MerceqGuideJoin the alpha

2 · Import your footage

Find your source

  1. Connect your camera card, external disk, or phone to your Mac. If you’re connecting your camera by cable, make sure your Mac can access its files. You can also use a card reader.
  2. Open the Import window.
  3. Select your card, disk, or phone from the Sources list on the left. To access files on your Mac, select your Mac’s startup disk.
  4. Find the folder you want on the right.

You’ll see sources on the left and the contents of the selected source on the right.

Source list

Sources appear in this order: cards and phones → external disks → This Mac → folders you added manually.

  • Each row shows the source type, for example, “SD card · exFAT”, “Disk · APFS”, “Phone”, or “This Mac”.
  • Your Mac’s startup disk appears under its own name. On most Macs, it’s called Macintosh HD. “This Mac” appears below it. Library (~/Library) and System folders aren’t scanned.
  • When you open a source, its heading shows the clip count and total size (“N clips · X GB”), as well as camera names. If there are more than two cameras, it says “N cameras”.
  • If you disconnect a disk while the window is open, it looks dim in the list and Ejected appears beside it.

You can eject a card or disk from here. Cards and external disks have an ⏏ button beside them (hint: “Safely eject {ad}”). When successful, it says “{ad} was ejected. You can safely disconnect it.” This button doesn’t appear for This Mac, folders you added manually, or phones. ⏏ is inactive while a transfer is running.

Folder cards

  • Each folder card says “N clips”. If some clips are already in your library, it shows “N clips · M new”.
  • Counts are capped at 500; when they reach 500, it says “500+”. In that case, the total below is shown as “at least” instead of an exact count.
  • Folders without videos look dim and can’t be opened: “No videos in this folder”.
  • If you click a folder Merceq can’t access, a macOS permission window opens. Select the folder in that window and grant access.

Search folders

If the folder you want isn’t immediately visible, type at least two letters of its name in Search folders — all disks at the top. Select a result to go to that folder.

  • Up to 7 results appear. Only folders containing videos are shown.
  • Each result shows the number of videos in the folder; if the count reaches the limit, “N+” appears.
  • It searches inside up to 120 folders you haven’t opened. This isn’t a full disk search, so if you can’t find the folder, go to it manually.

You can search for folders here only. To search inside videos, add them to your library first.

Add menu

If you know where your files are, you can choose them directly from the Add menu:

  • Add folder: The folder you choose is added to the end of the source list and selected automatically. You can choose multiple folders.
  • Add file: Only video files appear in the window that opens. You can choose multiple files. The folder containing each file you choose is added as a source.

Drag from Finder

You can also select files or folders by dragging them from Finder into the Merceq window. While dragging, the screen says “Drop to import the folder · Source files won’t be touched”. After dropping, choose an import method and start the task. You can’t add files by dragging and dropping while another task is running.