The interface

Darkroom has two screens: the Library (photo grid, G key) and Develop (one photo, D key). A third one, Retouch (Ctrl+E), takes the developed photo into layers.

The areas of the Develop screen

Area	Contents
Menu bar	File, Edit, Photo, View, Help
Toolbar	left panel, previous / next photo, search, export
Left panel	Browse (drives and folders), Snapshots, History, and at the bottom the Collections
Viewer	the photo; a double-click zooms in on the clicked point, another one returns to the whole photo. When the photo is zoomed in, a navigator at the bottom right shows the displayed part; clicking or dragging inside it moves the view
Right panel	histogram, shooting information, then the settings (Edit)
Icon bar (on the right)	Crop (C), Remove (Q), Masking (Shift+W), Edit; clicking the selected icon again (Edit, Info) closes the right panel to enlarge the photo, clicking an icon opens it again
Filmstrip	the photos in the folder; a click opens a photo. F6, View › Hide Filmstrip or the button to the right of the clipping warning, at the bottom, hides it to enlarge the photo (remembered)
Bottom bar	Grid / Detail, rating, flag, copy / paste settings, before / after, clipping warning and filmstrip (icons), zoom: Fit (the whole photo), a sloped slider to zoom in or out (snaps to 100%, up to 300%) and the percentage, to type for an exact value (click, digits, Enter); the slider hides when the window is too narrow

Navigating

• ← / →: previous / next photo.
• G: grid; D: develop the selected photo; Enter in the grid: open.
• F11: full screen.
• The search filters the folder by file name or keyword.

Before / After and clipping warning

• \ or the before / after icon (half-filled frame) in the bottom bar: shows the photo without your settings ("Before"), then with them again.
• J or the clipping icon (histogram): highlights clipped areas in color (blown highlights, blocked shadows).

Appearance

View › Appearance changes the look of the interface; your choice is remembered.

Appearance	Style
Darkroom	dark neutral grays, the original appearance
Charcoal	darker neutral grays
Classic	section titles in capitals on a band, gray background around the photo
Studio	deep blacks, orange accent, floating panels with rounded corners, slightly larger interface
Neutral Gray	mid-gray background (18%) around the photo, for judging contrast and colors
Compact	smaller interface and narrow panels: more room for the photo (laptops)
Slate	medium grays, triangle sliders, blue accent
Graphite	dark grays, orange accent, one-line sliders, dense interface
Steel	dark grays, deep blue accent, one-line sliders, square switches
Pewter	mid gray, one-line sliders, on/off buttons

Workspace

View › Workspace changes Darkroom's layout, shortcuts and wording; your choice is remembered and brings the appearance that goes with that workspace. Settings and the rendering of your photos stay the same from one workspace to another.

The Darkroom workspace, the default, is Darkroom's original interface, familiar to Adobe Lightroom users. The others, listed in the menu under For users of:, offer a layout, wording and shortcuts familiar to users of Adobe Camera Raw, Capture One, DxO PhotoLab and darktable, so you feel at home coming from them.

Workspace	What changes
Darkroom	Darkroom's original interface
Camera Raw	panels in the order Camera Raw users know (Light, Color, Effects, Curve…), familiar wording (Temperature…), shortcuts (I White Balance Selector, S Color Sampler, B Remove, M Masking, P before / after, Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V copy / paste settings); Slate appearance
Capture One	tools on the left in tabs (Library, Shape, Style, Adjust, Refine, Metadata), browser in a column on the right, tools in the top bar; familiar tool names (Exposure, High Dynamic Range, Clarity and Structure, Sharpening…), shortcuts (Y before / after, Ctrl+E clipping warning, F7 new variant…); Graphite appearance (orange accent, one-line sliders)
DxO PhotoLab	histogram on the left, stacked palettes on the right (Light, Color, Detail, Geometry, Effects) with a search and family buttons, a square switch to turn each correction on or off; PhotoLibrary / Customize tabs; familiar wording (Selective Tone, Microcontrast, Fine Contrast, Color Rendering…), shortcuts (R crop, Ctrl+D before / after…); Steel appearance
darktable	modules in tabbed groups (active modules, base, tone, color, correct, effects) with a search, an on/off button on each module, lighttable / darkroom views; familiar module names (exposure, local contrast, color balance rgb…), shortcuts (L / D, R reject, F1 to F4 color labels, X compare, arrows next or previous photo…); Pewter appearance (mid gray)

In every workspace, all of Darkroom's settings are there: those with no usual place in that workspace (lens blur…) are placed with their family. The tools described in Tools of each workspace are in every workspace too.

Language

View › Language: French or English. On first launch, Darkroom uses the system language: French if Windows (or Linux) is in French, English otherwise.

Undo

Ctrl+Z undoes, Ctrl+Y (or Ctrl+Shift+Z) redoes. A slider drag counts as a single step. The History panel lists all the steps; a click goes back to any of them.