Side-by-Side Comparison

How to enter

Select two or more photos and press C — they open side by side in multiple panels. Also available via View → Compare in the macOS menu, or the compare button in the viewer toolbar.

To add another panel while already in the viewer — ⌥ + click a photo in the filmstrip.

Tip: Maximum 6 panels. With 4 panels — a 2×2 grid, with 5-6 — a 3×2 grid. Pressing <kbd>Space</kbd> with two or more photos selected opens the regular viewer filtered to that selection, not Compare.

Navigation

← → — switch between panels
↑ ↓ — replace the photo in the active panel with the previous / next from the gallery
C — exit Compare (symmetric toggle: C in the gallery enters, C in Compare exits)
Esc — exit comparison

Zoom

Tab — zoom in the active panel. Double-click — zoom into the click point. Mouse wheel and pinch on the trackpad.

S — toggle synchronized zoom: all panels zoom and pan together. In 2-panel mode, sync is on by default. Adding a 3rd panel disables it automatically; returning to two re-enables it.