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Adding a repository

What a repository is

In ArchiveMind, a repository is a source of files you have asked it to catalogue — a folder, an internal drive, or an external drive. Each repository is remembered individually: ArchiveMind knows which files came from which repository and whether that repository is currently connected.

Catalogue vs. original files

It helps to keep two ideas separate:

  • Your original files stay exactly where they are — in their folders, on their drives. Indexing does not normally move, rename, or modify them; ArchiveMind only reads them.
  • The catalogue is ArchiveMind's own database. It stores what ArchiveMind has learned about your files — names, paths, sizes, dates, metadata, extracted text, thumbnails, duplicate relationships — so that search stays fast and keeps working even when a drive is unplugged.

Deleting a file from a search result list does not happen in ArchiveMind — the app is a catalogue, not a file manager. Equally, deleting the catalogue never deletes your original files.

The catalogue is not a backup

ArchiveMind does not copy your files anywhere. If a drive fails, the catalogue can still tell you what was on it — names, metadata, thumbnails — but it cannot restore the files themselves. Keep real backups separately.

Adding your first repository

  1. On the first-run screen (or when adding a new source later), choose the folder or drive you want to catalogue.
  2. Start with something modest — your Pictures folder, for example — rather than a whole multi-terabyte drive. You can always add more later.
  3. Click Start first scan.

While the scan runs you can already search whatever has been found so far. See Indexing for what happens during the scan.

The setup step for choosing folders to index: the selected folder is listed with a remove button, and the Start first scan button is ready

Browsing for the folder happens in a simple picker with shortcuts to common locations:

The folder picker: shortcuts to Home, Documents, Pictures and other common folders on the left, the folder tree in the middle, and a Select this folder button

External drives

External drives make excellent repositories: catalogue them once, and their contents stay searchable after you unplug them. ArchiveMind marks every result from a disconnected drive clearly and explains that the original file cannot be opened until the drive is reconnected. See Disconnected drives.