Importing a backlog
Do this on your first day. A library with your last three years of screenshots in it is immediately useful; a library with the four you took since installing is not.
Import a folder
Settings → Capture → Import Folder…, then choose a folder. Good candidates:
~/Desktop~/Downloads~/Pictures/Screenshotsor wherever you’ve been filing them- Any archive folder from an old machine
Repeat for each folder. Files already in the library are recognised and skipped, so importing the same folder twice is harmless.
Import individual images
Settings → Capture → Import Images… for a specific selection, or just drag images onto the Library window.
What happens during an import
The file list is frozen when the import starts, so files added to that folder afterwards aren’t swept up mid-run. Work proceeds in batches, and progress is written to disk as it goes.
Screenshots you take during an import are still processed first. The live watcher pre-empts the backlog queue, so the app never feels like it’s lagging behind you while it chews through five thousand old files.
Pausing, resuming and cancelling
Settings → Capture shows progress with Pause and Resume.
You can quit the app mid-import. When you reopen it, the job resumes from the last checkpoint rather than starting over.
Discard Saved Import abandons a paused job. It’s non-destructive: files already imported stay imported, and nothing is deleted from the source folder.
How long it takes
Longer than you’d like for a very large folder, and it doesn’t matter much, because it runs in the background while you use the Mac normally and the app is fully usable throughout. Text recognition is the slow part; copying the files is quick.
Recognition pauses in Low Power Mode, so if you want it to finish sooner, plug in.
Does it move or copy my files?
Imported files are copied into the library. Your originals are left where they are — importing never deletes anything from the folder you pointed at.
That’s the opposite of how live capture behaves, and it’s deliberate: an import is you pointing at an archive, not you asking for a folder to be cleared.
Nothing appeared after importing
Check Settings → Capture for a paused job. If recognition is still running, items appear in the Library immediately and become searchable by text as each one is read — so an import can look incomplete while it’s simply still working.
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