Options

General

• Connect to last used source on program start
  When active, WIA-Loader automatically connects to the last used picture source on startup, provided it is still available.
  
  
• Look for updates on program start
  When active, WIA-Loader automatically checks online after startup whether a newer version of the program is available, and shows a message if so.
  
  
• Show tips and tricks on program start
  
  
• Send app events to the developer of this program
  When this option is enabled, WIA-Loader sends telemetry data to me via the Microsoft App Center. I use this to improve the program and fix bugs. No personal data is transmitted!
  
  
• Enable trace mode (debug)
  When active, WIA-Loader writes more information into its log file.
  Changes to this setting only take effect after restarting WIA-Loader!
  
  
• Register WIA-Loader as handler for removable media
  This button registers WIA-Loader as a handler for removable media. This lets WIA-Loader, for example, start automatically when a flash card with photos on it is connected to the computer.
  
  
• Report bugs
  This menu item in the main window lets you send a bug report directly to me at any time, in case something doesn't work as expected.
  
  

Paths / Directories

Devices and sources

• Show all drives as source
  Normally, WIA-Loader only shows drives as a picture source if they contain a flash card with pictures from a digital camera. If you enable this option, all other Windows drives and network drives are offered as well.
  
  
• Automatically load preview
  When active, WIA-Loader automatically loads the picture preview once a connection to a picture source has been established.
  
  
• Include PTP/IP capable cameras
  More about PTP/IP can be found here.
  

Preview

• Fast preview only
  WIA-Loader prefers to use the preview images embedded in the pictures themselves. If a picture doesn't contain one, WIA-Loader generates one. Since this can take a while, this option lets you prevent that. When active, only preview images are shown if the picture file itself contains one.
  
  
• Consider EXIF and EXIFTOOL data for import preview
  When active, EXIF and EXIFTOOL variables that may be used are also evaluated in the import preview. This does, however, slow down building the import preview a bit.
  
  
• Consider geocoding results for import preview
  When active, the variable <TRACK> that may be used is also evaluated in the import preview. This does, however, slow down building the import preview a bit.
  
  
• Group base folders in import preview
  When active, and the selected import profile has multiple 'SaveAs' steps, the target folders in the preview are merged if they are the same or overlap.
  
  
• Don't preselect any images
  When active, no images are automatically selected for import.
  
  
• Don't preselect images that already exist When active, images that already exist at the target location are not automatically selected for import. This check only tests whether a file with the same name already exists at the target location - it does not further check whether the image is actually the same.
  
  
• Don't preselect images that have already been imported This option differs from the previous one in that it uses an internal WIA-Loader database to determine whether an image has already been imported or not. More about this database further down on this page.
  By default, it is enough for WIA-Loader if any file with the same name has already been imported - WIA-Loader will then no longer automatically select such files for import.
  
  
  • Include source. In addition to the file name, the picture source is now also taken into account for the comparison. This is necessary if, for example, you use several cameras that give pictures the same names.
    
    
  • Include import profile. For the automatic selection, the currently selected import profile is now also compared against the contents of the database. This is useful if you import your pictures with several profiles one after another to different destinations.
    

Import

• Default format of date variables
  Specifies the output format of <DATE> and <PDATE>.
  More about this here.
  
  
• Default format of time variables
  Specifies the output format of <TIME> and <PTIME>.
  More about this here.
  
  
• Default format of numeric variables
  Specifies the output format of numeric variables like <NUM> and <NUMF>.
  More about this here.
  
  
• Check target drive before import
  When active, WIA-Loader checks before importing pictures whether there is enough free space on the target drive and whether WIA-Loader is allowed to write pictures to it, and whether these pictures can subsequently be read again as well.
  

Devices

WIA-Loader keeps a list of all 'devices' it has connected to. These are primarily digital cameras, scanners, webcams, etc.; flash card drives can occasionally show up here too.

In addition to some statistical information, there are also a few settings you can make here. For example, you can tell WIA-Loader to set the internal clock of a connected camera as soon as it is connected to the computer.

Imported pictures

WIA-Loader can optionally keep a list of all pictures already imported. To enable this feature, the 'Save to database' checkbox has to be set in the 'SaveAs' step of your import profile. WIA-Loader uses this database to optionally make an automatic selection of all pictures not yet imported (see 'Preview' section above).
The context menu also lets you locate the imported pictures on your hard drive.

Meta Data

WIA-Loader allows using Phil Harvey's ExifTool to extract metadata from pictures. This window shows which data can be accessed this way. You additionally have the option to load sample data from any picture. These samples are then shown as examples in the profile editor.

Tags

A structured keyword catalog can be created here. These keywords (tags) can then be assigned to individual pictures in the main window via the context menu. Using the 'EXIFTool Changes' import step, the keywords can then be written into the pictures' EXIF data during import.

Automatically include parent tags means, in the example shown above, that if you assign the tag 'Giraffe' to a picture, it automatically also gets the tags 'Animal' and 'Nature' assigned.
If you create groups of tags whose name should not be automatically included, you can achieve this by removing the small checkmark in front of the group's name.