For Sports, News & Editorial Photography
macOS, iPad & iOS
Import. Cull. Caption.
Crop. Tone. Deliver.
All in one app.
Deadline Editor is a complete photo editing and asset management tool for photographers who work under tight deadlines. Import from any source, edit with built-in toning and cropping, caption with Quick Text and audio transcription, and deliver via FTP — without leaving the app.
Import from cards, FTP tether, folders, or DeadlineFTP cloud
Built-in toning, curves, crop — with editorial-only mode
Quick Text captioning with sports roster generator
Full XMP/IPTC metadata with templates and 50+ variables
All settings sync between Mac and iPad/iOS via iCloud
macOS
Desktop app
iPad & iOS
Mobile app
Synced
Settings via iCloud
Your editing workflow, simplified
From import to delivery in a single app.
Import
Card, FTP, or cloud sync
Edit
Tone, crop, metadata
Caption
Quick Text, voice, batch ID
Deliver
FTP, SFTP, PhotoShelter
Gallery
Browse and organize at speed
A high-performance gallery built for large shoots, with filtering, sorting, and multi-tab support.
High-Performance Gallery
Virtual scrolling handles large collections smoothly. Adjustable thumbnail grid with configurable sizing and filename display.
Smart Filtering
Filter by color code, star rating, file type, protected status, transcription state, export status, batch ID, and more.
Tabs & Collections
Work on different shoots simultaneously with independent sort, filter, and selection state per tab. Custom sort orders including drag-and-drop.
Ratings & Color Codes
Color coding (0–9) and star ratings (0–5) applied instantly via keyboard shortcuts, with multi-select and hover-priority support.
Unified Source Browser
Favorites, recent folders, local volumes, network/SMB shares, FTP servers, hot folders, and Deadline FTP sources in one sidebar.
Full-Screen Slideshow
Auto-advance slideshow with zoom/pan. Rate and color-code images without leaving the presentation view.
Metadata
Caption and tag at the speed of thought
Full XMP/IPTC editing, templated metadata, Quick Text, batch mode, and audio memo transcription.
66+ XMP/IPTC Fields
Nine categories of metadata fields: Basic, Description, Creator, Content, People, Location, Rights, Workflow, and Camera Info. Pinned fields for your most-used entries.
XMP Templates & Variables
Create templates with 50+ built-in variables for file info, dates, camera data, and photographer detection. Immediate, deferred, and Photo Mechanic syntax supported.
Quick Text Autocomplete
Type a short code and expand to a full description. Delimiter mode and phrase autocomplete from CSV/TSV source files. Built-in sports roster generator for NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and college sports.
Batch ID Tagging
Keyboard-driven batch ID mode (Cmd+B) for rapid player or event tagging. Live Quick Text matching with disambiguation, copy/paste across consecutive images.
Audio Memo Transcription
Camera audio memo transcription converts voice tags to captions automatically. Smart transcription translates spoken jersey numbers and team names into full player descriptions via Quick Text.
Editing
Professional tone and color controls
Non-destructive adjustments with GPU-accelerated rendering, editorial-only mode, and batch support.
Tone & Color Controls
Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, Blacks, Temperature, Tint, Vibrance, Saturation, Clarity, Texture, Dehaze, and Noise Reduction.
Editorial-Only Toning
Journalism mode restricts adjustments to editorial-safe toning controls only, disabling masking and cloning to enforce integrity standards required by news organizations and wire services.
Curves Editor
Bezier curve editor with histogram overlay for precise tonal adjustments. Live histogram updates as you adjust. Before/after toggle with spacebar.
Crop & Rotation
Photoshop-style cropping with aspect ratio presets (16:9, 4:3, 3:2, 1:1, 5:7), custom dimensions, arbitrary rotation, and saveable crop presets.
Presets & Batch Editing
Save, load, rename, and manage tone presets with iCloud sync. Copy/paste adjustments across images. Apply presets to entire selections at once.
Flexible Interface
Work from the info panel or the dedicated editor panel — caption, crop, tone, and deliver in whichever interface you prefer. Dual-monitor support on macOS.
Delivery
Import everything, deliver everywhere
Flexible import from any source, with validated export and progressive delivery.
Flexible Import
Camera card import, hot folder monitoring, built-in FTP tether for Wi-Fi camera connection, remote FTP server import, and Deadline FTP cloud sync.
Multi-Format Export
JPEG, PNG, TIFF, HEIC with quality controls, resize options, metadata control, file size limiting, and pattern-based renaming with variable support.
FTP / SFTP Upload
Upload to configured FTP servers with retry on failure. Configure multiple destinations for wire services, clients, or newsrooms. PhotoShelter integration included.
Export Validation
Per-field validation rules on XMP templates with three severity levels. Required fields block delivery, alerts need acknowledgment, warnings are dismissible.
Progressive Delivery
Images that pass validation deliver immediately. Images with issues are held in a pending queue. Fix metadata and re-validate without restarting the export.
Photographer Registry
Ensures the right photographer's metadata gets on their images when working with groups of photographers. Auto-detects photographers from camera serial numbers, folder names, or XMP fields.
* Roster creation requires an internet connection.
Available on macOS, iPad & iOS
Edit at your desk or in the field. Your data stays on your device — no cloud, no telemetry.
100+
Keyboard shortcuts
66+
XMP/IPTC fields
50+
Template variables
Rust
High-performance core
Screenshots
See it in action
The same powerful workflow on your Mac, iPad, and iPhone.
Part of the Deadline family
Works great with DeadlineFTP
Use Deadline Editor on its own, or pair it with DeadlineFTP for a complete camera-to-delivery workflow. Sync photos, settings, templates, and Quick Text across your team.
Learn about DeadlineFTP