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Installing refern

1. v1.3.1LatestJuly 6, 2026

   Multi-Root Workspaces & a Smarter Auto Tagger

   • A workspace can now hold several separate content folders at once instead of exactly one. Add, rename, re-point, or remove each root from workspace settings, and browse, search, and import across all of them together. Useful when your references live in more than one place on disk
   • Upgraded the Auto Tagger's models: general tags, art tags, and 'Search by meaning' all got a big quality boost, text recognition now reads longer lines more accurately, and noisy filler tags (like '1girl' or 'no-humans') are filtered out automatically. Run a fresh pass from the Pipeline tab to re-tag and re-index with the new models
   • Added a Configure tab to the Auto Tagger: browse every tag the models can produce, then block the ones you don't want or rename them to fit your library, so you can shape suggestions instead of accepting raw output
   • You can now re-tag items that were already tagged (a Pipeline option), and wipe all suggested tags from a single item or a whole selection in the metadata sidebar, so refreshing or clearing tagging data no longer means starting over

   + 26 more changes in this release
2. v1.2.0June 28, 2026

   Multiple Windows, Custom Data Folder & Recovery

   • Added multiple windows: pop out any image or canvas into its own window to view or edit it side by side with the main app. Pop-out windows support drag-and-drop and paste to import, theme syncing, and window opacity, and canvas pop-outs always auto-import dropped files
   • Added a custom data folder: choose a separate location for refern's generated files (database, thumbnails, and backups) while your original images stay where they are. Useful for keeping a large library on a slow drive but its index on a fast SSD. Pick it when creating a workspace, move it later from workspace settings, or re-point your content folder if you moved it. Workspaces that don't set one work exactly as before
   • Added one-click workspace recovery: if a workspace's database is ever lost or corrupted, refern now shows a recovery screen when you open it, and a single 'Recover workspace' action on the workspace card, to restore from an automatic backup or a refern export. It also detects corruption and offers to auto-recover
   • Added renaming from the multi-select sidebar: rename a single item in place, or give many items a shared name with an automatic numbered suffix (the file extension is preserved). Press F2 to rename the selected item, folder, canvas, or the image you're previewing

   + 12 more changes in this release
3. v1.1.0June 20, 2026

   Auto Tagger, Search by Meaning & Library Imports

   • Added the Auto Tagger, a fully on-device engine that suggests tags, recognizes text inside your images, and can describe them, so you can label a large library without tagging everything by hand. It's completely offline and opt-in: open the Auto Tagger from the sidebar and download only the parts you want. Nothing runs or installs until you choose to
   • Review suggestions in a fast, keyboard-driven game: accept or skip with the arrow keys, tweak recognized text, and undo with Ctrl/Cmd+Z. Run the tagger across your whole workspace or just selected folders, and watch live progress as it goes
   • Added a Suggestions section to the metadata sidebar: see suggested tags and recognized text for the selected image (or a folder's combined tags), click a suggestion to apply it, or press Auto-fill to tag an item on the spot
   • Added 'Search by meaning': describe what you're looking for in plain language (like 'a cozy reading nook' or 'a misty mountain at dawn') and refern surfaces matching images even when the words aren't in any tag, name, or note. Toggle it on in the search overlay

   + 12 more changes in this release

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