In case you are in need of help, have a suggestion to make or found a bug in PureRef you have come to the right place! https://www.pureref.com/forum/index.php Wed, 24 Jun 2026 01:22:01 +0200 Phorum 5.2.23 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?5,5895,5895#msg-5895 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?5,5895,5895#msg-5895
I've been using the pureref very usefully.
but now I have a problem with opening the file.
the warning said "The file you are trying to open might be corrupt (incorrect signature).

I just clicked Try to recover button, but it seems not working perfectly.. some of the images are lost.
What should I do? Can I get some help?

2.0.3 is my version

and I share the link to my file
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TMt_yemu_IsDeC1kAFvi-EDAfH_XH0Jr/view?usp=sharing]]> roalfhs Help Tue, 23 Jun 2026 18:09:17 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5892,5892#msg-5892 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5892,5892#msg-5892 vinhshiro Suggestions Thu, 18 Jun 2026 08:05:28 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5891,5891#msg-5891 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5891,5891#msg-5891
If that's not possible, then how about being able to double-click the title bar to shrink the window down to zero height, with just the title bar visible until it is double-clicked again. This would be similar to how palettes in Clip Studio Paint shrink down to a title bar when double-clicked, and then expand when double-clicked again.]]> MarkSweeney Suggestions Tue, 16 Jun 2026 17:48:22 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?4,5888,5888#msg-5888 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?4,5888,5888#msg-5888 redstars8 Bug reports Thu, 18 Jun 2026 14:51:04 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5887,5887#msg-5887 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5887,5887#msg-5887
The idea is to allow users to designate any image within a board as a custom "Cover Image" or "Board Thumbnail." This image would represent the board visually wherever thumbnails are displayed, such as in Windows Explorer, recent files, project browsers, or any future library-management features.

Currently, when working with dozens or even hundreds of PureRef boards, it can become difficult to quickly identify the correct board from filenames alone. Artists often remember projects visually rather than by name. A custom cover image would make browsing and locating boards significantly faster.

Suggested Workflow:

* Right-click any image inside a PureRef board.
* Select "Set as Board Cover" or "Set as Thumbnail."
* The selected image becomes the visual representation of that board.
* If no cover image is selected, PureRef continues using its current automatic thumbnail generation.

Possible UI Behavior:

* A small badge or icon could appear on the selected image indicating it is the board cover.
* Users could change or remove the cover at any time.
* The cover image could be displayed in:

* Windows Explorer thumbnails
* Recent Files lists
* Open Project dialogs
* Future library or asset-management views

Benefits:

* Faster navigation between projects.
* Easier management of large reference collections.
* Better visual organization for artists, designers, and creative professionals.
* Improved recognition of boards without relying solely on filenames.

This feature would function similarly to a book cover, allowing users to immediately recognize a board based on a single representative image rather than opening multiple files to find the correct one.

Thank you for your time and for creating such a useful tool.]]> HexTheArtist Suggestions Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:43:22 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5885,5885#msg-5885 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5885,5885#msg-5885 Reido Suggestions Fri, 05 Jun 2026 23:06:04 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5884,5884#msg-5884 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5884,5884#msg-5884 ljy26lee Suggestions Fri, 05 Jun 2026 15:07:44 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5883,5883#msg-5883 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5883,5883#msg-5883 I'd like to suggest adding a right-to-left (reverse Z-order) arrangement option as an alternative to the current left-to-right Z-order layout used when arranging images by name.
Current behavior:
When arranging images by name, they are laid out in standard left-to-right, top-to-bottom order (left Z-order):
1 → 2 → 3
4 → 5 → 6
7 → 8 → 9
Requested behavior:
An additional option to arrange in right-to-left, top-to-bottom order (reverse Z-order):
3 ← 2 ← 1
6 ← 5 ← 4
9 ← 8 ← 7
Use case:
This is particularly useful for artists working with manga or right-to-left (RTL) publications, where reference images represent pages or panels that are read from right to left. Using the current left-to-right layout forces an unintuitive reversal of the reading order, making it harder to navigate and compare references while working.
It would fit naturally alongside the existing toggle behavior (toggling the same arrange command to reverse order), or could be a separate option in the arrange menu.
Thank you for the great tool!]]> okikonnyaku1121 Suggestions Wed, 03 Jun 2026 15:27:37 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?4,5881,5881#msg-5881 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?4,5881,5881#msg-5881 Oneiro Bug reports Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:28:34 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5878,5878#msg-5878 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5878,5878#msg-5878 I wanted to suggest adding a way to creat and manage templates (in the future possibly even with a free community marketplace?)

This could allow you to imrpove your workflows massively.
For example:
- Adding questions to fill out before/while making the moodboard
- Adding premade zones to your moodboard to better structure things
- Boards with a preselected image set (includes a variety of themes and styles and subjects to choose from for inspiration)
and so on

Also I would like to request a revamped startup experience + a Library where you can easily browse boards and put them into folders (and subfolders;) to organize them.

Idealy the startup page would then use a mix between a „New Board“ + 3 Stared/Most used Templates + Last 3 Boards (Pinned/Stared Boards have higher priority?) as a quick start window.]]> VisualChris Suggestions Mon, 01 Jun 2026 11:17:35 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5876,5876#msg-5876 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5876,5876#msg-5876 JC3d Suggestions Sat, 30 May 2026 15:12:46 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?5,5867,5867#msg-5867 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?5,5867,5867#msg-5867
I then
- rightclick -> images -> nomalize -> width
- rightclick -> images -> arrange -> by name
- rightclick -> images -> align -> distribute vertical

Is the a way to achive the same result in a easier way?

Jorgensen]]> Jorgensen Help Fri, 29 May 2026 13:55:38 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?5,5866,5866#msg-5866 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?5,5866,5866#msg-5866 Skikea Help Fri, 29 May 2026 13:39:10 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5862,5862#msg-5862 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5862,5862#msg-5862
But there is one pretty big problem for my use-case. I have a lot of important data in the filenames of the pictures. But there doesn't seem to be a way to make the filenames visible in the pictures. This would be pretty easy to implement, and I would do it myself if I had the code. But I don't.

Just a caption on an image, maybe a slot above the image, that shows the filename. So that it can also use the "optimize" function.

I hope you take this request and make this a feature. Until then, I will unfortunately have to use another app for this use-case. But I just LOVE this one. Thanks!]]> sakani Suggestions Mon, 08 Jun 2026 19:34:36 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?5,5861,5861#msg-5861 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?5,5861,5861#msg-5861
I'm using Pure Ref 2.1.2, and tested to open in some other older versions but unsuccessful.

the archive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1z2zN0s8zUxbs6jzzqyxyeRUYKY9eEBuE?usp=sharing]]> sevenclix Help Fri, 29 May 2026 13:37:55 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5857,5857#msg-5857 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5857,5857#msg-5857
Kind of like an auto layout for Pure ref. Basically beautified grids of photos after using the arrange - optimal command. Or we could possibly have a function like arrange - grided (equidistant) or even something like arrange -grided( masonry ) :

for example ---- https://www.erikjo.com/work]]> Reido Suggestions Sat, 16 May 2026 18:52:25 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5856,5856#msg-5856 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5856,5856#msg-5856 Reido Suggestions Sat, 16 May 2026 18:41:30 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5855,5855#msg-5855 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5855,5855#msg-5855
If it becomes available for use on large-screen tablets (Android, iOS) and iPads in the future, its usability would improve significantly.

Thank you very much to the developer. ^^]]> ljy26lee Suggestions Fri, 15 May 2026 09:04:25 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5852,5852#msg-5852 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5852,5852#msg-5852 It would be great if we could add functions by customizing the title bar, e.g., Window / Resize to selection. If that’s possible, we could drag the function(s) into the bar. Or do it some other way without having to right-click.

Thanks,]]> BenLaps Suggestions Mon, 11 May 2026 16:11:22 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5849,5849#msg-5849 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5849,5849#msg-5849
I wanted to offer / promote the idea of adding the feature to minimize the app to the System tray on windows or Menu bar on MacOS. I find myself always having the app open so I can paste any references as I find them / work. However, I sometimes need to cmd+tab or alt+tab and the app starts being annoying / on the way if I just leave it open.

In order to solve this, I think it'd be great if I could choose to minimize the app to the system tray when I'm not using it. It'd get out of the way. And when I need it, it'd be right there waiting for me to open it up again.

I know, this is very silly, I could easily just close the app when not in use, but I think there are many other creatives out there who tend to keep apps open in the background and I'm probably not the only one who has run into this. And I don't see any downsides for regular users if this feature exists or not.]]> HideOnFluff Suggestions Mon, 11 May 2026 19:57:54 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5839,5839#msg-5839 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5839,5839#msg-5839 roaddogg Suggestions Thu, 30 Apr 2026 16:22:16 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5836,5836#msg-5836 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5836,5836#msg-5836 I use the draw tool a lot, in combination with DRAW + SHIFT to draw straight lines, thats very very usefull.

MY WISH
I wish that the tool could be extended to draw straight lines from A to B, when clicking the mouse at point A, while holding down the SHIFT key, then release the mouse, move to point B, and again click the mouse + SHIFT, to draw a straight line between A and B.

LINE TOOL
I know i could switch to the line tool, but while in meetings its distracting needing to switch tools.
The above method could in a way merge the Draw and Line tool into a intuitive tool.

Thanks :-)

Jorgensen]]> Jorgensen Suggestions Tue, 28 Apr 2026 15:55:55 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?5,5834,5834#msg-5834 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?5,5834,5834#msg-5834
ON TOP
While in meetings, i have pureref in fullscreen mode, and make notes and sketches on top of images.
I often experience that suddently textes and drawings, is moved under the image.

Is there a smart way to avoid this? :-)

EXPORT IMAGES WITH DRAWINGS
it would be nice if we could export all images, with the lines and text notes added on top.
right now i create a screenshot of every image :-/ then i collect all images into a pdf i can send.

there might be a smarter way to do this?
scene export does now work, as customers cant handle the large image.

Btw - pureref is a very powerfull tool, when having online meetings! nice to be able to sketch what we discuss :-)

Thanks]]> Jorgensen Help Fri, 29 May 2026 13:54:52 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?4,5833,5833#msg-5833 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?4,5833,5833#msg-5833 When I run "Optimize" or "Align", the images seem to overlap slightly.
This didn't happen before, but it happens often since version 2.1.


Example
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i6QmeUhcDNjphxmK2ztUy79ldDH8ls_5/view?usp=drive_link

Ctrl+Up
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1892aVZoaZIsnr2T_KgMr2ez7DcMM6Dlm/view?usp=drive_link

Ctrl+Left
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m6yiWzHlrReg0P2yZz4k1GVqt0WH989q/view?usp=drive_link

Ctrl+Down
https://drive.google.com/file/d/13neIPMc4OQ3E-MC7Lcx86v90FsWzbPdl/view?usp=drive_link]]> hjaki Bug reports Sat, 02 May 2026 08:58:09 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?2,5827,5827#msg-5827 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?2,5827,5827#msg-5827 requesting a feature to get the selected image aspect ratio and resolution on right-click please? Thanks.]]> minimvl General Tue, 21 Apr 2026 17:53:36 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5826,5826#msg-5826 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5826,5826#msg-5826 TornadOculus Suggestions Tue, 21 Apr 2026 12:07:13 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?5,5821,5821#msg-5821 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?5,5821,5821#msg-5821 Got my file corrupted after a power outage - couldn't find any backups, and forced recovery attempts have failed as well.

It says: "Recover failed"

I'm using version 2.0.3 x64 on Windows 10.

Is there anything I can do to recover it or images stored in it?

Link to the file:
---

I only uploaded it there for you, so I, unfortunately, won't be able to try loading a previous version from the Google Drive :">

Thank you in advance for your time!]]> Shu5ha Help Wed, 22 Apr 2026 15:14:06 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5819,5819#msg-5819 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5819,5819#msg-5819 herbap Suggestions Mon, 13 Apr 2026 18:46:48 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5818,5818#msg-5818 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5818,5818#msg-5818 herbap Suggestions Fri, 10 Apr 2026 22:31:38 +0200 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5817,5817#msg-5817 https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,5817,5817#msg-5817
Suggestion:
Add a layering control feature that allows users to fix an object’s position—either always at the bottom layer or always at the top layer. For more flexibility, users could also define custom layer orders, such as assigning certain images to layer 1, others to layer 2, and so on.

Thanks]]> v_e Suggestions Thu, 09 Apr 2026 08:53:21 +0200