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Can you use darktable without the import step?

The place where I store my RAW files is not where I work on them - I'll typically copy them from a memory card to my machine, do whatever processing, then shift them away to storage, so I find the whole idea of a 'library' unecessary.

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"Importing" in Darktable just means letting Darktable know where to find the RAWs. Copying them from the original location into a separate library is optional. If you routinely move the RAW files after working on them you may find that you need to clean up some broken links periodically but it isn't much of an issue. All the edits are stored in .xmp sidecar files and will automatically be restored if you import the RAWs again from a different location, provided you keep the RAWs and sidecar files together.

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