Install CullTone Desktop and connect your computer

Install and connect

1. Get the download

   The beta build is not on a public link yet. Open the download page (culltone.com/download), ask for it, and we send it. It runs on Macs with Apple silicon (M1 and later). Intel Macs, Windows and Linux are not available yet.

   

2. Open it the first time

   Drag CullTone to Applications and open it. The beta is not signed by Apple yet, so macOS asks you to allow it in System Settings the first time.

3. Sign in and connect this computer

   CullTone Desktop shows the same app you use in the browser at culltone.com/app. Sign in, then choose Connect this computer (you need to be an editor or owner). The computer now appears in Settings → Computers with its state.

   

4. Check it is online

   The computer chip in the top bar says online · idle while CullTone Desktop runs, busy while it works and last seen when it is off. Jobs for this computer's projects wait until it is back.

The menu bar icon

Closing the window keeps CullTone running in the menu bar, so jobs carry on. From the icon you can:

• See the job running now and its progress, and stop it with Stop this job…. See each project's sync state (synced, syncing, waiting for connection, sync error), and click a project to open it.
• Import from card shows up while a memory card is in. Show finals of opens the finished JPEGs of your latest project in the Finder.
• Sync now, Pause work (after the current job, or for 1 hour) or Resume work, and Check for updates…. Updates install only when nothing is running, after you choose Restart to update.
• Under Settings: Keep awake while working (on by default) stops the Mac sleeping during a job, a sync or a card copy, and turns itself off on battery below 20%. Stay available for jobs from other devices (off by default) keeps a plugged-in Mac awake all the time, so a cull or render you start from your phone or another computer runs on it. Also automatic updates, crash reports and Open at login.
• Open CullTone in the browser, and Quit. Quit asks first if a job is running.

The menus and keyboard shortcuts

While the CullTone window is in front, the menu bar at the top of the screen has every command, with the usual Mac keys. Items that can't work right now (no project open, signed out, offline) are greyed out.

• File: New Project (⌘N), Import from Card or Folder… (⌘I), Import from Camera or Phone… (⇧⌘I), Import Edited Files… (⌥⌘I), Locate Originals…, Show Finals in Finder, Export Project… and Download Photo… (⇧⌘E).
• Go: Projects (⌥⌘1), Galleries, Styles and Activity, then the open project's steps: Import (⌥⌘2), Cull (⌥⌘3), Edit (⌥⌘4), Review (⌥⌘5) and Deliver (⌥⌘6). Back (⌘[), Forward (⌘]) and the command box (⌘K).
• View: Reload (⌘R), the page size: Actual Size (⌥⌘0), Zoom In (⌥⌘=) and Zoom Out (⌥⌘−), Enter Full Screen and Show Activity. ⌘0, ⌘1, ⌘= and ⌘− still zoom the photo in the viewers.
• CullTone: About, Check for Updates…, Settings… (⌘,) and Quit (⌘Q). Edit: the usual Undo, Redo, Cut, Copy, Paste and Select All. Window: Minimize (⌘M), Zoom and Bring All to Front. Help: this help centre, Keyboard Shortcuts, Export Diagnostics…, Send Feedback… and Release Notes.
• Right-click the CullTone icon in the Dock for your 5 latest projects, the job running now, Pause Jobs or Resume Jobs, New Project and the two imports. The Dock icon also shows the job's progress.
• CullTone Desktop for Windows is not available yet. Its build has the same menus in the window, Go keys Alt+Shift+1 to 6, and a jump list on the taskbar button with New Project, the two imports and your 5 latest projects.
• Closing the window (⌘W) keeps CullTone in the menu bar. Quit (⌘Q) asks first if a job, an import or a card copy is running.

Good to know

• Work offline: with no connection, the import and the cull still run, and decisions you make in the offline screen are sent when you are back online.
• Battery: CullTone pauses jobs on battery below 20%.
• Sony ARW files are the best tested. Canon, Nikon, Fujifilm and DNG files open the same way but have had less testing.
• Find a photo's files: in the project header, Show originals and Show finals open the folders, or, while a photo is open in Edit, creative retouch or Cull's detail panel, show that photo's original or final selected in Finder or Explorer. When a file is not there, CullTone says why: not rendered yet, a drive not connected, or the photos are on another computer.
• To stop a computer taking jobs, revoke it in Settings → Computers. A job it was running goes back in the queue.
• Free up space on this computer (Project settings of a finished project, or Settings → This computer) removes previews, masks and other working files the server already has. Your originals and Finals stay; the previews come back from CullTone when you open the project again.