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Here are answers to the most common questions photographers ask about Copycat. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, visit the Troubleshooting page or contact support.

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General

No. The client viewer is a web app that works in any modern browser — Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge. Your client just needs the vault link and passphrase you send them. No download, no account, no app required.
No. Copycat only uploads compressed JPEG previews to your Google Drive. Your original RAW files stay on your local drive at all times and are never transmitted anywhere.
Vaults expire after 15 days. Share the link with your client promptly after creation, and remind them to submit their selections before the link expires. If a vault expires before your client finishes, you can use Rotate Passphrase to generate a fresh link without re-uploading the photos.
Copycat saves progress automatically at each stage of vault creation. If it’s interrupted — by a network drop, a crash, or manually cancelling — open the Vault Dashboard, find the vault under Pending Vaults, and click Resume. Copycat picks up from the last completed stage without re-uploading already-processed files.

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Vaults & sharing

The passphrase is the decryption key for the vault. When your client enters it in their browser, it unlocks the encrypted preview photos so they can view them. Without the passphrase, the vault contents can’t be viewed by anyone — including you. Keep it safe and share it only with your intended client.
Yes. In the Vault Dashboard, find the vault and click Rotate Passphrase. Copycat generates a new passphrase and a new shareable link without re-uploading the photos. You’ll need to send the new link and passphrase to your client — the old ones will stop working.
Yes — anyone with the link and passphrase can view and submit selections. Keep in mind that if multiple people submit, each submission overwrites the previous one. For separate clients reviewing the same shoot, create separate vaults.
Their selections sync to the cloud vault. In Copycat’s Vault Dashboard, click Sync Selections to pull the selections to your desktop. You’ll see the count of selected, rejected, and skipped photos. Once synced, click Copy Selected RAW to copy the chosen files.

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Copy workflows

Reference mode matches files by comparing two folders — your RAW source archive and a reference folder (for example, a folder of edited JPEGs). Copycat finds RAW files whose names match files in the reference folder.Paste mode works from a list of filenames you provide manually — by pasting text or importing a CSV. It’s useful when a client emails you a list of file numbers or when you have a text-based selection list.Both modes copy matched files from your source folder to a destination you choose.
Missing means the filename was in your selection list (or reference folder) but wasn’t found in the source folder. Common causes: the RAW drive isn’t connected, the source folder is wrong, or extension filters are excluding that file type. See File Filters and Troubleshooting for details.
Yes. In the Options panel, set extension filters to limit which file types are indexed — for example, entering CR3, ARW, NEF means only those formats appear in results and get copied. See File Filters for a full guide.
By default, Copycat uses the Newest Only match policy — it copies the file with the most recent modification date. You can switch to All in the match policy setting to copy every matching file. This is useful if you keep multiple versions (e.g., original and edited) with the same base name.

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Licensing

Yes. An active, non-expired license is required to create and manage vaults. Reference mode and Paste mode are available during the trial period. Purchase a license at copy-cat.in.
Your license supports a limited number of simultaneous device activations. To move your license to a new machine, open Copycat on the old device, go to License, and click Deactivate. Then install Copycat on the new machine and activate with the same key.
When you first launch Copycat, enter a trial key (beginning with CCTRIAL) in the License panel and click Activate. A 7-day trial starts immediately. Each email address can only start one trial — if yours has already been used, you’ll need to purchase a license.
Visit copy-cat.in to purchase a Copycat license. After purchase, you’ll receive a license key to enter in the app’s License panel.