I did receive a code for this version from their marketing agency, but they had no say in the content of this article and related video. I've been using this software for many years and will be going over the new features, as well as the functions I use in my day-to-day workflow.
Check out the full ~24 minute video on YouTube:
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| A screenshot of the main tabs of ACDSee PSU. |
Main Functions Overview
On the top right of the interface, you'll find the main functions of the program:
- Manage: This is for managing your media files.
- Media: Provides a large list view of all the photos and videos in your database.
- View: Ideal for culling through photos and videos.
- Develop: Offers non-destructive editing, primarily for RAW files, but it can also be used with JPEGs.
- Edit: This is for raster-based, destructive editing with its own set of tools.
- People: Utilizes AI face detection to help you manage and name people in your photos.
- Dashboard: This new tab provides a wealth of information about your database, including camera and setting statistics.
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| The new homepage feature in ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2026, showing quick access to functions like "Find Duplicates." |
What's New in 2026?
Homepage and Duplicate Finder
A new homepage has been added to provide quick access to various functions. One of these is the "Find Duplicates" feature. It searches for duplicate photos based on image data rather than just the file name, so it can find duplicates even if they have different names.
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| The Duplicate Finder in action, showing a list of duplicate photos found in my sample set. |
Multi-threading and Activity Manager
One of the most significant productivity enhancements is the ability to apply adjustments and export files simultaneously thanks to multi-threading, which works with the new Activity Manager. For example, you can start exporting a batch of photos, and while that's running in the background, you can jump to another tab and start working applying develop adjustments to another set of RAW photos.
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| The Activity Manager showing an export in progress while other tasks can be performed. |
Video Metadata
A major update for 2026 is the enhanced video metadata support. I do a lot of video work, so it's great to see this in ACDSee now. You can view detailed information about your video files, including encoding type, color space, and chroma subsampling. You can even sort your videos by this metadata.
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| A view of the detailed video metadata available for an AVI file. |
AI-Powered Features
- AI Denoise: In the Edit tab, there's a new AI Denoise feature that is more targeted than the standard denoise function. It seems focused on removing noise while preserving detail with a slider control to adjust strength after it has finished processing.
- AI Presets in Develop Mode: The Develop tab now includes AI-based presets that can give you a starting point for your non-destructive RAW edits.
- AI Masking: The AI masking tools allow you to easily select subjects or backgrounds. What's fantastic is that you can copy and paste develop settings, and the mask will be recalculated for each new image.
- Improved Hair Selection: The Edit tab also features an improved hair selection tool, which is great for cosplay photography or any portrait work where you might need to adjust hair color or other aspects like sharpness.
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| The new split view feature in the Develop tab, showing a before-and-after of an AI-enhanced image. |
People Mode Enhancements
The People tab now includes a new grouping function, allowing you to sort people by name, face count, or suggestions. You can also now delete images directly from the People tab, which streamlines the culling process for people photography.
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| The new group function in the People tab, sorting named individuals. |
My Day-to-Day Uses and other Important Features
AI Keywording
The AI keywording feature is a potentially powerful tool for organizing a large photo archive. While not perfect, it does a good job of identifying generic subjects in your images, such as "nature," "tree," or "animal." This can be useful for finding specific types of images in a large archive for future projects.
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| An example of AI keywording, where the software has identified a subject as an "animal." |
Focus Stacking, HDR, and Panorama
ACDSee has some basic but functional tools for focus stacking, creating HDR images, and merging panoramas. While they don't offer a lot of adjustments, they are effective for quick results. The "Compare Images" tool is a great additional feature to take note of for seeing the results of these processes.
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| The "Compare Images" tool showing the difference in focus between a stacked photo and one of the source images. |
Final Thoughts
ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2026 is a functional program with a lot to offer. The tabbed interface and management capabilities are features I particularly appreciate in my own work.
Quirks and other constructive feedback:
- I wish there was a lot more functionality regarding automatic white balance and getting it to a degree that it looks good without not much manual adjustment. I spent a lot of time with my convention photos trying to adjust hundreds of pictures at each convention to make the pictures look decent. Convention lighting can be very mixed, so I end up having to adjust a lot of the photos.
- Maybe some sort of AI training system to adjust white balance how I prefer over many different locations and lighting situations in convention centers.
- I'm not sure what can be done, but there must be something that could be implemented programmatically to get "good" (not necessarily correct to what was in reality) white balance without the manual effort because I am generally able to get decent results over enough time and effort using the white balance and color EQ sliders. Though, there are some lighting situations where the lights in an area are missing part of the spectrum, so I'm not sure what could be done in those lighting situations.
- Have delete confirmation as an option for the Develop tab.
- Add a search box to the options window.
- They need to re-work PicaView for Windows 11. It doesn't display in the default context menu now.
- Two or more sorts in sequence.
- Enhance the AI keyword feature to detect more subjects.
- I might be misunderstanding how editing JPEGs works in the Develop tab, but it looks like the original is saved in a hidden folder, which feels problematic unless you only use ACDSee for editing and management. In some situations I've probably lost original photos I might have edited in that mode due to how it moves the original into an area I wouldn't necessarily have known existed. Ideally the program should leave the original exactly where it is and if it needs to generate a modified version it should store that in a different place or create some sort of custom file with a different extension.
- It's great that they enhanced the Dashboard tab with more statistical information, but I'd like to see a lot more. Or better yet give us the ability to create tabs of information that we could select from EXIF information.