Keep Sources With Your Reference Images

Save the source while you still have it open. A filename or a reposted image may not tell you who made it or where it first appeared. Keep that information with the reference rather than depending on browser history.

Record a compact source note

For an outside image, record the creator when known, the original page URL, a title or description, and why you saved it. For your own photograph, note the shoot or project and any context useful for later retrieval.

If authorship is uncertain, say so. Do not turn an image host or repost account into the creator simply because it appears in the captured URL.

Keep permission information separately

Attribution and permission answer different questions. A source link identifies origin; it does not establish that an image may be reproduced in a client presentation, public board, or commercial work.

Keep the relevant license, permission record, or purchase documentation with the source set. In refern, a file or folder can hold a list of named links, so a link to the license page or permission record can sit beside the reference; the bulk sidebar edits links for a whole selection. If the intended use changes, check the applicable terms rather than relying on a tag such as "safe." This guide is an organizing workflow, not a determination of rights for any particular image.

Check what refern captured

The browser extension can pass source information when saving supported images and videos, and one clip can carry several creators. Video saving needs refern 1.10.1 or later, does not cover YouTube, and has a 500 MB cap. On Danbooru, Gelbooru, and Safebooru, a clipper setting (off by default) can also add the post's artist and tags. On pixiv the saved source is the artwork page; on X it is the post, not your Likes page.

Open the saved entry and verify what arrived. Add missing creator or context fields manually. To find the gaps, search no:creator or start a Review with the Uncredited queue, which shows each file's source link; an item can list several creators in order.

Embedded metadata import is a separate path with specific format limits. Do not assume every image has embedded keywords or that an external sidecar transfers. Metadata import never puts the editing software, such as Photoshop, in the creator field. See the metadata import guide.

Preserve relationships without overstating them

refern can record relationships such as a saved crop derived from an image and an image placed on a canvas. These links help navigate your own work. They do not prove authorship, license rights, or provenance before the file entered the workspace.

When you create a derivative elsewhere, keep a note or explicit link to its source. A named link can also open a note in another app, such as an obsidian:// link, after refern asks you to confirm. A similar filename or visual resemblance is not a reliable substitute.

Review before a handoff

Check each image that will be visible in the artifact you share. Remove or replace material whose use is unresolved. Keep source notes readable enough that another person can follow them.

Back up the workspace data that holds those notes and relationships as well as the media. See reference backups and the graph guide.