Squarewell™

Version 0.6.41 23 October 2026

• After an update, the Windows Start menu and Desktop shortcuts now show the new Squarewell icon.
• Squarewell now shares its license, update, keyword and error log code with the other Well tools, so a fix in one reaches them all.

Version 0.6.40 23 October 2026

• If Squarewell's helper can't start, the run now ends and each photo's note says why, instead of waiting without end.
• The Squarewell app no longer stops partway through a long run.
• The error log now records every setting the run used.
• Download and update links now go to the Squarewell pages.

Version 0.6.39 23 October 2026

• A new Squarewell icon.
• The app shows the Squarewell icon beside its name.

Version 0.6.38 23 October 2026

• Faster: on a computer with four or more cores, two or three photos are looked at at once. On four cores a run takes about 40% less time, and the crops are exactly the same.
• Faster album pages, and faster checks of print borders.
• Big selections in Lightroom start sooner, and "Build Standard previews when done" builds up to three previews at once.

Version 0.6.37 23 October 2026

• In Lightroom's Plug-in Manager, the License section is now last, just above Status.
• Once a license is entered, the License section says thank you.
• The Plug-in Manager now shows the Squarewell icon beside its description.
• Windows: Settings > Apps > Installed apps now shows the Squarewell icon.
• Windows: the Choose buttons in the app open their dialog more reliably, and say so if it can't open.
• A new picture in the Setup program.

Version 0.6.36 22 October 2026

• With Crop off print borders unticked: a print bigger than the frame on a copy stand, whose light border runs off the frame and meets the board along one side, now keeps its border out to the frame and the board's edge. Before, the border was taken for a white background and only the picture inside it was kept.

Version 0.6.35 22 October 2026

• Better copy stand crops: prints larger than the frame, with a strip of board showing along one side, are now cut off at the print's edge, tape over the board included. Before, many came back whole.
• Prints held with colored tape on black card are now found when their dark parts match the card.
• Oval prints whose edge matches the background on one side are now boxed whole.
• Our keywords are now always set not to export, including ones already in your catalog, and the app keeps them in sidecar files only, never in the pictures it saves.
• Folder pickers on Windows now have an address bar, so you can type or paste a folder's path instead of clicking through the tree. You can also paste a path into the box next to Choose.
• Updates: when an update can't be installed from inside your version, the panel now says to use Download installer for that one.
• Download files are now named after the app: ThePictureOrg-Squarewell-Setup, -Mac and -Win.
• Wording: "black background" is now used throughout.

Version 0.6.34 22 October 2026

• Better crops of cut negative strips and sheet film: the crop now goes to the picture instead of the film's clear or fogged edge.
• Better copy stand crops: prints on a grid board held down with a strip of translucent tape along the edge of the frame are now cropped to the print. Before, the tape joined the print and many came back whole. Print backs and cards held the same way are found too.
• Prints on a black background whose folds catch the light are now cropped to the print, not to the frame's sides.
• Album prints with a wide, punched binding margin along one side now lose that margin with their other borders.
• Mac: the text at the top of the Plug-in Manager is no longer cut off.
• XPan is now the last of the film formats in the Image format list.
• Crop off print borders now always trims the border, handwriting and printed dates included, on single prints and on album pages. To keep writing or other notes on a print's border, untick it so the whole border is kept.
• Album pages: each patch of writing on a print's trimmed border, a caption or a date, still gets a copy of its own cropped to it (Photo 2 note), now found without reading the writing.
• Reading captions is no longer part of Squarewell; it moves to Labelwell, a separate app.

Version 0.6.33 21 October 2026

• Better crops of prints held down with colored tape on black card: the tape is no longer taken for part of the print, whether it lies over a corner or runs along a whole side. Before, many came back with the tape included.
• Certificates, awards, invitations and printed cards keep their border with Crop off print borders ticked: light paper that is mostly blank with thin lines of text is left whole. Photos are trimmed as before.
• Better copy stand crops: a print pushed against tape with a ruler lying beside it is cropped at its own edge, and comes out straight.
• Studio card mounts: a wide bottom margin with the photographer's signature on it is now trimmed with the other sides.
• Print sizes: a print that comes out a little short is moved out to its real edge on one side, never in, when that edge plainly shows there.
• The dialog: the list is now called Image format, with dividers between film, print and instant sizes; "Crop off white or cream borders" is now "Crop off print borders"; and the note at the top explains that grouping slides or negatives of one size helps them crop more accurately.

Version 0.6.32 20 October 2026

• New: print sizes. For slides and prints the Film format list is now called Format or size, and it also lists print sizes (wallet, 3x5, 3.5x3.5, 3.5x5, 4x4, 4x6, 5x5, 5x7, 8x10 and 4x10 to 4x12 panoramic) and instant prints (Polaroid SX-70/600/i-Type, peel-apart, Spectra and Go; Instax Mini, Square and Wide). Choose one for a stack of prints of one size: a print whose shape doesn't fit is cropped as found and its note says why. With print borders cropped off, an instant print is checked against the picture inside its white frame.
• Better album pages: on some magnetic album pages, a print at the top of the page now comes out whole.
• Better copy stand crops: on a grid board photographed close up (wide grid lines), with a ruler along the top and tape down one side, prints, tintypes and print backs are now found, also when pushed up under the ruler or against the tape. Before, many came back whole, cropped to the board, or not cropped.

Version 0.6.31 20 October 2026

• Better album pages: on magnetic album pages where faded prints are laid edge to edge, with no page showing between them, each print is now found (before, some of these pages came out whole).
• Film format: 127 (square) and 828 added; Kodak Disc is now called Disc; the medium formats come after the small ones. For slides the list shows only the formats slides came in, mounted (35mm full and half frame, XPan, 110, 126, 127, 828, 6x4.5, 6x6 and 6x7); a saved profile with another format uses Auto for slides.
• User Guide: "What's in the plug-in folder" is now an appendix at the end.
• Mac: the app's icon in Applications > ThePictureOrg now updates when you install a new version.
• A license is now for one person on up to 2 computers.

Version 0.6.30 19 October 2026

• The app now installs in a ThePictureOrg folder (Windows: in your user Programs folder; Mac: Applications > ThePictureOrg). If you kept it in the Dock, drag it in again from Applications > ThePictureOrg.
• Better album pages: on magnetic album pages (light, self-stick pages with a clear film over the prints), faded prints laid close together are now found one by one, where before some were missed or several came out as one. A print that can't be boxed cleanly still gets its own copy, cropped to the box round it, with the "irregular shape" note.
• Rotation check: a sideways photo of a person in a patterned top is now flagged (the pattern looked like a second face the right way up).

Version 0.6.29 19 October 2026

• New: named settings profiles. Save the settings you use for a kind of work under a name and choose it at the top of the settings window, in Lightroom or in the app (they share the same list). Three come with it: "Film negatives (35mm)", "Slides and prints" and "Album pages". Each quick menu command can use its own profile.
• New: film format for negatives and slides (Auto, or a format such as 35mm full frame, half frame, 126, 110, 120 sizes, 4x5, XPan, Kodak Disc or a custom ratio). With a format chosen, a side that can't be seen is placed from it, and a frame that doesn't fit is cropped as found, with the reason in its note.
• "The photos are of" (in the app, "What they are") is now called "File content", and its choices run Film negatives, then Slides, prints, magazines or documents, then Album pages.
• "Build Standard previews of the cropped photos when done" is now on unless you turn it off.
• Shorter text at the top of the Lightroom settings window.
• Better crops: pale prints on a gray board are found (some got the whole frame before); a ragged print on a gray board gets a box round its outline and the "irregular shape" note; a slide whose mount has a halo is cropped to the slide; loose scraps on album pages are kept as notes instead of being cut as prints; a dark print on a black page that was found in pieces is joined again.

Version 0.6.28 18 October 2026

• The Squarewell™ name now shows everywhere: in Lightroom, the app, the installers, the Start menu and the Mac app.

Version 0.6.27 18 October 2026

• Film negatives: a negative whose film edge is fogged dark is now cropped (loosely, and straightened) instead of being left alone. Its note says "fogged film edges", as some of the fogged edge may show.
• Film negatives on a dark background are now cropped to the picture even when "Trim print borders" is off. That option is about a print's white border; before, it also kept the clear film around each negative.
• "35mm film negatives" is now called "Film negatives", and the quick menu command "Auto Crop now: film negatives", as it also handles Kodak Disc frames and cut negatives on a dark background.
• Crop edge now goes up to +4% (was +2%), for an even margin around each photo. A margin and "Crop inside rounded or mounted corners" can't both be on: choosing one turns the other off.
• Fixed on Windows: "Check my setup" reported "Writing in the log folder" as missing when nothing was wrong.
• Fixed on Windows: after updating from inside Lightroom or the app, Settings > Apps still showed the old version and name. It now shows the version you have, the first time Squarewell runs after an update.
• Create an error log: the pictures now show an album page once, with all its prints' crops drawn on it, and up to 50 photos fit (was 20). They are drawn the way your last run cropped them, so pages run with "Auto Crop now: album pages" are no longer drawn as negatives.
• Standalone app: "Check my setup" now runs separately, so a problem it finds can't stop the app.

Version 0.6.26 18 October 2026

• New name: Squarewell™ Auto Crop & Straighten. The Lightroom menu commands keep their wording, under a "Squarewell™" heading in Plug-in Extras, so keyboard shortcuts still work. Licenses, settings and updates carry on as before. On a Mac the app is now called Squarewell; on Windows its Start menu folder and shortcut are too.
• New: each photo that gets a color label, or isn't cropped, says why in plain words. In Lightroom this is the "Squarewell note" field in the Metadata panel (choose the "Squarewell" view at the top of the panel). In the standalone app it shows under the photo.
• New option: "Leave unsure photos uncropped" (off unless you tick it). When a photo's edges barely show, it is left as it was instead of guessed at, with a yellow label and a note saying why. On an album page, only the doubtful print is left out; the page gets the yellow label and the note.
• New: "Create an error log" can include small pictures of the problem photos, showing the crop that was found and the crop the photo has now, so you don't need to send the originals. It asks first, and it's off unless you tick it.
• New: "Check my setup", in Lightroom's Plug-in Manager and in the app's Settings. It checks that everything Squarewell needs works on this computer and gives you text to copy or save for an email.
• Turn the flagged photos now also takes the "Check rotation" sentence out of each turned photo's note.

Version 0.6.25 17 October 2026

• New: Library > Plug-in Extras > Turn the flagged photos. It turns each selected photo that has a "Check rotation" keyword the way the keyword says, using Lightroom's own Rotate, so any crop turns with it and Edit > Undo turns it back. Its keyword and purple label then come off.
• New option: "Build Standard previews of the cropped photos when done", so the grid and Loupe show the new crops straight away.
• Fixed: a photo already turned a quarter turn in Lightroom was checked as if it were upside down, and an album page turned a quarter turn in Lightroom had its prints numbered in the wrong order.
• Album pages: the copies (and the TIFF files, if saved) now appear in reading order in the grid and in the stack, not last first.
• Album pages: prints on black pages are cropped to their true edges more often, a torn slip on a striped page is kept whole, and a torn print on a black page is kept as one piece.
• Fixed: a print on a gray copy board with thick grid lines, with tape or a ruler running to the edge of the frame beside it, was treated as one photo filling the whole frame. The print is now found and cropped.
• Standalone app: when a raw photo is turned the right way up in its XMP sidecar, its "Check rotation" keyword and purple label come off, and Adobe programs show it turned.
• Windows Setup: it now closes Auto Crop if it is still running in the background, instead of stopping with "Error opening file for writing". The desktop shortcut now shows the new icon, and the Setup screens show it too.
• Mac: the Auto Crop & Straighten app now shows the new icon (it kept the old one after updating to 0.6.24).

Version 0.6.24 17 October 2026

• Album pages: the prints on a page are now always numbered in reading order as the page is shown, left to right and top to bottom, even when the page photo is turned in Lightroom.
• Album pages: a dark print on a black page that was found as two or three separate pieces is now put back together as one print.
• Album pages: a typed slip laid close beside a print is now cut away from the print and saved as its own note, and white slips are found on more kinds of page.
• Album pages: a torn scrap of paper or a small slip with writing on it is now saved as a note rather than as a photo.
• Check rotation: a sideways photo is now flagged in borderline cases where the scene check and the face check agree on the same turn.
• New app icon.
• The download now includes the source code of the libraries that read HEIC photos, as their license asks.

Version 0.6.23 17 October 2026

• Fixed: versions 0.6.20 to 0.6.22 stopped in Lightroom with the message "attempt to call field 'getenv' (a nil value)" when Auto Crop was run or its Plug-in Manager page was opened. Auto Crop runs normally again.

Version 0.6.22 16 October 2026

• New: HEIC photos (the format iPhones and many newer phones save) are now read, in Lightroom and in the standalone app. In the app, a HEIC saved as "Same as the original" becomes a JPEG.
• Standalone app, Check rotation only: a JPEG saved turned the right way up is now copied exactly, with only its rotation setting changed, so its quality stays the same.
• Standalone app: when XMP sidecars are chosen and none of the photos are camera raw files, the save panel now says that Lightroom and Bridge will not read those sidecars.
• The save panel now explains more clearly what each format choice does to JPEG, HEIC, PNG, TIFF and raw files.
• This version adds a HEIC reader to the bundled Python, so it is installed with the full installer rather than as an in-Lightroom update.

Version 0.6.21 16 October 2026

• Reading 8-bit scans (JPEG and 8-bit TIFF) is faster: about 1 second less per photo on large scans, with the same crops.
• The run log (autocrop-log.txt) no longer grows without limit: past 2 MB it is kept as autocrop-log.old.txt and a new one starts.
• Mac (Intel): the one-time setup no longer reports that it did not finish when it did.
• Mac: a photo whose file name ends in a space is now found instead of reported as "no answer from the helper".

Version 0.6.20 16 October 2026

• Album pages with a striped, yellowed magnetic backing: a print's crop no longer takes in a band of the page along one of its sides.
• The narrow strip of page between two prints side by side is no longer kept as a note.
• "Create an error report" is now called "Create an error log" (Lightroom: Library > Plug-in Extras; app: Settings). The file saved on your Desktop is named "Auto Crop error log" with the date.

Version 0.6.19 16 October 2026

• New: Check rotation only. It checks whether photos look sideways or upside down without cropping anything. In Lightroom it is in Library > Plug-in Extras; photos you have already cropped are checked as cropped. In the standalone app it is the button under Find crops, and the photos to turn can be saved turned the right way up.

Version 0.6.18 16 October 2026

• Album pages photographed whole, lying on a board or backdrop: the prints on the page are now found one by one. Before, the board was taken for the page and the whole album page came back as one photo.
• Black album pages: prints crowded close together come apart, and dark prints whose dark parts run into the page (a suit, a shadow, hair) are cropped to the whole print.
• Magnetic album pages with striped, yellowed backing: each print is found, and creases and the row of binding holes are no longer kept as notes.
• A single print alone on an album page is cropped to the print, not the page.
• Torn album pages: prints on either side of a tear are no longer joined into one.

Version 0.6.17 16 October 2026

• Finding the crop is about a sixth faster, with the same crops as before.
• Album pages in a batch are now measured on their own: a setting picked up from the photo before (such as a white scanner lid) no longer carries over to the next page.
• Standalone app: new images saved from raw files keep their brightest highlights, as Auto Crop sees them when it measures the crop.
• Photos whose rotation tag is stored far inside the file (some DNGs) are now read the right way up.
• A photo whose file or folder name has a tab or line break in it is now listed under "Not cropped" with the reason, instead of being left out without a word.
• Lightroom: the check that Lightroom kept each crop as given now covers all four sides, and error reports list which steps chose each crop, so problems can be found faster.

Version 0.6.16 15 October 2026

• Sideways and upside-down photos: a new scene check, trained on thousands of photos, flags pictures without faces (buildings, landscapes, food) far more reliably and stops false flags such as a cook at a grill.
• Print borders: a wide bottom margin is now trimmed all the way, and so is a white border left on one side only.
• Fixed a photo that could stop with an "index out of bounds" message when the print reached the edge of the frame.
• Mac: Auto Crop now installs with an installer app and an uninstaller app, signed and checked by Apple: no Terminal window, and only macOS's usual one-time "downloaded from the Internet" question.

Version 0.6.15 15 October 2026

• Album pages: prints on a patterned scrapbook page (damask paper, for example) lying on a board are now found one by one; title letters and cut-outs are left out.
• Album pages: black pages crowded with white-bordered prints, which could come back as one box, now give each print, including prints held together by tape at the edge of the frame.
• The standalone app remembers the last folder you used, even after it is closed, and offers it again with an Open again button.

Version 0.6.14 14 October 2026

• Kodak Disc negatives photographed in their holder are now cropped to the picture, leaving out the holder, frame numbers and the disc's rim.
• Bright slides on a pure black background are no longer cropped out into the glow around them, and small slides ringed by light (such as subminiature slides) are cropped to their window.
• A page or print that nearly fills the frame on a gray or colored board (such as a scrapbook page) is now cropped to the page instead of being left whole.
• A photo that can't be read at first (for example, one still arriving in a synced folder) is tried once more.

Version 0.6.13 14 October 2026

• Negatives: a strip photographed partly close up and partly from further back now crops correctly as one batch.
• Negatives: cut strips or sheets lying on a black background (a masked light box) are now cropped to the film.
• Slides, prints and negatives on pure black: the crop no longer runs past the item into the faint glow around it.
• Negatives: a frame with no clear edges is left uncropped instead of being straightened at a steep, wrong angle, and marks along the film's edge are no longer mistaken for sprocket holes.

Version 0.6.12 14 October 2026

• Lightroom's merged panoramas and HDRs (DNG files saved with JPEG XL compression) can now be cropped, in the plug-in and the app, instead of stopping with "Unsupported file format or not RAW file".
• The options dialog opens on the tab that matches "The photos are of" (Cropping, or Album pages) and follows it when you change it.
• Fine-tuning (crop edge and inside corners) is now a button that opens its own small window; Cancel puts the settings back.
• The Plug-in Manager says "negatives" rather than "35mm negatives".

Version 0.6.11 14 October 2026

• Everyone starts a fresh 21-day free trial from the first run of this version, including computers where the trial had already ended.
• Windows: the installer is now a plain Setup program (no zip to open first), shows "&" in the name, has new artwork, and its last page says where to find the plug-in in Lightroom Classic.
• The first time you use an "Auto Crop now" command, you are asked to check your settings before it runs.
• The first run in each Lightroom session tells you straight away when a newer version is available.
• "Make a report" is now "Auto Crop: Create an error report".
• The Album pages tab repeats the settings from the Cropping tab that apply to album pages too.
• Print borders: faint borders that were missed on one side (a light picture next to its white border) are now found, and a print is no longer cropped slightly wide onto a lit background.
• Album pages with print borders trimmed: every print on a page is trimmed the same way, even where photo corners hide part of a border. A print with a handwritten caption on its border keeps all four borders, whatever the border setting, and gets the blue label.

Version 0.6.10 14 October 2026

• Three new commands under Plug-in Extras: "Auto Crop now" for slides and prints, 35mm negatives, or album pages. Each one starts straight away with your last options, so you can give each kind of photo its own keyboard shortcut.
• A large print on a black background that is lit all over is now cropped to the print, not to nearly the whole frame.

Version 0.6.9 13 October 2026

• One "Crop edge" slider replaces "Trim a little extra" and "Crop closer to the edge": move it left to trim in, to 0 to crop right on the edge, or right to leave a margin of background. Your earlier setting carries over.
• Album pages on a black background that is lit unevenly: every print is found, instead of tiny crops of tape or background, prints run together, or one box round the whole page.
• Album pages on a light page: a print with a pale sky comes back as one photo, without extra pieces of sky or empty notes.

Version 0.6.8 13 October 2026

• New "Make a report": when a crop looks wrong, one click saves a small text file on your Desktop to email to us, with your settings, the crops and the log. In Lightroom it is under Library > Plug-in Extras, in the app under Settings.
• The log now records each run's settings and every photo's crop, so a problem can be traced without repeating it.

Version 0.6.7 13 October 2026

• A 35mm negative selected with slides or prints is found by its sprocket holes and cropped to its frame, without choosing negatives.
• A slide in a dark mount on black is cropped to the mount's window instead of the whole mount.
• A sheet negative on white card or a light table is cropped inside the film's clear edge, and a negative filling the frame on a light table loses the strips of table along the frame, also with print borders kept.

Version 0.6.6 12 October 2026

• Color labels now follow the keywords: when a later run takes off "Check rotation" or "Irregular shape", the purple or green label it gave goes too. Labels you set yourself are never touched.
• Better "Check rotation" flags for a face in profile looking down.
• Prints on white card: a pale sky along the edge is no longer cut short, and the print's shadow is left out even with print borders kept.

Version 0.6.5 12 October 2026

• A new, simpler look for the standalone app: everything on one screen, with your choices on the left, the crops in the middle and saving along the bottom.
• In the app, one click on the circle keeps or skips a crop, and "Worth a look" shows just the flagged photos.
• Opening a photo in the app now shows it large with a strip of all your photos below and a straighten slider beside it, so you can step through and adjust them quickly.
• The Lightroom window is tidier: the options are grouped on three tabs (Cropping, Album pages, Fine-tuning), with a one-line summary so nothing is hidden.

Version 0.6.4 12 October 2026

• Prints on a gray or black background lit from one side are now found even when part of the picture is darker than the background, and the crop no longer takes in a strip of background or the print's shadow along one side.
• A pale, glossy print on white card is now cropped, even where its sky matches the card.
• Album pages: a plain patch of background at the edge of the frame no longer becomes an extra photo.
• Better "Check rotation" flags: a second, newer face finder catches sideways black-and-white prints, profiles and half-hidden faces.
• Faster: large JPEG and TIFF files are read noticeably faster, with exactly the same results.
• "Read the writing" now works on single photos too, not only album pages: writing on a print (a caption on its border, say) goes into its Caption field as a draft to check.
• Clearer wording in the main window, and white backgrounds listed in the guide.

Version 0.6.3 12 October 2026

• Safer updates: Install now only installs an update signed by The Picture Org, and never an older version than the one you have.
• Safer saving: cropped pictures and sidecars are written in a way that can't be redirected to another file, and downloads only ever use secure connections.
• Folder and file names with unusual characters are handled safely on the Mac.

Version 0.6.2 12 October 2026

• Better "Check rotation" flags: a sideways photo of someone standing with the sky down one side is now flagged even when their face is in profile or behind sunglasses.
• Fewer false rotation flags: a light, textured wall beside a dark doorway is no longer taken for a sky.

Version 0.6.1 11 October 2026

• Flatbed scans on a white lid: prints scanned on the glass with the lid closed are now cropped, with or without a white border, including pale pictures with hardly anything darker than the lid. For several prints in one scan, use the album pages option.
• A print border that runs into an equally light part of the picture on one side (a white dress, snow) is now trimmed there too, when the other three sides have a border of the same width.
• The bundle key now names the Video Preservation Toolbox (renamed from Media Preservation Toolbox).

Version 0.6.0 11 October 2026

• New: a standalone Auto Crop app for Windows and Mac that needs no Lightroom. Choose a folder or some photos, and it finds the same crops as the Lightroom plug-in.
• See every crop before anything is saved: each photo is shown with its crop outlined and the cropped result beside it. Untick any you don't want, or drag a side, move or turn a crop to adjust it.
• Save as new cropped pictures (JPEG or 16-bit TIFF) in an "Auto Crop" folder or a folder you choose, or as XMP sidecars beside the originals for Camera Raw and Lightroom. Your originals are never changed.
• The flags (check rotation, irregular shape, print kept whole for its writing) and captions read from album labels go into the new pictures' color label, keywords and caption.
• One installer for both: choose the Lightroom plug-in, the app, or both. One license covers both, and they share one free trial.
• The app checks for complimentary updates and installs them with Install now, like the plug-in.

Version 0.5.8 11 October 2026

• With a license in place, the License section of the Plug-in Manager now really shows only "Remove license from this computer" (on Windows the Buy button and key box still showed in 0.5.7).
• The plug-in's name in the Plug-in Manager shows its "&" on Windows again.

Version 0.5.7 11 October 2026

• Album pages: with "Crop inside rounded or mounted corners", a print with handwriting on its border (a caption, a date) is now kept whole, corners and all, so the writing isn't cut off. These get the blue label.
• Color labels are now distinct: purple for photos to check for rotation, green for irregular shapes, blue for prints kept whole for their writing.
• Album pages mode no longer splits a single slide with a dark scene into several small pictures.
• With a license in place, the Plug-in Manager shows only "Remove license from this computer".

Version 0.5.6 11 October 2026

• Updates install from inside Lightroom: when a new version is out, click Install now (or Install update in File > Plug-in Manager) and Auto Crop downloads it, checks that it arrived whole, and installs it. Then restart Lightroom Classic. No installer to download and run.
• If an update can't be installed this way, everything is left as it was and you are offered the installer download instead.
• This works from 0.5.6 on, so install this version with the installer once.

Version 0.5.5 11 October 2026

• Album pages mode now handles a mixed selection: photos holding a single print are cropped on the photo itself, exactly as without album mode, and photos of 35mm negative strips are cropped as negatives. Before, single prints could be left uncropped or cut into odd pieces, and negatives were cut into many small pictures.
• Black photo corners on dark album pages are now fully cropped out with "Crop inside rounded or mounted corners", including shiny corners and prints in a row that reaches the edge of the frame.
• With the corners option, a print with a corner cut away far more than a rounded or mounted corner (such as a school photo cut round at the bottom) is treated as an irregular shape instead of being cropped deep into the picture.
• Fixed a print that filled most of the frame being over-cropped at the top.

Version 0.5.4 11 October 2026

• Update check: once a day Auto Crop looks up the current version number, and when a newer one is out it tells you the next time you run it, with Download, Not now and Skip this version. Nothing is downloaded or installed by itself, and only the version list is fetched: nothing about your computer, your photos or your license is sent.
• A new Updates section in File > Plug-in Manager shows whether you are up to date, with Check now, Download, What's new, and a switch to turn the daily check off.
• Updates within the major version are now described as complimentary.

Version 0.5.3 11 October 2026

• Small prints on a wide dark surround (wallet-size school photos on a black background): the white border is now cropped off on every side. Before, the plug-in could take the print for a scan filling the frame and leave the border on one or two sides, or tilt the crop.
• Mounted prints on a light base board: a print in a wide card mount is found even when tape, a binder clip or a patch of glare on the board touches it, and the crop goes to the picture inside the mount. Before, these were not cropped at all.
• Card mounts and borders that are lit unevenly, getting lighter toward the picture, are trimmed instead of kept.
• A slide with a dark scene against one side of a dark mount is cropped like the rest of its batch, instead of as an "irregular shape".
• Fixed a rare "The trial has ended" message during the free trial, when Auto Crop and the Media Preservation Toolbox checked the trial at the same moment.
• The Buy a license button now goes to thepictureorg.com/tools.

Version 0.5.2 11 October 2026

• New installers that put Auto Crop in Lightroom Classic's own plug-in folder, so Lightroom loads it by itself when it starts: no File > Plug-in Manager > Add step, and no administrator rights needed.
• Windows: a Setup program (PictureOrgAutoCrop-Setup download). It asks you to close Lightroom if it is open, replaces an earlier version, and adds a Start menu folder with the User Guide, the cheat sheet and Uninstall. Auto Crop is also listed in Settings > Apps for removing it.
• Mac: the Mac download now has "Install Auto Crop" and "Uninstall Auto Crop" next to the plug-in, plus a "Read Me First" with the steps. Right-click Install Auto Crop and choose Open; it copies the plug-in into place and clears the download mark so it runs without a security prompt. On an Intel Mac it offers the one-time setup.
• If you added Auto Crop before through File > Plug-in Manager > Add, remove that old entry in the Plug-in Manager after installing, or the menu appears twice. Your settings and license key are kept.
• The README, User Guide and cheat sheet explain both installers step by step; installing by hand through the Plug-in Manager still works as before.

Version 0.5.1 11 October 2026

• Album pages are no longer hidden: "Album pages (several photos on each)" is now always a choice under "The photos are of" in the Auto Crop dialog, with its TIFF and reading options. Nothing needs turning on in the Plug-in Manager.

Version 0.5.0 11 October 2026

• Auto Crop & Straighten is now paid software with a free trial. Every feature works during a free 21-day trial on each computer, then for 7 more days with a reminder, then it stops cropping new photos until a license key is entered. Crops already made stay as they are.
• One license is for one person on up to 2 computers, with complimentary updates within the major version (a version 1 key works for every 1.x release).
• New License section in File > Plug-in Manager: the days left or who it is licensed to, Buy a license, a box for your key with Enter key, and Remove license from this computer for moving to a new one. Keys are checked on your computer; nothing is sent anywhere. A bundle key also unlocks the Media Preservation Toolbox.
• When the trial has ended, Auto Crop offers Buy a license or Enter key before doing any work.
• The "Buy me lunch" buttons are gone. New license terms in LICENSE.txt; the README, User Guide and cheat sheet have a "Trial and license key" section.

Version 0.4.6 11 October 2026

• Album pages on a Mac: fixed "An internal error has occurred. ?:0: attempt to index a boolean value" after the photos were found. Lightroom gives back just "true" when it makes a virtual copy, not the copy itself; the plug-in now finds each new copy by its name ("Photo 1", "Photo 1 note") instead.

Version 0.4.5 11 October 2026

• Scans that fill the frame: flatbed and slide-scanner JPEGs with little or no surround. Before, the plug-in looked for a dark surround all round the item; with none, it could crop a strip off the picture as an "irregular shape", or find nothing. Now each side is checked for a straight dark band (the slide mount's window, the scanner lid's shadow) or the picture running right to the frame, and the crop is the frame less those bands.
• A slide whose picture is dark right against a narrow mount band (a dark wall, a forest, a coat) no longer has that band left in the crop.
• Print borders: a border that a scanner's shadow darkens toward the frame, or with a glint along the paper's edge, is now trimmed (it was left on one side). A thin sliver of white or cream border left along the frame of a closely cropped scan is trimmed too.
• A black background or card lit unevenly: the brighter side of the background no longer joins the print, so the print is found and cropped inside its white border.
• Album pages, reading the writing: writing on a print itself now also gets its own copy cropped to just the writing, named like a label's ("Photo 1 note"), for an easy spot check against the caption.

Version 0.4.4 10 October 2026

• Album pages, reading the writing: captions written on the prints themselves are now read too, not only separate labels. The text goes into that photo copy's Caption, ahead of any label's. Only writing on plain light paper counts, such as a white border or a pale studio backdrop; writing in the scene (a shop sign on a brick wall) is mostly left out, though a white street sign against a bright sky is read.
• Block capitals and clear handwriting are read well; small faint script is not. About 1 to 2.5 seconds more per photo.

Version 0.4.3 10 October 2026

• Album pages: new option "Read the writing on labels into the Caption field" (off). The writing on each label or note is read on this computer (nothing is sent anywhere) and put in the Caption field of the note's copy and of its photo's copy, with the keyword "Check caption" (under Auto Crop) so the drafts can be found and corrected. A photo copy's caption is only filled if nobody has written one there.
• The reader: on a Mac, Apple's own text reader (Vision, built into macOS); on Windows, or if Vision can't be used or reads nothing, RapidOCR with PaddleOCR's PP-OCRv6 small models on ONNX Runtime (about 30 MB of models).
• In testing on handwritten labels in block capitals, about three words in four were read correctly, at about half a second to a second per label. Faint cursive is mostly not read.
• The download grows: ONNX Runtime 1.23.2, PyYAML, the models, and on Windows the Microsoft C++ runtime files ONNX Runtime needs; on the Mac also PyObjC (for Vision).

Version 0.4.2 10 October 2026

• Album pages: label and note copies are no longer cut off. They are now cropped to the whole slip plus a small margin, never tighter; a slip tucked under a print is cropped up to the print's edge, so a sliver of the print may show rather than cut letters.
• A label the photo-splitting step had cut in two (a line of writing looked like a seam) is put back together as one note.
• A note goes with the photo just above it when there is one (captions are written under the picture); before, a label tucked under the next print down could be given to that print.
• New option "Crop inside rounded or mounted corners" (off): crops in from each side just far enough that no rounded corner, black photo corner or mount corner shows, at most 15% of the short side. For slides, prints and album pages, not negatives.

Version 0.4.1 10 October 2026

• Album pages: labels and slips of paper on the page (often with names or dates written on them) now get a copy too, named after the photo they are beside: "Photo 2 note" (a second one "Photo 2 note 2"). Each comes right after its photo, is cropped to the whole slip (no border trim, no rotation check), and is saved as a TIFF with the others when that option is on.

Version 0.4.0 10 October 2026

• Album pages (test feature, hidden until turned on in the Plug-in Manager): one photo or scan of an album page, on a black or dark page, a light page or grid, or a flatbed, can hold several prints. Choose "Album pages (several photos on each)" under "The photos are of". Each print found becomes a virtual copy of the page named "Photo 1", "Photo 2" ... (in reading order: rows from the top, left to right), cropped and straightened to that print; the page itself is left as it is. Optionally each is also saved as a 16-bit TIFF beside the page ("<page> - Photo 1.tif"), added to the catalog and stacked with the page.
• Prints that touch or overlap are split where one print's edge crosses the other (a step in brightness right across, an outline that jogs there, or a white border beside it). A straight line inside one print (a horizon, a fence rail, bricks) is not a split. Labels and captions on the page are found and left out, and so are tape, photo corners and slivers of the page edge. A pile of overlapping prints gives one copy per visible strip.
• On album pages a print border is trimmed only when it is found on all four sides; otherwise the whole print is kept, caption and all.
• Running again on a page (with "Replace crops already made") updates its existing "Photo" copies.
• About 3 to 10 seconds a page. Single photos, gray bases and negatives are unchanged.

Version 0.3.6 10 October 2026

• Gray and tinted backgrounds: photos taken on a copy stand's gray base board or a cutting mat (gray or green, grid lines and all) are now cropped. The item is whatever differs from the board, lighter, darker or in color, measured against the board's own level across the frame (uneven light is allowed for). The grid lines are smoothed away, a print's soft shadow on the board counts as board, and the rectangle comes from the middles of the item's sides, so tape and fingers at its corners don't move it.
• Print borders: a border that narrows along a side (the picture printed a little crooked on its paper) is now trimmed to its widest point; a crease or uneven light across the border no longer stops the trim.
• Card mounts: with "Crop off white or cream print borders" on, a portrait's buff or cream card mount is trimmed to the picture. Untick the option to keep the mount and its imprint.
• Downloads are now named PictureOrgAutoCrop-Win-<version>.zip and PictureOrgAutoCrop-Mac-<version>.zip.

Version 0.3.5 10 October 2026

• Mac (Apple silicon, macOS 13 or later): a separate Mac download carries its own Python 3.12 with NumPy, OpenCV and rawpy, as the Windows download does. Nothing to install: no python.org, no Setup-Mac.command, no Terminal. On its first run the plug-in clears macOS's "downloaded from the internet" mark on its own folder so the built-in Python can run without a security prompt.
• Intel Macs, and Macs older than macOS 13, fall back to Setup-Mac.command as before (the message says so).
• NOTICE.txt lists the Mac components; licenses in python-mac/licenses.

Version 0.3.4 10 October 2026

• Mac: the "Run Setup-Mac.command" message, the README, User Guide and cheat sheet now say how to reach it. Finder shows the .lrplugin folder as a single item, so the file couldn't be found: right-click the plug-in, Show Package Contents, right-click Setup-Mac.command, Open.

Version 0.3.3 10 October 2026

• Undoes the 0.3.2 raw-file change: Lightroom measures these crops on the whole sensor after all, so raw crops are back exactly where 0.3.1 put them.
• Negatives: a side whose edge shows along only part of its length (a dense sky above shadows) is now found from the whole side at once, rather than guessed from the sprocket holes.
• Negatives: the sprocket holes are measured to a fraction of a pixel and fitted as one straight row, so sides placed from them land closer. Sides placed from the holes no longer get extra trim.
• Negatives: 1 pixel less trim inside every edge (the edges are sharp; the crop still sits inside the bright line at the frame edge).

Version 0.3.2 10 October 2026

• Raw files (DNG, NEF and others): crops moved to allow for the raw file's default crop area. (Undone in 0.3.3.)
• New troubleshooting row in the User Guide and cheat sheet: a photo with an earlier edit can look shifted; Develop > Reset fixes it.

Version 0.3.1 10 October 2026

• Negatives: edges that can't be seen are now placed from the sprocket holes. A camera moves the film exactly 8 holes per frame and holds it at a fixed height, so on one roll every frame sits in the same place relative to the holes. Frames in the selection whose edges show give that place; the others use it. Fixes "no frame edges found" on frames whose picture is nearly clear along two sides.
• Negatives: the edge finder looks past a neighbouring frame at the side of the capture, and finds low-contrast edges that could leave the sprocket-hole strip in the crop.
• Negatives: a side with nothing to go on is placed from the 3:2 shape of the frame, or on the sprocket side just inside the holes, before falling back to the capture's edge. Sides placed this way get 2 pixels more trim.
• User Guide and cheat sheet: where to find autocrop-log.txt (type %TEMP% in File Explorer's address bar).

Version 0.3.0 10 October 2026

• New: 35mm film negatives. In the options dialog, "The photos are of" > "35mm film negatives (in a carrier)". Edges are found where the picture gets darker than the clear film base (measured beside the sprocket holes), so the crop leaves out the rebate, sprocket holes and frame gaps, and is straightened to the frame. Frames from one camera are the same size: when three or more frames in the selection agree, that size places any side that can't be seen (a thin, nearly clear part of the picture), else the 3:2 shape is used. A side that runs off the capture is cut at the capture's edge. Crop before inverting.
• Print borders, Crop closer and rotation flags are not used for negatives (greyed out in the dialog).
• Documentation updated: User Guide section 11 (negatives; later sections renumbered), cheat sheet, README, design document.

Version 0.2.12 10 October 2026

• Rotation flags now follow how Lightroom shows the photo. The helper used the rotation saved in the file (or its sidecar), which can differ from Lightroom's own, so some sideways photos were not flagged. The plug-in now passes Lightroom's rotation to the helper (it falls back to the file's if Lightroom doesn't give one).
• autocrop-log.txt now gets one line per run saying for how many photos Lightroom's rotation was used.
• "Buy me lunch" buttons, as in the Media Toolbox: in the options dialog and in the Plug-in Manager panel.

Version 0.2.11 10 October 2026

• Fewer false rotation flags from faces: a sideways face must now be found at three different sizes of the picture. The face finder sometimes sees a faint "face" in a pattern, such as aircraft panels, at one size only. Real faces are found at every size. No slowdown: the extra sizes are only checked when a face turn is in view.
• New one-page cheat sheet: docs\Auto-Crop-Cheat-Sheet.html and .pdf.
• Documentation brought up to date: README, User Guide (troubleshooting for false flags and the empty log, new Planned section) and design document.

Version 0.2.10 10 October 2026

• Slides with a pale sky or sand along an edge no longer lose it to the "print border" trim. A real border ends in a straight line along the side; sky and sand end wherever the scene does, and a blue sky is never taken for a border. Prints with real borders are trimmed as before.
• A dark object in the picture that runs right up to an edge (a table leg, say) no longer pulls that whole side in: when part of the side agrees on one straight edge further out and the rest scatter inside it, the straight edge is used.

Version 0.2.9 10 October 2026

• Photos given an Auto Crop keyword (Check rotation or Irregular shape) also get the purple color label. Labels are never removed, since one may be your own.
• Orientation: a blue, smooth sky down one side now flags the photo.

Version 0.2.8 10 October 2026

• Photos cut to a circle, an oval or a ragged shape are recognised and cropped to the rectangle around the whole photo, so none of the photo is cut off. They get the keyword "Auto Crop > Irregular shape", and the summary says how many there were. Ordinary prints and slides are unchanged.

Version 0.2.7 9 October 2026

• New option "Crop closer to the edge" (off by default). Where the picture is dark against an edge, the crop goes to the outer end of the edge's soft fall-off, and no extra trim is used. Keeps detail that runs right to a slide mount. A thin dark line may show along some edges, so it is meant for the photos that need it.

Version 0.2.6 9 October 2026

• Soft slide edges: where the mount's shadow dims the last few pixels of picture, those pixels are now kept. A dark band near the mount's own darkness is still cropped off.
• Along each edge, the bright stretches count most, since a dark part of the picture against the edge makes the edge look further in than it is.

Version 0.2.5 9 October 2026

• Added LICENSE.txt, NOTICE.txt, this change log, a User Guide (docs folder, Markdown and HTML) and a design document (docs folder, Word). No change to how photos are cropped.

Version 0.2.4 9 October 2026

• When a slide's picture window isn't square (the camera slightly off square to the slide), the crop trims a sliver rather than show any border.
• The straighten angle is also checked for the one that keeps the most picture inside all four edges.

Version 0.2.3 9 October 2026

• The edge check from 0.2.2 pulled some sides in too far. It now goes by most of each side rather than its worst stretch, and can move a side out slightly where the picture clearly runs further.
• The extra trim inside the edge is now 0.15% by default (was 0.3%). Saved settings from earlier versions are replaced by the new default once.

Version 0.2.2 9 October 2026

• Each edge is checked in 16 short stretches along its length and moved in where the picture's edge is wavy or slightly crooked, so no black shows.

Version 0.2.1 9 October 2026

• Logo and a short description in Lightroom's Plug-in Manager.
• Orientation check also looks for a horizon running top to bottom.
• Orientation is judged as the photo is shown (the file's own orientation tag, or an .xmp sidecar for raw files).

Version 0.2.0 9 October 2026

• Slides: edges found on the camera's linear (raw) brightness, in stops, so dark pictures are not mistaken for the surround; mount glow and dark bands are passed over.
• Batch check: photos taken in the same holder are compared, and a side that disagrees with the rest is moved to the agreed place when the photo has a clear edge there.
• White or cream print borders on two sides are both trimmed.
• Orientation flags: keywords "Check rotation - turn left / turn right / upside down" under "Auto Crop", never included in exports. Nothing is turned automatically.
• One helper run for the whole selection, with a progress bar per photo; Cancel stops after the current photo.
• Windows bundle moved to OpenCV 4.14 (OpenCV 5 no longer includes the face detector).

Version 0.1.0 9 October 2026

• First test: Lightroom Classic plug-in with a Python helper. Crops and straightens photographed prints, magazines and documents on a dark background; optional print-border trim (on by default). Windows Python bundled; Mac uses its own Python 3 with Setup-Mac.command.