Support
Help & FAQ
Answers to common questions. Still stuck? Email [email protected] — it’s a real person, best-effort and indie.
How do I get started?
Download pview, open it, and point it at a folder of videos. pview scans in the background — extracting metadata, thumbnails, and filmstrip previews — and fills the gallery as it goes. Add as many source folders as you like.
How do I enter my license key?
After purchase you receive a key by email that begins with
PVIEW1. In pview, open Settings → License, paste the key, and click Activate. Your library limit lifts immediately. Verification happens entirely on your machine — there is no online check and no account.I lost my license key. Can I recover it?
Yes. Your key was emailed at purchase, and you can request it again from the purchase receipt or by emailing support. Because the key is offline-verifiable, the same key keeps working on any computer you install pview on.
What does the free version include?
Everything — capped at 200 videos. Search, filmstrip previews, tags, ratings, duplicate detection, multi-screen viewing, and privacy mode all work. When you reach the limit, pview simply stops indexing new videos; nothing you already added is ever hidden or removed.
Multi-window viewing isn’t working
Manual Tiles, Random Viewing, and Video Wall use mpv, a free open-source player. Install it once (
brew install mpv on macOS, winget install mpv on Windows) and pview will pick it up. Single-video playback does not need mpv.What are Manual Tiles and Random Viewing?
Manual Tiles lets you choose videos and launch them in a fixed tiled layout. Random Viewing fills the layout from rules you set, such as random picks, most-played items, or pinned videos. Both are designed for multi-monitor review and background playback.
Can I use an external drive or NAS?
Yes. Add the folder as a source after the drive or network share is mounted. If it disconnects later, pview marks the source as offline and protects it from file operations until it is reachable again.
A source shows as “offline”
That means the drive or folder for that source isn’t currently reachable (for example, an unmounted external or NAS volume). pview never deletes or modifies files while their source is offline — reconnect the drive and re-scan to restore the source.
Where is my data stored?
Locally, in a single SQLite database plus a generated assets folder on your own machine. Nothing is uploaded. The only network activity is an update check (and, optionally, a connection to your own LAN media server).
What should I back up?
Back up the pview database and generated assets folder if you want to preserve tags, ratings, playlists, display titles, thumbnails, and filmstrips. Your original videos remain wherever you stored them.
Media Server Sync
pview works with self-hosted media servers. If you run a compatible local media server (such as Stash), pview can sync its catalog and enrich your local library with creator, cast, and tag metadata matched by file hash. Ratings and tags can optionally write back to the server.
To connect, open Settings → Media Server Sync and enter your
server’s local address (for example
http://192.168.1.5:9999/graphql). The connection stays on your
LAN. Tested with Stash.
Contact
Bug reports, license questions, and feedback all welcome.