Photo Mechanic is best known for being the fastest way to browse, cull and caption a huge take of images — its Ingest dialog is how photos actually get onto your drive in the first place, and it's more configurable than most people realize the first time they open it. This walks through it option by option.
The short version: open File > Ingest (Cmd + G), pick the source card, set a primary (and optional secondary) destination, choose how to keep the folder structure and name subfolders, then add filters, an IPTC template and renaming if you need them. Photo Mechanic's ingest settings don't include checksum verification.
Opening the Ingest dialog
Open it from File > Ingest, with the shortcut Cmd+G (Mac)
or Ctrl+G (Windows), or have it open automatically when you insert a card if
Auto Ingest is enabled (more on that below).
Step by step
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Pick your source.
Choose between Disks (memory cards, connected drives), Folders (previously added folders) or From Selection (images already selected in a contact sheet). Hold Cmd/Ctrl to select several sources at once, or click Rescan if a card you just inserted isn't showing up yet.
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Set the destination.
Click Primary Destination… to choose where files land. You can optionally turn on a secondary destination to copy files to two locations in the same pass.
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Decide how much of the source structure to keep.
Under Source Directory Structure, choose Ignore (flatten everything), Keep separate source folder names only, or Preserve all source directories (mirror the card's folder tree exactly).
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Choose how photos are organized at the destination.
Four options: straight into the destination folder, into a dated subfolder (
YYYYMMDD), into a custom-named subfolder, or dated-plus-custom combined. You can type/or\into the folder name field to create additional levels of subfolders in one go. -
Apply filters, if needed.
Limit the ingest to locked or unlocked files, or to specific types — RAW, non-RAW, or video only.
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Apply an IPTC metadata template.
Turn on Apply Metadata Template to Photos and pick a Local template (just for this ingest) or a Global one (used everywhere in Photo Mechanic) — copyright, contact info, captions and the like.
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Turn on renaming, if you want it.
When enabled, ingested files are renamed using fixed text combined with Photo Mechanic variables, typically with a sequence number appended (starting at 001 is the usual convention).
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Set the remaining behavior toggles.
Incremental Ingest copies only files not already ingested; Auto Ingest starts the process automatically when a card is inserted; Merge Folders collapses the structure when ingesting from multiple sources at once; Auto Catalog (Photo Mechanic Plus) adds the photos to a catalog automatically.
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Choose when to review the results.
Under After Ingest, pick whether the contact sheet opens during the ingest, only after it finishes, or never.
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Decide what happens to the source.
Unmount Source Disk ejects the card once done. Erase Source Disk is also available, but treat it carefully — it removes the files from the card as part of the same operation.
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Start the ingest.
Click Ingest to run with the current settings, Close to save them without running, or Cancel to discard changes. The lightning-bolt icon opens saved Snapshots of these settings; Variables and Job open reference panels for the naming and metadata tokens available above.
One thing worth knowing: Photo Mechanic's own documentation for this dialog doesn't list a checksum or verify-after-copy option among its settings. Its strength is genuinely everything downstream of the copy — speed, culling, captioning, cataloging — not confirming the copy itself was bit-for-bit correct. If that matters for a given shoot, that's a separate step worth adding on top.
Where this leaves you
Set up well, with saved Snapshots for repeat use, Photo Mechanic's ingest is fast to run — but getting there means walking through source, destination, structure, filters, metadata, renaming and several toggles, at least once, and often per card type or per job.
By comparison, ShotGrab front-loads all of that into a single one-time setup per project — destination, subfolder template, verification (always on, no toggle needed) — and after that, connecting a card takes zero clicks: it's recognized, copied, verified and ejected on its own. Fewer fields to fill in every time isn't a knock on Photo Mechanic's depth — it's just a different trade-off, built for a narrower job.
Frequently asked questions
How do I open the Ingest dialog in Photo Mechanic?
From File > Ingest, with Cmd+G on Mac or Ctrl+G on Windows, or automatically when a card is inserted if Auto Ingest is enabled.
Can Photo Mechanic copy to two drives at once?
Yes. Next to the primary destination you can turn on a secondary destination, and files are copied to both locations in the same pass.
Does Photo Mechanic verify copies with a checksum?
Its documentation for the Ingest dialog doesn't list a checksum or verify-after-copy option. If bit-for-bit verification matters, add it as a separate step.
How do I stop Photo Mechanic from importing the same photos twice?
Turn on Incremental Ingest, which copies only the files that haven't been ingested already.