to find duplicates, to batch rename files, or to find the same image on the Internet.
Closing Words
Daminion is a professional media and document management solution for Windows. The standalone version is freely available for all supported versions of Windows. While it lacks options to create central repositories on a computer network, it is as powerful in every other aspect.
fyi
https://daminion.net/user-forum/index.php?/topic/3353-daminion-standalone-and-home-server/
Hi Martin! Just wanted to say thank you for your review – such a positive feedback is very motivating for us! =) The Daminion Team
I am looking for a video manager for our keeper of the videos — my wife.
@ dave … us$197.oo for “VideoCataloger” is a bit rich http://videocataloger.com/order/
– probably more for the serious pro
Hi Dave,
I first tried the software you mention thinking it was a better alternative to Damion. Fast Video Cataloger look great, the scene tagging feature is also very nice to have. It having a dark theme is great, although having other theme color would be more suitable. The software is still alive in 2015 so it great for all those who used it.
However, the weakness lies in the fact that it interface is terrible to use, it slow to add thing, difficult to view information. The worse part of is the price tag of $130 USD. The differences between trial mode and full mode is rather quite hidden and not obvious to find. You get a 7-day trial with all (?) the option of Paid version, after 7-trial it goes into “Reader” mode, where you can view but can not edit or save your database (catalog). Upon realizing this all I have to recommend is, do not even bother to try this software unless you planning to buy me a license as well.
After that failure I decided to try Daminion, now this is a software I can stand behind. Their Free and Pay version differences is a major point that many can do without. The interface offer a variety of information that can easily be edit, view and filter. I only tried adding video because that what bought my attention to this articles, but knowing that I can add other such as photo & documents is a sign of greatness.
Now that said, I have tried many years searching for a good and usable Video cataloger software. It is truly difficult to find one that isn’t (1) Trial mode, (2) High price, (3) Offer little feature that make it difficult to justify in using. I think Daminion will hold this place for a long time to come. These kind of software does not seem to have very much popularity (considering this is the 3rd comments). I recommend you should try using it too, else if you find a better alternative please do share it because I and few other would love to know about it. You said you know about Daminion for years now yet this is the first time I heard of it when using search engine or “alternative to” website.
If there any reason, this is the kind of articles and software I would support financially should disposable income ever come my way.
Thank you.
great little program
I have discovered this program a few years ago. It only was indexing Videos at the time and that is what i wanted. Still it was in beta though.
After a few months i got the final version and it had all those extra features and it was less of a video catalog app.
I want something similar to this:
http://videocataloger.com/
Can you recommend good video thumbnail application?