Help & Documentation

The handful of actions you'll perform constantly. Each has a faster alternative than clicking through menus.

• Press Cmd/Ctrl + K to open the Quick Switcher. Type the name of a project, page, or feature and press Enter to jump there. Cmd/Ctrl + P opens the same surface.
• Press Cmd/Ctrl + Alt + N anywhere in the app to start a new project.
• Press Cmd/Ctrl + S to force an immediate save to local storage. The app saves automatically — this is just a manual sanity check.
• Inside a project, Cmd/Ctrl + F focuses the category-search box. Outside a project, the same shortcut opens the global Search page.
• Press ? (just the question mark, no modifier, when no input is focused) to open the shortcut list in Help. Cmd/Ctrl + / opens the Help home.
• In the Device Library, open a device and click 'Add to Project' in its detail panel to put it on a project's gear list without leaving the library.
• Star (☆ → ★) a device in the Device Library to mark it a favourite. The '★ Favorites' category filter shows only your favourites; they also appear early in the Camera-Package picker.

Templates are saved starting points for new projects. They carry gear, categories, and metadata. Use them for the project types you do over and over.

• Create a template once for each recurring shoot type (e.g. 'Interview', 'Wedding ceremony', 'Documentary day').
• Include the standard gear, the categories you always use, and any default project metadata (client placeholders, location notes).
• When you start a new project from a template, edit the copy — the original template is unchanged.
• Keep your template list short. 5–10 well-maintained templates beat 30 forgotten ones.
• When your standard gear list changes (you bought a new camera body, swapped your audio kit), open the template once and update it. Future projects will inherit the change.

Two conventions worth adopting from the first day.

• Name projects with a sortable date prefix: 'YYYY-MM-DD Client — Project type'. The dashboard sorts alphabetically, so this is also a chronological sort.
• Use the same category names across projects and templates. Mixing 'Audio' and 'Sound' makes search and PDF export slightly worse for no benefit.
• Archive projects you've delivered. Archived projects leave the All Projects list ('View Archived' on that page opens them); they don't slow down startup.
• In the Device Library, build a few broad categories (Camera, Optics, Lighting, Grip, Audio, Power, Media/Data, Support, Accessories) and resist the urge to subdivide further. Search handles fine-grained navigation.
• Star the devices you reach for on every project. The '★ Favorites' filter makes a long library feel short.

When more than one person is on the same project (via Cloud Sync), a few small habits make the day go smoothly.

• Before making bulk changes, glance at the presence avatars at the top of the project. If a collaborator is online, pick a different area to work in or coordinate in chat first.
• Use Comment Threads for decisions you want a record of ('Are we adding a 2nd camera body?'). Use Team Chat for quick back-and-forth ('Done, can you check?').
• When you join a project mid-production, scroll through the Activity Feed and recent chat once before changing anything.
• Export filtered PDFs for specific recipients — rental house gets the 'rental only' filter, production gets 'owned + crew'.
• Resolve conflict dialogs explicitly ('Keep local' / 'Use cloud' / 'Merge items'). Auto-dismissing them leaves devices out of sync.

Small features that don't show up in the main UI but pay off once you know they exist.

• When importing equipment via CSV, multi-category mode lets one file populate several categories at once — just include a 'Category' column.
• The Item Import dialog has an 'AI assist' block. It gives you a ready-made prompt to convert PDFs, rental quotes, or messy lists into the right CSV format with one paste into ChatGPT or Gemini.
• Setting the Shoot Schedule early in a project enables accurate rental-day calculations, calendar entries, and crew call sheet timing — many features fall back to defaults until you've set it.
• Duplicate a similar project (dashboard → project menu → Duplicate) instead of building each project from scratch. Adjust the few things that differ.
• Build categories in priority order. Camera first, then Audio, then Lighting, then Support. PDF export uses the order you set.
• Money and rate fields — prices, day rates, amounts, VAT and discount percentages — accept either decimal separator: 1,50 and 1.50 both record 1.50, and 1.234,56 records 1234.56. A pasted amount keeps its value with a currency sign attached (5,00 € records 5.00). A dot on its own is read as a decimal point, so write fifteen hundred as 1500 or 1.500,00, not 1.500.

The visual template of the gear-list PDF is fixed for consistency; what goes into it is configurable. Accounting documents (invoices, quotes, order confirmations, delivery notes, Mahnungen) can get a layout of your own in Accounting → Layout designer.

• In the export dialog you choose which categories and which providers to include. Common pattern: a 'rental only' PDF for the rental house, a separate 'owned + crew' PDF for production.
• Preview before downloading. The preview is identical to the downloaded file — you only see the file dialog after you confirm.
• Issued documents (sub-rental quotes, invoices, delivery/return notes) automatically include your logo, signature, IBAN, and Tax/VAT ID — set those once in Settings → Account (the Signature & Branding and Billing & Issuer Details sections) before issuing your first invoice.
• Embedded images (project photos, signatures, logos) are the most expensive part of rendering. Replacing very large images with smaller copies makes export faster.
• Files don't auto-name themselves — pick a filename that includes the date and recipient before saving.

Regular maintenance isn't glamorous, but it keeps everything working when you need it.

• Export a manual backup once a month or before any major operation (large import, factory reset, OS update). Settings → Backup & Data → 'Download full backup'.
• Archive projects you've delivered. Less clutter on the dashboard, faster startup, fewer accidental edits to old work.
• Review your Device Library once a quarter — remove duplicates, fix names, add anything you've started using.
• Clean up old contacts (people you no longer work with, vendors you've moved away from). Search and pickers improve immediately.
• If you use Cloud Sync, occasionally check Settings → Security & Privacy → Sessions & Devices and sign out anything you no longer recognise.

The app works on a phone or tablet, but a few setup steps make it noticeably better.

• Install the app as a PWA from your browser (Safari Share menu on iOS → 'Add to Home Screen'; Chrome / Edge menu on Android → 'Install app'). Installed mode launches in its own window without the browser chrome.
• On phones, use landscape for category-heavy views — portrait works but forces more scrolling.
• Editing on mobile is fine for quick changes; for bulk operations (building a 200-item gear list from scratch) a laptop is still faster.
• Cloud Sync is the link between mobile and desktop. Without it, your phone and laptop are two unrelated installs.
• If you'll be offline on location, open the project on the phone once at the office. That guarantees the latest data is cached.

Short version of the Troubleshooting topic — pointers for the most common failures.

• If the app behaves oddly: hard-refresh (Ctrl+Shift+R / Cmd+Shift+R) once. Clears stale cached JavaScript.
• If saves seem to not stick: check you're not in private/incognito mode (IndexedDB is blocked there) and look at the local-save indicator under the sidebar profile button.
• If sync is stuck for more than 10 minutes: sign out, close the app, open it, sign back in.
• If something looks broken in just one browser: test in another browser. If it works there, it's a browser-specific issue (often an extension).
• If the in-app reset is still needed: Settings → Backup & Data → danger zone → Factory Reset. Always export a backup first.