Photo Mechanic Plus cataloguing is dead

[Robbo]

As I understand it from PM+ support, the cataloguing feature is being discontinued due to its instability. When I installed PM+ 2026.2 build 9034 on my Mac Studio, it would not stay up and kept crashing so badly that I had to reboot my machine. Finally, I had to uninstall it completely. It is too bad because the old version worked fine. But, apparently, they can't find a fix for it. I NEED a cataloguing feature so I am forced to find another piece of software for the job.

[Henry Gilbey]

So do I, I can't really function in my work without the catalogue feature...........

Do you have any suggestions on what other software I need to look at now? Many thanks.

[pearcie]

Hi
For Mac users I can recommend NeoFinder - https://www.cdfinder.de/index.html.
It works really well with PM.
I use the standard version.

There is also a Windows version - https://www.abemeda.com/

Gary

[Henry Gilbey]

Many thanks, I will check it out and give it a go...........

So you are using PM as per normal - editing shoots, renaming, adding keywords etc.

And THEN using Neofinder to find specific keyworded images within your library etc.? That's how I see it at the moment, am I heading down the right road here?

[pearcie]

That’s exactly right.

To be clear it’s not an intergrated process you do have to catalogue your files into NeoFinder and update them as your library grows - but ratings, keywords etc are all are carried across and it’s quick and can handle large libraries.

I tried PM+ and although I love PM I did find it a bit clunky.

I believe there is also a business version which can auto update catalogues.

Searches can be carried out without being attached to drives or internet as the NeoFinder library is a separate file.

Also customer support is great.

[Henry Gilbey]

Many thanks again, I downloaded the trial version, catalogued my photo library and it's working great. So easy to understand and get around so far, this might be the solution, much appreciated.........

[braver]

The only one scalable DAM solution properly cataloging is Lightroom.  Where does PM+ say it discontinued the +?!

[RogerB]

Where does PM+ say it discontinued the +?!

See this post from Mick O:

https://forums.camerabits.com/index.php?topic=17147.0

[elianoimperato]

The only one scalable DAM solution properly cataloging is Lightroom.

Right. Especially if you're already paying for Adobe subscription.
As a photojournalist, because I'm using Photo Mechanic everyday, Photo Mechanic Plus was the perfect choice to do all the work (ingest, culling, adding IPTC, etc. and cataloging the works) except the photo editing. Now I’ve been forced to create my catalog with Lightroom Classic.

How's possible that an important company like Camera Bits could't find a solution to continue to build a compatible software for the newest operating systems as the other companies are doing? Maybe the Plus users were very less so it wasn’t worth continuing to invest on Photo Mechanic Plus?

[phrank]

Wow, I just came across this post. I’m a bit sad – I really had faith, or rather hope, that this could be a cool successor to Media Pro back in 2020. Six years later, I have to say I’m quite disillusioned.

A bit about my experience: I started importing my photos into Photo Mechanic Plus, but I hadn’t really begun using the catalog features yet. After importing, the database grew to over 700 GB, containing around 2.35 million documents – quite impressive, but updates for a year of archives sometimes took 1–2 days, which was very frustrating. I eventually gave up before doing any real catalog work.
Recently, I discovered the shocking news: Photo Mechanic Plus is being discontinued. That’s frustrating, especially for anyone relying on its catalog functionality.

Fortunately, all my metadata was saved only as sidecar files, which in hindsight is a good thing – my actual work isn’t lost. This is actually the fun fact that balances my critique: unlike other DAM software, there is no internal metadata database. Everything is in the sidecars, which makes migration or switching software much easier. The 700 GB database mainly consisted of previews, caches, and thumbnails, so I was able to delete it and free up space on my SSD.

It’s just very frustrating to repeatedly invest time learning new software, only to have it discontinued – first Aperture, then Media Pro, and now Photo Mechanic Plus.

[elianoimperato]

Hi
For Mac users I can recommend NeoFinder - https://www.cdfinder.de/index.html.
It works really well with PM.
I use the standard version.

There is also a Windows version - https://www.abemeda.com/

Gary

Hi,

I wanted to give a chance to NeoFinder and... I've immediately starting to create my new library with it! Now I can build a catalog with a size of just 10% of my previous Lightroom catalog size. Impressive! 

[phrank]

I use it more than 15 years. Frequently updates, no subscription – great GUI. Database only takes much less compared with Photo Mechanic Plus, Capture One and Lightroom.

[pearcie]

You can also catalog by folders ie. have yearly ones.

I go one step further and catalog each shoot.
So current stuff is worked on and saved then if I go back later I just update that catalog.

Back ups just involve saving the main NeoFinder catalog file.

The user guide has lots of tips and advice.

PM is still the best at what it does, imagine a love child between PM + NF ❤️

[Jon Paul Davidson]

I am devastated that PM+ is quitting.  I waited several years while it was being developed and thoroughly understand why it took so long; It is perhaps the best application I have and I use it every day!  I also understand why it can't keep up with the OS upgrades since it has so many features that interface with the OS. PLEASE let us know what you suggest that we migrate to when it becomes necessary.  So far, I can live with the minor glitches. Thank you, Kirk and staff,  for your patience and extraordinary skills. - Jon Davidson

[carlseibert]

Hi,   I've been working on figuring out the way forward with NeoFinder, not having found any better candidate for a successor to PM+. It's been a mission. I'm still finding issues that need explanation or workarounds.

I have a series of videos on the subject posted. The playlist is here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9mNOY30_H8&list=PL6U_ESkc1UdUPmR6HLZxON2ra8Ml_xKGd    They're long. I apologize, but that's just the way it turned out.

If you've already moved your archive to NeoFinder and are comfortable with setting up catalogs and adding assets, you can probably safely skip the first video.

If you've made the decision to always use Photo Mechanic to edit metadata, it's probably safe enough to forego the third one.

The middle video, which is an hour long all by itself, is on searching. That's where the tricky parts are.

I am working on a blog post version, but I keep finding stuff that I need to include. It will be an opus in its own right, I'm afraid.

I spent all day today chasing down more weird NOT search behavior. (It was so straightforward and reliable in Photo Mechanic Plus  .  I pinned a comment about it on the searching video.

This just in...Be forewarned: It appears that in a fielded NOT search, NeoFinder does not return any assets that don't have values in the searched field. (An empty field, in other words.) That means, for example, that a search meant to exclude, say, images that have "NSFW" in the Keywords, will exclude not only all the "NSFW" images, but any image that doesn't have any keywords assigned. That will come as a rude surprise to anyone who is used to PM+. As long as you know, it's not deadly. There is a workaround - ugly - but a workaround.

If you find anything strange or unexpected going on with NeoFinder, please reach out. For that matter, if you find anything that I'm wrong about, please reach out. You'll find more significant bugs in NeoFinder than you're used to in the Photo Mechanic products. To be honest, more than I'm completely comfortable with. Maybe Photo Mechanic has just spoiled me.

There is a forum on the NeoFinder site, but it doesn't look anywhere near as helpful as this one.

Cheers.

-Carl