This manual is generated from the Help inside MediaFlowSwift (Help → MediaFlowSwift Help), so the two always say the same thing. It describes the current release.

Settings & Preferences

Plans and Pricing

Two plans, Studio and Studio Pro, a 14-day trial of the full app, and what stays open when a plan ends.

MediaFlowSwift comes in two plans. Studio is all the file management: importing from cards, phones and folders; categorizing, reviewing, rating and tagging; Organize with every copy proved; Free Up Space; Archive and restore; proxies; the editing drive; Library Moved; reports; Help; updates and problem reports. Studio Pro is everything in Studio, plus the title, description, chapters and tags written for you, uploading to YouTube with thumbnail and schedule, results read back from YouTube, and the database server that gives every Mac the same projects list. Neither plan limits how often you use what it opens.

The trial

The first time this copy is opened, a 14-day trial of Studio Pro begins. No card is asked for. Settings › Plan shows how many days are left, and a banner in the main window says so too; Later hides it for this session. The trial’s start is kept in your Keychain, not in the preferences, so installing the app again does not start it again, and a clock turned back does not lengthen it.

When a plan ends

Nothing you have made is taken away. Every project opens, every clip shows where it is, restoring from an archive and copying footage out work, and so do Help, reports, updates and problem reports. What pauses is what makes new work: importing, Organize, proxies, moving a project to the editing drive, writing, publishing, and the database server. Each of those says which plan opens it, with a Plans… button that shows the plans side by side.

Buying a plan

Studio is $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year; Studio Pro is $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year, in US dollars, plus tax where it applies. Plans are bought on mediaflowswift.com; the app never asks for a card. The checkout is run by Paddle, who handle payment, tax and invoices, and whose receipt has the link for managing or cancelling a subscription.

Changing your plan

Already subscribed, and want Studio Pro instead of Studio, Studio instead of Studio Pro, or yearly instead of monthly? Do not buy again on the website: that starts a second subscription, with a second key, while the first one goes on billing. Write to support@mediaflowswift.com instead. Support changes the subscription you have, and your key stays the same: Settings › Plan shows the new plan at the next daily check, or at once when you click Check now.

While a subscription is entered on this Mac, the Plans window and Settings › Plan say this in place of Buy on the website…, with an Email Support… button. The button only opens a new message to support in your mail app, addressed and with the last group of your key in it, for you to finish and send; MediaFlowSwift sends nothing itself. When a licence has ended, Buy on the website… comes back, since a new plan is a new purchase.

Your licence key

After buying, the thank-you page shows a licence key of the form MF-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX. Enter it in Settings › Plan (or in the Plans window that a paused feature opens) and click Activate. The key follows you, not a Mac: it works on up to three Macs at once, and Settings › Plan lists them by name. Release this Mac frees its place for another; it needs a connection, so that the place is really freed before the key is forgotten here. Settings shows only the last group of the key, so a screenshot does not hand it on. Lost the key? The website’s Lost your key page finds it from the transaction number on your receipt.

Once a day, and when you click Check now, the app asks the licence service whether the key still stands: it sends the key and a random id it made up for this Mac, nothing more (the Mac’s name goes only with the activation), and it says so in Settings › Privacy. Without a connection the last answer holds for two weeks, so a trip does not pause your work. When a subscription ends, or is refunded, the plan reads as ended at the next check, and everything you made still opens. A complimentary key, one given rather than bought, has no subscription behind it: Settings › Plan shows the date it is valid until instead of a renewal date, and the plan reads as ended at the first check after that date.

The Settings Window

What each of the nine Settings tabs is for: General, Network, Storage, Cameras, Categories, Analysis, Privacy, Notifications and Plan.

Choose MediaFlow → Settings (Cmd+,). The window has nine tabs. This topic says what each one is for; the related topics go into detail.

General

Setup — Run Setup Again… reopens the first-run setup questions. MediaFlow saves your setup whenever you quit and puts it back if this Mac’s settings are ever lost. Save Setup Now saves it at once. Restore Saved Setup puts every saved setting back, replacing what is set now. Passwords and API keys are not part of the saved setup; they stay in the Keychain
Updates — New versions come from mediaflowswift.com. “Check for new versions automatically” looks shortly after launch, on wake and every few hours; a new version asks Install Now, Later or Skip This Version, never while something is running, while you are typing or while another dialog is open. A version you skipped is shown here, with Offer It Again. To look now, choose MediaFlow → Check for Updates…, which always offers the newest version
About — The version and build you are running, the maker, what MediaFlowSwift needs to run (a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 14 Sonoma or later), links to the website, the support page, the terms of use and the privacy page, and Acknowledgements… for the open-source packages it is built with. The same as MediaFlowSwift → About MediaFlowSwift

Network

Where you choose the network share that MediaFlow reconnects to. Nothing is assumed: until you choose one, the tab says “No network share chosen yet”.

Shares already mounted on this Mac are listed. Click Use this beside the one you want; it then reads In use
Look for servers searches the network. Connect to… opens a found server in Finder, which asks for the password and shows its shares. Mount one, then click Use this
Type the address instead takes an smb:// address. A name ending in .local keeps working when the server gets a new address
Once a share is chosen, the tab shows Connected or Not connected. Connect now mounts it again. Forget stops using it, and the settings that follow the share go back to unset

Storage

Enable Central Database — Turns the shared database on and connects
Store — Database file or Database server. Changing it reconnects; it does not move any records
Database file — New Database File… asks where a new database file will live, makes it there and connects; Use an Existing Database File… picks one that is already there, such as the one another Mac made. Neither ever replaces a file. The line under them says what a database file is for. Type the path instead is there if you need it. The line below says whether the file can be reached. Reset to Default points at MediaFlow/mediaflow.db on the chosen network share, and is dimmed until a share is chosen
Database server — Host (a button beside it offers the server of the chosen network share), Port, Database, User and Password. The password is kept in your Keychain. Test Connection shows the server version or the reason it failed. Set Up a Server… is a guide to making one. Two Copy buttons move every record between the file and the server
Organize Media — “Default destination for new projects” (Choose… or Clear) fills in the destination for a project that has none; a project’s own destination always wins
Verify organized copies by reading them back — On: every copy is read again in full and its SHA-256 compared with the source; slowest and safest. Off: copies are checked by size plus 1 MB samples at the start, middle and end; much faster over a network

Cameras

The open project’s camera list: add, rename or remove cameras, with the number of clips that use each. Also use for new projects makes the list the starting point for new projects. With no project open, there is nothing to edit
Suggest import when a camera or card is connected — Shows a banner that offers to start Import when you connect an SD card, a camera or an iPhone
Camera identities — How MediaFlow knows which camera shot a clip. It matches by serial number first, then by model. Cameras it has seen but you have not named are under Not yet named: type a name and click Save. Those you have named are under Named. You can also add one by hand, by Serial or Model

Analysis

Use a model to suggest categories — Lets you use an AI model, running on this Mac or at a provider you pay. An import uses the model only when you tick the box for it in the Import sheet. For a paid provider you add an API key, which is kept in the Keychain, and can set a spending limit with “Stop after … a day”
Propose category, camera and scene after an import — After an import finishes, MediaFlow examines each clip on this Mac and proposes values. Proposals appear in italic and are not applied until you confirm them
Also look at the pictures and listen to the first minute (Tier 1) — A second, slower pass. Off by default. You can turn it on for the open project only, or run it over the open project now

Privacy

Every connection MediaFlow can make to a service outside this Mac, each with its own switch. All are off until you turn them on. Each row says what is sent and to whom. See Privacy: What Leaves This Mac.

Notifications

One switch for each Smart Notification: Uncategorized Clips, Missing Cards, Format Mismatch, Storage Warning, Unrated Clips and Stale Project.

Smart Notifications

The banner at the top of the window that points out unfinished work in the open project.

When a project opens or changes, MediaFlow checks it against these conditions and shows the first one that applies as a banner above the media list. Each banner has an action button where one makes sense, and an X button that opens a menu with Dismiss and “Don’t show again for this project”.

Notification Types

Uncategorized Clips — 5 or more clips without a category; action: Auto-Suggest
Unorganized Media — not a banner. The Organize segment of the pipeline strip always shows the pending count, and turns orange at 10 or more clips when a destination is set
Missing Cards — One camera has far fewer clips than the others (under 30% of the average), which may mean a card was not imported
Format Mismatch — 3 or more clips differ from the dominant resolution or frame rate; action: Check Formats
Storage Warning — The destination volume is 85% full or more; action: Storage Forecast
Unrated Clips — 20 or more clips have no star rating
Stale Project — No changes for 7 days or more

Turn individual types off in Settings › Notifications. A “Don’t show again for this project” choice is remembered across launches; a plain Dismiss hides the banner only until MediaFlow next checks the project, so it can come back. A device-connection banner takes precedence while a card or phone is being detected.