Pivotwell™
Photo Rotation CheckEvery photo, right way up.
Phones and cameras don't always record which way is up, so family collections fill with sideways portraits and upside-down birthday cakes. Pivotwell finds them for you, so you can turn them without paging through every picture.
What Pivotwell does
Pivotwell looks at the faces, the scene and the sky in every photo and says which way it seems to need turning: a quarter turn right, a quarter turn left, or upside down. It also says how sure it is, so you can glance at the doubtful ones and skip the rest.
It is made for digital photos: phone and camera pictures, downloads, and photos shared by family, where portrait shots often arrive lying on their side.
It comes two ways, with one license for both. The Lightroom Classic plug-in flags each photo with a keyword and the purple label, and turns photos only when you ask it to. The Windows & Mac app needs no Lightroom: it shows every photo the way it would be turned, lets you change any of them, and saves turned copies, never changing your originals.
Pivotwell in 77 seconds
On screen
Features
Faces first
Two face finders look at all four turns and at three sizes of the picture, including faces in profile, partly hidden and in black-and-white prints.
Then the scene
Without faces to go by, a small picture model trained on which way up whole scenes go (buildings, trees and sky, food on a plate) decides. Sky and horizon help when it isn't sure.
How sure it is
Every photo gets a score: High, Medium or Low in Lightroom, and Sure, Fairly sure or Not sure in the app, where Least sure first puts the doubtful ones at the top.
It says why
Each flagged photo says why in plain words, for example “it looks like it needs a quarter turn to the right (from the faces, 82% sure)”.
Only flag the sure ones
If you'd rather, flag only photos it is at least 50% to 90% sure of. The rest get the yellow label, for you to look at yourself.
Turn the flagged photos
In Lightroom, one command turns every flagged photo the way its keyword says, with Lightroom's own Rotate, checking each turn as it goes.
Checked once, remembered
A photo checked before and unchanged since gets its answer back at once, the same answer a fresh check gives, even after a move or rename. Checking a folder again takes seconds instead of minutes, and the end of the run says how many were already checked. Check again from scratch is there if you want it. Pivotwell and Squarewell share their answers, so a photo one has checked isn't checked again by the other.
Scanned slides or negatives
Turn on Scanned slides or negatives and Pivotwell reads any writing in the picture to find slides and negatives scanned from the wrong side (Turn the flagged photos flips them), and sets black-and-white negatives to Black & White so Negative Lab Pro converts them as black-and-white film.
Keys and Stream Deck
Every action has a key: press ? to see them. A Stream Deck or other macro pad can run them too, and in Lightroom a button can run Check rotation or Turn the flagged photos. Ready-made buttons come with Pivotwell, in two profiles: press ? and click Add Stream Deck buttons. In Lightroom you can give Pivotwell's commands your own keys: click Keyboard shortcuts in Lightroom. The same window can give a key to another plug-in's menu item, such as Negative Lab Pro, by its name.
Camera raw files too
For raw files the app can write the turn into an XMP sidecar, so Lightroom, Camera Raw and Bridge show the photo the right way up while the raw file stays as it is.
How it works
In Lightroom Classic
- Select the photos: a folder, a collection or a whole import. Hundreds at a time are fine.
- Choose Library > Plug-in Extras > Check rotation. There is no dialog; a progress bar runs at the top left.
- Filter on the “Check rotation” keyword or the purple label, and turn them yourself or with Turn the flagged photos.
In the app
- Choose a folder or some photos, or paste a folder's path.
- Click Check rotation.
- Look them over. Each photo is shown turned the way it will be saved; change any turn with a click or a key.
- Save new pictures, turned the right way up, or XMP sidecars. The originals are never changed.
Step by step for every job: the Pivotwell User Guide.
Requirements
- Windows
- Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit). Nothing else to install: Python and the image libraries come with it.
- Mac
- A Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or later) and macOS 13 or later. Intel Macs aren't supported.
- Lightroom Classic
- For the plug-in only. The app needs no Lightroom, just a current web browser (Edge, Chrome, Safari or Firefox).
- Files
- JPEG, HEIC, TIFF, PNG, DNG and camera raw files (NEF, CR2, CR3, ARW, ORF, RW2, RAF, PEF, SRW), including Lightroom's merged panoramas and HDRs.
Price and free trial
- Every feature works free for 21 days on each computer, with no watermark and no account. After that, Pivotwell keeps working for 7 more days with a reminder; then it stops checking new photos. Keywords and labels already added stay as they are.
- One license is for one person on up to 2 computers, covers both the app and the Lightroom Classic plug-in, and includes complimentary updates within the major version (a version 1 key works for every 1.x release).
- Your key arrives by email. It is checked on your computer: no account or internet connection is needed to use Pivotwell.
- Moving to a new computer? Click “Remove license from this computer” on the old one and enter your key on the new one.
- Also in The Well Tools Bundle: Squarewell™, Spoolwell™, Pivotwell™, Datewell™ and Labelwell™ on one license key for $149.
Windows may show “Windows protected your PC” the first time: click More info, then Run anyway. The Mac download is signed and checked by Apple: open it and double-click the Install app.
Lost your key? · License terms · Refund policy · Questions: info@thepictureorg.com
Questions
My antivirus or Windows blocked the download. Is it safe, and what do I do?
Pivotwell is signed by The Picture Org LLC and is safe. Some antivirus programs (Norton, for example) flag any new download that few people have run yet, even a signed one, and the block goes away as more people install it. Windows SmartScreen (“Windows protected your PC”): click More info, then Run anyway. Norton: open Norton, go to Security > History, choose the entry for the download, and click Restore & exclude this file, then run it again. Microsoft Defender: open Windows Security > Virus & threat protection > Protection history, choose the entry, and click Actions > Allow on device. Other antivirus programs have a similar Restore or Allow choice in their quarantine or history. If you would rather not change a setting, email info@thepictureorg.com and we will send you a zip you can install by hand. We report every false alarm to the antivirus maker so it is cleared for everyone.
Does Pivotwell turn my photos by itself?
No. In Lightroom it only adds a keyword, the purple label and a note, and turns photos only when you choose Turn the flagged photos. The app shows every suggested turn and saves turned copies only when you click Save.
Will turning a photo lose quality?
No. A JPEG saved in its own format is copied exactly, with only its rotation setting changed. In Lightroom, turning only changes Lightroom's own setting, not the file.
Is it ever wrong?
It is a guess, tuned to avoid false flags, so it misses some: close-ups with no faces, sky or recognizable scene (a flower, a document) and pictures taken straight down. The “How sure” score points you to the photos most worth a glance.
Does it look at the rotation my camera saved?
Yes. It looks at each photo the way your camera's rotation setting (or Lightroom) already shows it, so a photo that already shows the right way up is not flagged.
Pivotwell or Squarewell?
Pivotwell is for digital photos that only need turning. If you scan prints, slides or film, Squarewell crops and straightens them and includes the same rotation check.
Does it work on a NAS or network drive?
Yes. Pivotwell works safely with photo folders on a NAS or other network drive, as well as local and USB drives.
Could another program undo the turns?
Not by accident. After Turn the flagged photos, the turns are saved into the photo files' own metadata (an .xmp sidecar, or the DNG, JPEG or TIFF file), so they don't get lost when another program opens the files. Programs that read orientation from the metadata, such as Bridge or Camera Raw, can still change the orientation if you edit it there.
Is anything sent from my computer?
Only a check for a newer version when Pivotwell opens, which fetches a small version list and sends nothing about your computer, your photos or your license key. You can turn it off. If something goes wrong, Create an error log can send a report to us, but only after you have seen exactly what it holds and clicked Send.
How do updates work?
Pivotwell tells you when a new version is out. Install now downloads it, checks that it carries The Picture Org's signature, and installs it, putting everything back if anything goes wrong. Installing it in the app or in Lightroom updates both. Updates within the major version are complimentary.
Does it work with Lightroom (the cloud version)?
No. Adobe lets plug-ins run only in Lightroom Classic. If you use the Lightroom app, use the Pivotwell app on your photo folders instead.
Does it run on an Intel Mac?
No. Pivotwell needs a Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or later).
More answers in the Pivotwell User Guide, or email info@thepictureorg.com.
What's new
Version 1.0.27 13 November 2026
- The rotation check also reads any writing in the picture: a sign or a caption photographed sideways is turned by its text, and slides are no longer flagged Turn Left or Turn Right by a pale wall or sky.
- On a Mac, Pivotwell needs Apple silicon (M1 or later). On an Intel Mac the installer says so and stops.