Offline Files for macOS – Search Any Drive, Even When It’s Unplugged

April 8^th, 20263

Offline Files for macOS – Search Any Drive, Even When It's Unplugged

by Nino LeitnerApril 8^th, 2026

Berlin-based editor and cinematographer Paul Kothe has released Offline Files, a macOS app that indexes external hard drives and makes their contents searchable even when the drives are disconnected. Priced at $8.99 / €8.99 as a one-time purchase on the Mac App Store, the app targets freelance editors, cinematographers, and photographers who manage growing collections of external storage and need a fast, local way to find files across all of them.

If you have worked in post-production or on set for any length of time, you know the shelf. Shuttle drives from DITs, backup copies of camera originals, client delivery drives, archive volumes that have not been mounted in months. The labels fade, the spreadsheets stop getting updated, and eventually you find yourself plugging in drives one by one just to locate a single clip or image file. Offline Files is built around that exact frustration: instead of guessing, you search first and plug in second.

Like a Finder window for files on drives that aren’t connected: Offline files app. Image credit: Paul Kothe

How it works

The app scans each connected volume once and stores its metadata locally on your Mac. That metadata includes filenames, full directory paths, file sizes, creation and modification dates, and file extensions. From that point on, every indexed file is searchable through the app regardless of whether the drive is physically connected. When a known drive is reconnected, Offline Files auto-syncs to pick up any changes.

Importantly, the app recognizes common production formats including .braw, .r3d, and .mxf, alongside a wide range of RAW image formats such as .arw, .cr3, and .dng. That format awareness makes it straightforward to filter results by media type, which is particularly useful when you are searching across volumes that contain a mix of camera originals, exports, project files, and general data. Preview support via QuickLook is available as well, though the level of metadata detail may vary depending on the format and whether the drive is currently online.

Overview of the unplugged volumes that were indexed. Image credit: Paul Kothe

The problem it solves

The use case is simple and immediately recognizable. A client asks for a regrade on a project from last year. You do not remember which of your eight shuttle SSDs has the camera originals. One search in Offline Files shows the volume name and full file path, and you pull that single drive off the shelf. The same applies for photographers: a client requests reprints from a shoot two years ago, and instead of mounting drives until you find the right .cr3 folder, you type a search query and get an answer in seconds.

Beyond basic search, the app can bundle drives into groups and detect duplicate files across all indexed volumes, which is a useful housekeeping feature for anyone whose backup strategy has resulted in the same footage living on multiple drives without a clear record of which copy is the primary. A menubar shortcut provides quick access to a drive overview without needing to open the full application, and the product page also lists a “Smart Analyze” feature that detects objects, people, animals, and other subjects within indexed files for integration into search results.

Offline Files is Mac-only. Image credit: Paul Kothe

What it is not

Kothe is upfront about the app’s scope. Offline Files is a search and index tool, not a media asset manager. It does not generate proxies, does not integrate with NLE bins, and does not replace dedicated MAM systems designed for large-scale facilities. For solo editors, small teams, and freelancers who manage their own drive libraries, that is precisely the point: it solves one specific problem cleanly without trying to be a full asset management platform.

The database is entirely local. There is no cloud component, no user accounts, and no data leaving your machine. Only metadata is stored, never file contents. For productions with strict data handling requirements, that local-only architecture is a meaningful detail.

System requirements and pricing

Offline Files requires macOS 15.2 (Sequoia) or later and supports both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. The app is available in nine languages including English, German, Japanese, French, and Spanish.

Pricing is set at $8.99 / €8.99 as a one-time purchase on the Mac App Store with no subscription required. For a utility that could save considerable time on any production with more than a handful of external drives, that is a notably low barrier to entry.

Have you been looking for a lightweight way to keep track of what lives on your growing shelf of production drives? Could a simple index tool like this fill a gap in your post-production workflow? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!