Photo Management Software

[Andrew B.]

ACDSee is a photo file manager and viewer that runs on the Windows platform. It started life as possibly the fastest image viewer around. So fast that it bragged by showing the load time on the status bar. It also cached the next image in the file list, to be ready for viewing. This made things even faster.

I first tried it out of desperation, when ThumbsPlus developed a problem. Pretty soon it displaced ThumbsPlus as my primary image manager. But I must also add that it did not completely replace ThumbsPlus. I continue to use ThumbsPlus for some tasks. But ACDSee became my main tool. In fact, it became the command center for all my photo work. I have shortcuts for all my photo applications right in the ACDSee interface. So I can quickly find my pictures (using its browse and view features), and then launch and load into the editor of my choice.

Then ACDSee 3 came along, and it became a rocky ride. It started slowing down. Some features were redesigned and came out worse. And bugs started to creep in. ACD Systems seemed to understand that this was not the same old ACDSee, and they rebadged version 2.x as the Classic version and sold it as the tool for people who need something that is fast and efficient. Then went on with upgrades, each of which I tested and rejected. But during this time ACDSee also became one of the most popular consumer photo managers, if not the most popular.

I think it might have been version 6 when it got its speed back. And then in version 8, enough features had been healed that as I was testing it, I found myself preferring it to the Classic version. And so now I've finally upgraded.

But it is not bulletproof. I had a couple shut downs since I got it. And some of the features are less than refined. Still, I am liking it better than anything else I've used.

http://www.acdsystems.com/products/acdsee/index