Aphera’s workspace is a three-panel layout: Sidebar, Content Area, and Inspector.

The left panel displays navigation and organization controls with several key sections:

All Ctrl+A: Shows every photo in the project.

Starred Ctrl+S: Shows photos with one or more stars, grouped by star rating. Expand it to show one row per star rating.

Rejected Ctrl+D: Shows photos marked as rejected.

Last Imported: Shows the photos from the most recent import.

Groups: Custom photo groupings within the project.

Each row shows a photo count. See Browsing & Grid for detailed information on using these sections.

The project menu sits at the top of the sidebar. The Help (?) button and, during a trial, the trial badge sit at the bottom.

Toggle visibility with Ctrl+O, or via View > Show/Hide Organizer.

Content Area

The center panel displays your photos. What appears in the content area depends on the current mode: a grid of thumbnails with Balance and Look tools in Grid mode, or a single photo in View, Develop, and Crop modes.

Toolbar

The top toolbar spans the content area. From left to right:

  • Navigation: Switch between Grid, Develop, and Crop modes. View mode has no toolbar button — enter it with Space or by double-clicking a photo.
  • Status: Displays current project information including image count, selection ranges, Export status, and Import progress.
  • Before Edits (center): Appears while you preview the unedited photo. When the preview was switched on from View > Before Edits, an ✕ ends it; during a \ key hold no ✕ appears. See Browsing.
  • Grid columns (Grid mode): The Grid N menu sets the number of columns. See Browsing.
  • Zoom (View and Develop modes): The current zoom level and a menu of zoom levels. See Browsing.
  • Surround Color: A swatch of the current surround color and a menu to change it.
  • Share: Renders the edited image with the active export preset and opens the macOS share sheet. See Browsing.

Click the status area to cycle through three summaries: Selection (current photo position, selection count, or photo count), Exporting, and Importing (each showing progress, or “Not Exporting” / “Not Importing” when idle). The summary also switches automatically when an export or import starts or finishes. The disclosure caret provides live updates when Export or Import operations are active.

The status popover reports files that are unavailable, in two categories:

  • Files on disconnected drives — the files are on a volume that is not mounted. Reconnect the drive to make these files available again.
  • Missing files — the files have moved or been deleted. Re-link them at their new location using Manage Imports…. See Importing.

Project status indicator showing Missing state for files that can't be found

The popover also includes a Manage Imports… button, which opens the panel for reviewing and relinking imports.

Inspector

The right panel provides consistent access to Scopes, Balance controls, Looks, and Exports.

Scopes: Histogram, Waveform, and Color readouts of the current photo. See Scopes for details.

Balance: Core tonal adjustments including exposure, temperature, tint, contrast, shadows, highlights, and saturation. See Balance for details.

Looks: Apply and manage preset styles and looks (in Grid and View modes; in Develop mode, the Looks panel appears on the left side of the window instead). See Looks for details.

Develop Further: Opens the current photo in Develop mode, the same as Return.

Exports: Pinned to the bottom of the panel. Pick the active Export Preset for the project and run it on the selected images. The Finder icon opens the export folder. The gear icon opens Settings → Export, where you create and modify presets. See Exporting for details.

Toggle visibility with Ctrl+I, or via View > Show/Hide Inspector.

The Lightbox displays the current photo without chrome. On a single display, it replaces the standard window with a full screen view. On a multi-display setup, it opens as a separate view on another screen.

Lightbox view showing a full-screen image with metadata overlay

Toggle with L or via View > Open/Close Lightbox.

Configure which display the Lightbox appears on via View > Lightbox Screen. Options are Same as Project or a specific connected display.

Full Screen

Standard macOS full screen behavior via the green window button or the View > Full Screen menu item.

Help

The Help (?) button at the bottom of the sidebar opens the online documentation.

The Help menu provides:

  • Aphera Documentation — opens the online documentation.
  • Send Feedback… — opens a new email addressed to Aphera support.

Send Feedback menu option in the Help menu

Surround Color

The surround color is the color around a photo on screen. Your eyes adapt to it: against a dark surround a photo looks lighter, and against a light surround it looks darker.

Change the surround color:

Shortcut Action
, Darker Surround Color
. Lighter Surround Color

The options are Black, Dark Gray, Middle Gray, and White. New projects start with the Surround Color set in Project Settings, Dark Gray by default. Each project saves its own surround color. Pick one directly from the Surround Color menu in the toolbar, or step through them with the keys above or View > Darker Surround Color and View > Lighter Surround Color.

This works in all modes.