Quick Start: Your First AutoOffload
This guide walks you through your first offload from start to finish. It takes about five minutes plus copy time.
Before you begin: For your very first run, use a card you've already backed up, or a few non-critical files. Get comfortable with the workflow before you trust it with a one-time shoot. See the Safe Use Guide.
Step 1 — Connect your card or drive
Plug in your SD or CFexpress card (or an external drive). AutoOffload detects it automatically and shows what's on it: file counts by type, total size, and the camera it identifies from the images themselves. You can connect several cards at once — they'll all appear in the offload queue.
If a card doesn't appear, see Troubleshooting → My card doesn't appear.
Step 2 — Choose your source
In the Offload tab, the detected cards appear as tiles. Selected (fresh) cards are checked and queued; tick or untick a card to include or exclude it. If you're offloading more than one card, you can drag the tiles to set the copy order.
A card you already offloaded in this session shows an "Offloaded" badge and isn't re-copied unless you choose to.
Step 3 — Choose your destination
On the right, pick where the files should go. You can select more than one destination — for example, an edit drive and a backup drive. AutoOffload reads each file from the card once and writes it to every destination in the same pass.
Before you start, AutoOffload checks that every destination has enough free space, so a run won't fill a disk halfway through.
Step 4 — Review your settings
Check the Offload configuration summary before copying:
- Verify with checksum — on by default. Leave it on.
- Time windows (optional) — name spans of the day ("ceremony", "reception" — or one per listing) and AutoOffload routes each shot into folders by when it was taken. Set these up in the Time Windows tab.
- Folders & Filenames (optional) — the folder layout and naming pattern. The defaults organize by date and media type and work out of the box.
Preview before you copy: use Preview folders to see exactly where each file will land and what it will be named — before a single byte is written.
Step 5 — Start the offload
Click Start offload. You'll see live per-card progress, transfer speed, and an estimated time remaining. You can pause, resume, or cancel at any time — canceling never leaves a half-written file behind.
All selected cards copy in parallel, so multiple cards finish much faster than copying them one after another.
Step 6 — Verify the files arrived
When the run finishes, AutoOffload shows a summary: how many files copied, how many verified, and anything that needed attention. Every file was hashed on the way out and re-checked at the destination.
- A green, fully-verified result means every copy was confirmed good.
- Anything less than perfect is listed file by file, and your cards stay mounted.
Open a destination folder and confirm your files are there. A shareable HTML report and a CSV manifest are written alongside them (inside a hidden _autooffload folder) for your records.
Step 7 — Only erase originals after you've verified
This is the one rule that matters most:
Do not format or delete a card until AutoOffload reports a fully verified run and you've confirmed the files at the destination.
When a run completes with no failures, AutoOffload can auto-eject the cards (macOS). If anything failed, the cards stay put so you don't lose the original. Format the card in-camera once — and only once — you're sure the copy is good.
Next: Safe Use Guide · Troubleshooting · FAQ