Understanding how Avalanche migration handles managed and referenced files

Does Avalanche support Referenced and Managed files ?

This is a question we received a lot: does Avalanche properly handle referenced and managed files from your library ?
Or we get asked this variant: "do I need to transform my managed images into referenced images, or the opposite, to work with Avalanche ?"
The answer is:
- Avalanche handles both referenced and managed files,
- Avalanche does not require from you any preparation of rework of your original library in order for the migration to work.
 
Most photo cataloging apps support 2 types of images: managed and referenced.
A managed image is an image that is stored inside the catalog when imported (Apple Photos, Apple Aperture support managed images).
A referenced image, in turn, is an image that lives outside the catalog and is simply referenced. Referenced images are the standard in Lightroom for example. 

Avalanche handles both scenarios:
- when it encounters a managed image (in Aperture for example) it will automatically copy it outside of the catalog package into the destination folder that you have selected. Our assumption is that in the migration, you don't want to leave any managed image burried in a catalog package that you might discard at a later date.
- when it encounters a referenced image, it will either leave it in its location, or copy it to the new location, depending on your output options.


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