From saving your first reference to making something with it. Explore the tools that help at each step.
Have images spread across folders and drives? Browse them all in refern. Add tags like “poses,” “light,” or a project name so you can find them again.
Point a single workspace at several folders at once, even across different drives. refern indexes them together while every file stays exactly where it is. Pick several folders in the sidebar with Ctrl/Cmd+click, Shift+click, or a drag box to see them in one grid with one search.
Save images, videos, and web pages with the free refern Clipper. Add tags and creators as you save, and every file keeps its web link so you can find the source again. Alt+right-click saves in one step, and Alt+Shift+S captures part of a page.
Paste or drop a link in the grid or on a canvas to save the page as a bookmark. Each one is a .url file in your folder, with its cover, title, and icon found for you. YouTube and Vimeo bookmarks play in place, and Save a copy keeps a page you can read offline.
Press a global shortcut to capture the screen under your cursor and save it directly into a folder in your workspace.
Bring over Eagle folders, tags, URL bookmarks with their thumbnails, and every file type allowed by your workspace settings. Turn PureRef 2.x boards into editable canvases, or bring in Allusion libraries and tags. Your source library stays as it is.
Bring public Pinterest boards or board sections into your library from Settings > Import. Queue several, follow progress, and review or resume previous imports. If you pause or cancel, you can still add the pins already downloaded.
Reads embedded keywords, ratings, descriptions, and sources (EXIF, IPTC, XMP) as you add images. Add named links to files, folders, and tags, including links that open another app, like an Obsidian note.
Let one physical file appear in multiple folders without duplicating it. Every linked copy shares the original media and metadata, and Eagle imports preserve multi-folder placements automatically.
Bring back a reference you saved weeks ago, or spot something new in your own files.
Need a pose, a color, or a certain look? Search by tag, color, or shape, like portrait, square, or 16:9. Pick an image to find others that look like it.
Type aspect:portrait or aspect:16:9 to find a shape, or sort by how many tags a file has or by rating. Combine 26 search operators, such as domain: to find bookmarks from one site. Pin a folder's search so it stays as you move between folders, or save it as a smart folder.
Describe what you want, like 'dramatic lighting', even if nothing is tagged. Search your whole library or stay inside one folder. There is no fixed result limit.
Keep related images together. Build a tag tree for subjects, styles, or projects, then use it to narrow your search.
Find more with less hand tagging. Auto Tagger can use your graphics chip to suggest tags and read text in images. You can also set up Search by meaning without adding general tags. It all runs on your device. Check suggestions in Review, or turn a label into a real tag on every item above the confidence you pick.
One window for tags, hierarchies, categories, creators, and presets. Find likely duplicates and merge every group at once as one undo step, and add aliases so every spelling finds the same tag. Rename many tags at once with a prefix, a suffix, or find and replace. Check the preview first, and undo if you need to.
Work through untagged, unrated, or new files with the keyboard. You can start with the files that have the fewest tags. Each file's source link is one click away. Culling mode shows the next file beside the current one: Up keeps it, Down sends it to the Trash, and Undo is always there.
Hover over a grid item and press T to try Quick Tags. Apply tags or saved tag sets to one item or a selection. Keep each file's other tags, and undo a change if you need to.
Need more ideas? Go back to your library and add more images to the same board.
Drag any file from your library onto a board, along with folders and bookmarks. Ctrl/Cmd+drag rotates, Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+drag flips, Ctrl/Cmd+Alt+drag scales, and Alt+drag duplicates, as in PureRef. Press / to search your library and add items where you point.
Right-click an image on the canvas to fan out visually similar references, then pick one to place beside it.
Crops, groups, and the canvases an image lives in all stay connected back to the source. A group can hold items from any folders. Press Ctrl+G to group a selection in the grid, and Ctrl+Shift+G to ungroup it (Cmd on macOS).
Sort any grid randomly, then shuffle again whenever you want a new mix of references.
Export a folder, a canvas, or a selection as one .refernpack file with its tags, creators, groups, and links. Another refern user can import it into a new folder, offline and with no account.
Share an image or a canvas as a web link with refern cloud (beta), included with a purchased license after you sign up. Public links do not expire, so they keep working in posts and chats. Private and PIN links expire after 7 days on the free plan.
Keep a reference window on top of your drawing app, or put your board on a second screen. See what you need without switching back and forth.
Pin any window on top, dial down its opacity, and click straight through it while you work.
Pop any image or canvas out into its own window. Lay references side by side, spread them across monitors, and keep working in the main app. Open another workspace in its own window to work in both at once.
Select files, then copy them to the clipboard or drag them into another app. You get the original files. Open a file in your usual app, or choose the app you want.
Practice with your own references and track sessions on a calendar. Keep notes, see your streaks, and link the work you made. Add work to any day, even when you did not use a timer.
Copy a link to a folder, canvas, or file and keep it in your project notes. Open the link to jump back to that spot. It works even when refern is closed.
Pause a pose, read a page, see a PSD or Procreate file, or try a crop. Show one file full screen when you want to focus. It all happens without leaving your library.
Videos live beside your images. Scrub on hover, step frame by frame, loop or export an A-B section, and play clips on a canvas with independent audio and optional muted autoplay. Save videos from Reddit, Pinterest, and X with the Clipper.
Play, pause, step frame by frame, scrub the timeline, and change playback speed instead of waiting for a loop.
Turn on Documents for a workspace and PDFs get first-page grid previews, then open inside refern with continuous scrolling, search, text selection and copy, print, view rotation, page controls, and zoom.
Keep images, video, PDFs, and other work files in one grid. PSD, Krita, Clip Studio Paint, and Procreate files get a preview you can zoom, shown as one flat image without layers. Other files use your system's preview when it has one, or an icon. Pick which file types each workspace includes, and open any file in your usual app.
Press Shift+F in the viewer, or over a file in the grid, to show it full screen on black with every control hidden. It is also in the right-click menu. Use the arrow keys to move between files.
Crop and adjust brightness, contrast, and color without ever touching the original file.
Flag a file as Pixelated and it renders with hard, crisp edges at any zoom, in the grid, the viewer, and on the canvas. No more blurred upscales, and is:pixelated finds every sprite again.
Set up a library that suits you. Choose how it looks, where its data lives, and what stays out of view.
Switch between masonry, horizontal, justified, and waterfall layouts. Waterfall shows every image uncropped in 2 to 12 columns. Tune item size, spacing, and the metadata shown below each reference.
Set a file's grid thumbnail to Default, transparent, or a custom color without changing the source. Apply the same matte to an eligible file selection in one pass.
Browse, search, and edit libraries with a million items or more. Load small parts as you go, select across the full results, and track large jobs as they run. Speed depends on your files, drive, and computer.
Select files, then pick New name, Add text, Replace text, or Numbering, where each # is one digit, so photo_### gives photo_001. A preview shows every new name and flags names that would clash before anything changes on disk.
Hide a folder, or a whole content root. It stays indexed but drops out of search, grids, pickers, and counts, so drafts and private material stay out of the way. One click brings it back.
Keep a large library on a slow drive while its database, thumbnails, and backups live on a fast SSD. Changing the generated-data location leaves original images in place.
If a library's database is ever lost or corrupted, refern restores it in one click from an automatic backup or a refern export.
Choose English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, French, German, or Italian during onboarding or in General Settings. Your choice is saved per profile, and non-English translations are currently in beta.
Let scripts and assistant apps on your computer search and organize your library. You choose what each one may do.
Turn on the Local API to let scripts and MCP apps on your computer search, tag, and organize your workspace. Choose what each token may do. No token can delete files from disk, and supported changes can be undone.
Use the whole app free for 30 days. Add a folder, make a reference board, and try it on your next project. No card needed.
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