PHOTOHELM GETTING STARTED GUIDE — v1.17.0
===========================================
First-time setup in 10 simple steps

PhotoHelm organizes and analyzes your existing photo and video folders without
moving, renaming, deleting, or editing the originals.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN
----------------
- Have an Internet connection available for the first-time Local AI and Face
  Recognition downloads.
- For large libraries, use fast local storage or a USB 3.x/USB-C SSD when
  practical. Older external backup drives can make initial processing much slower.

STEP 1 — INSTALL AND START PHOTOHELM
------------------------------------
Windows:
1. Run the PhotoHelm Windows installer and approve the UAC prompt.
2. On a first install, Setup automatically downloads the Windows runtime and
   PhotoHelm dependencies. This can take several minutes.
3. Future upgrades/reinstalls can reuse the runtime and should be faster.

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu-family):
  sudo apt install ./photohelm_1.17.0_all.deb
APT downloads missing Linux system dependencies automatically.

STEP 2 — INSTALL LOCAL AI COMPONENTS
------------------------------------
1. Open Smart Search.
2. Click "Install Local AI Components".
3. Leave PhotoHelm open while packages and AI models download.
4. When complete, the button changes to "Local AI Ready".

Local AI enables Photo AI captions/tags, Video AI, and Smart Search semantic
indexing. Settings > AI & Processing > AI processing device defaults to
"Automatic — use GPU when available". CPU fallback remains available.

STEP 3 — INSTALL FACE RECOGNITION
---------------------------------
1. Open People.
2. Click "Install Face Recognition".
3. PhotoHelm creates a private face-recognition environment and downloads the
   YuNet/SFace models.
4. When ready, the button changes to "Face Recognition Ready".

STEP 4 — CHOOSE YOUR PHOTO AND VIDEO LIBRARY
--------------------------------------------
1. Click "Choose Photo Folder".
2. Select the top-level folder containing the media you want indexed. Subfolders
   are included.
3. For a new library, click Scan / Refresh after the folder is selected.

For 20,000+ items, fast local storage or a fast USB 3.x/USB-C SSD is strongly
recommended during initial scanning/AI analysis.

STEP 5 — REVIEW AI AND PROCESSING SETTINGS
------------------------------------------
1. Open Settings > AI & Processing.
2. Recommended AI device: "Automatic — use GPU when available".
3. Under "Default Scan / Refresh Work", choose the work you want enabled:
   - Photo AI captions & tags
   - Quality scoring
   - Duplicate analysis
   - Smart Search index
   - Detect faces
   - Recognize people
   - Video AI
   - Recognize people in videos
4. Click "Apply Settings".

STEP 6 — RUN THE FIRST SCAN / REFRESH
-------------------------------------
1. Return to Library and click "Scan / Refresh".
2. Watch the status area for progress.
3. "Stop Processing" safely preserves completed work; unfinished work remains
   eligible for the next Scan / Refresh.

PhotoHelm does not move, rename, delete, or edit original media.

STEP 7 — SET UP PEOPLE
----------------------
1. Open People.
2. If needed, click "Recognize / Refresh People".
3. Name face clusters and make corrections.
4. After several changes, click "Apply / Re-check Recognition".

STEP 8 — USE SMART SEARCH
-------------------------
1. Open Smart Search and confirm Local AI is READY.
2. If needed, click "Build / Refresh Smart Index".
3. Try natural-language searches such as:
   - photos of Dad at the beach
   - best pictures from Virginia
   - videos from July 2022
4. Use "Show Results in Library" to work with matches in the normal Library.

STEP 9 — CREATE YOUR FIRST PHOTOHELM BACKUP
-------------------------------------------
1. Open Settings > Backup & Storage.
2. Click "Create Compressed Backup…".

The backup includes PhotoHelm knowledge such as AI results, People data,
Timeline/Locations, ratings, favorites, tags, albums, notes, duplicate decisions,
and Smart Search data. It does not contain the original media.

STEP 10 — EVALUATION AND LICENSE ACTIVATION
-------------------------------------------
1. Open Settings > License.
2. After purchase, paste the PhotoHelm license key and choose Activate Online.
3. After activation, the local entitlement allows PhotoHelm to start offline.

EVALUATION
----------
PhotoHelm includes a full-feature 10-day evaluation. After the evaluation,
purchase PhotoHelm and activate the license from Settings > License.

FIRST-DAY CHECKLIST
-------------------
[ ] Start PhotoHelm and let readiness checks finish.
[ ] Smart Search > Install Local AI Components > Local AI Ready.
[ ] People > Install Face Recognition > Face Recognition Ready.
[ ] Choose Photo Folder.
[ ] Settings > AI & Processing > review defaults > Apply Settings.
[ ] Library > Scan / Refresh.
[ ] People > name clusters > Apply / Re-check Recognition.
[ ] Smart Search > try a normal-language search.
[ ] Settings > Backup & Storage > Create Compressed Backup…
[ ] Settings > License > activate when ready.

REMEMBER
--------
PhotoHelm's organizational knowledge lives in its database. Your original media
remains in the folders you chose. Use PhotoHelm's compressed database backup for
PhotoHelm knowledge, and your normal backup system for the original files.