Chapter 20 — Maintenance

Day-to-day use of Scene Cards requires little housekeeping. This chapter covers the tasks worth doing occasionally: reclaiming disk space, backing up your documents, and keeping the app current.

20.1 Reclaiming Disk Space

A .scenecards document grows over time as you add reference files, stills, and shoot reports. Scene Cards never deletes files from the Media/ folder automatically — this is intentional, so you can always recover content by browsing the package directly.

When a document gets large, use Finder to remove what you no longer need.

How to open the package in Finder:

  1. Right-click the document in Finder.
  2. Choose Show Package Contents.
  3. Navigate to Media/ and delete the folders or files you want to remove.

⚠ Caution — deletions made in Finder are permanent and cannot be undone inside Scene Cards. Close the document in Scene Cards before deleting, or save immediately after to ensure the package is consistent.

20.1.1 Thumbnails

Thumbnails live in Media/thumbnails/. One file per card, named Ep{NN}_Scene_{N}.jpg (or .png).

Thumbnails are deleted automatically when a card is deleted inside Scene Cards. Orphaned thumbnail files are unlikely; you rarely need to clean this folder by hand.

20.1.2 Reference Files

Reference files live in Media/references/, one subfolder per card (§8.7). These folders are not deleted when a card is deleted. After removing cards — including during a script re-import that drops scenes — their reference folders remain.

To reclaim space:

  1. Open the package in Finder as above.
  2. In Media/references/, identify folders whose scene numbers no longer exist on the wall.
  3. Delete those folders.

20.1.3 Report Files

Report files live in Media/reports/ (§10.7). Removing a report badge from a day header inside Scene Cards deletes the attachment record but leaves the file on disk.

To reclaim space:

  1. Open the package in Finder.
  2. In Media/reports/, locate the day folder and delete the specific report file you no longer need.

ⓘ Note — re-importing a corrected report does not overwrite the old file; it writes alongside it. If you re-import frequently, Media/reports/ can accumulate superseded copies.

20.2 Backing Up

Scene Cards documents are standard files and work with any backup strategy you already use.

🍎 Time Machine

Time Machine backs up .scenecards packages automatically along with the rest of your Mac. Because the package is a directory bundle, Time Machine versions individual files within it — you can restore a single thumbnail or the entire document from any snapshot.

To restore a previous version:

  1. Open Time Machine with the document window in focus.
  2. Navigate to the snapshot you want.
  3. Click Restore to recover the whole package, or drill into Show Package Contents in the Time Machine browser to recover a specific file.

iCloud Drive

If iCloud Drive is enabled (§14.1), your document syncs to iCloud automatically and is accessible on all devices signed in to the same Apple ID. iCloud Drive also keeps deleted files in the Recently Deleted folder in iCloud.com for 30 days.

To check available iCloud storage:

  • 🍎 macOS — System Settings → Apple ID → iCloud → Manage.
  • 📐📱 iPadOS and iPhone — Settings → Apple ID → iCloud → Manage Account Storage.

Manual Archive

For a production archive at wrap, duplicate the document in Finder (⌥-drag on 🍎, or long-press → Duplicate on 📐📱), rename the copy with a date stamp, and store it alongside your other deliverables.

20.3 App Updates

Scene Cards is distributed through the Mac App Store, iPadOS App Store, and iOS App Store. There is no in-app update mechanism — updates arrive through the App Store app.

To check for updates:

  • 🍎 macOS — open the App Store → Updates tab.
  • 📐📱 iPadOS and iPhone — open the App Store → your account → Updates.

Enable automatic updates in System Settings → App Store (🍎) or Settings → App Store (📐📱) to receive updates without prompting.

ⓘ Note — Scene Cards opens older document formats automatically with no conversion step required (§18.9). Updating the app is safe; existing documents are not modified until you save them in the new version.

20.4 Where to Go Next

  • Reference file locations — §8.7.
  • Report file locations — §10.7.
  • iCloud sync setup — §14.1.
  • Document package layout — §18.8.
  • Format compatibility and recovery — §18.9.
  • Recovery from a corrupted document — §19, “The document won’t open”.