Use Image Grouping to turn a batch of uploaded photos into clean product groups before Dropstitch starts analysis and listing work.

Before you start

Open List and launch Product Studio by uploading images or by opening the available products flow.
In Product Studio, open Settings.
Turn on Smart Grouping.
Choose the grouping mode you want to start with.
If you turn Smart Grouping off, Dropstitch will keep images in creation-time order, oldest first, instead of grouping them into products.
When Smart Grouping is off, drop images one product at a time. Each drag-and-drop batch is treated as a single product.

How it works

Image grouping happens inside Product Studio.

The upload flow uses two main stages:

Organizer: where incoming photos are grouped into products
Product Buffer: where grouped products move after you click Continue, then run analysis and research before they are added to the grid

Dropstitch supports two grouping modes:

Mode	Best for	Current limit
AI grouping	Mixed or inconsistent image sets	`50` images per batch
Automatic	Clean EXIF and consistent capture flows	`500` images per batch, `200` during trial

Default behavior:

AI grouping is the default.
If Automatic sees mixed or unreliable capture data, Dropstitch shows a split modal so you can either split by a fixed image count or switch that upload to AI grouping.
Manual split is a recovery tool inside that modal, not a separate main grouping mode.
If Smart Grouping is turned off, images stay in creation-time order, oldest first. In that mode, each drag-and-drop batch is treated as a single product, so upload one product at a time.

How to use it

Open List and start Product Studio.
Click Settings.
Turn on Smart Grouping.
Choose AI grouping or Automatic.
Upload photos into Organizer.
Review the grouped products.
If you started with Automatic and the split modal appears, either:

choose a fixed split count, or
switch that upload to AI grouping

When the groups look correct, click Continue.
Let the products move into Product Buffer for analysis and research.

Success check

Each grouped product contains images from one item only.
The number of groups roughly matches the number of products you expected.
After Continue, the grouped products appear in Product Buffer.

Tips

Recommended approach: use Automatic for highly consistent camera workflows and AI grouping for mixed or messy archives.
Keep the first image of each product clean and visually distinct from the next product.
For the Dropstitch mobile app, grouping is usually lighter because capture order already does more of the work before products reach desktop review.
For heavy upload days, keep source image size reasonable. Large files slow upload time even when grouping itself is correct.

Advanced settings

Skip Organizer sends groups forward immediately after upload.
Only use Skip Organizer when your capture flow is already proven reliable.
Keep it off when testing a new device, a new shoot style, or a mixed archive import, because you lose the manual check before processing starts.

Troubleshooting

Split modal appears while using Automatic: the EXIF or capture structure is mixed. Use a fixed split count or switch that upload to AI grouping.
Wrong images are grouped together: rerun the batch with AI grouping or correct the split count in the modal.
Too many corrections are needed: turn off Skip Organizer so you can review groups before they move forward.
Grouping feels slow: large files and large batches take longer to upload. Automatic can group up to 500 images per batch (200 during trial), while AI grouping is limited to 50 images at a time.

Value reflection

Without reliable grouping, the same batch turns into manual regrouping, manual checking, and repeated AI corrections. Dropstitch gives you a repeatable grouping layer before listing work begins, so upload days move faster with less product mix-up risk. Once your capture pattern is stable, anyone on the team can follow the same grouping routine.