> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/sepinf-inc/IPED/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Interface Overview

> Comprehensive guide to IPED's integrated analysis interface

IPED features a powerful, integrated analysis GUI designed for efficient digital forensics investigation. The interface is built to handle cases with millions of items while providing intuitive access to all analysis features.

## Main Window Layout

The IPED interface uses a docking framework with customizable panels that can be arranged, resized, and minimized based on your workflow preferences.

<Frame>
  <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/sepinf-inc-iped/images/analysis-interface.png" alt="IPED Analysis Interface" />
</Frame>

### Key Interface Components

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Navigation Panel" icon="folder-tree">
    Browse case evidence by:

    * File system structure
    * Categories (file types)
    * Bookmarks and tags
    * AI-generated filters
  </Card>

  <Card title="Results Area" icon="table">
    View search results in:

    * Table view with sortable columns
    * Gallery view for visual items
    * Timeline view for temporal analysis
    * Graph view for relationship analysis
  </Card>

  <Card title="Viewer Panel" icon="eye">
    Preview evidence with built-in viewers:

    * Hex viewer
    * Text viewer with hit highlighting
    * Image/video viewer
    * HTML/email viewer
    * Metadata viewer
  </Card>

  <Card title="Detail Tables" icon="list">
    Related item information:

    * Subitems (extracted/carved items)
    * Parent containers
    * Duplicates by hash
    * Cross-references
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Top Toolbar

The main toolbar provides quick access to essential functions:

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Search Controls">
    * **Search Box**: Enter Lucene queries, regex patterns, or metadata searches
    * **Search Button**: Execute the current query
    * **Filter Dropdown**: Select predefined filters or manage custom filters
    * **Filter Duplicates**: Toggle automatic hash-based duplicate filtering
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Options">
    * **Options Button**: Access application settings and preferences
    * **Help Button**: Access documentation and help resources
    * **Update Button**: Refresh case data during live processing
    * **Export to ZIP**: Export selected items (triage mode)
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Checkbox Counter">
    Displays the number of items currently checked/marked for bookmarking
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

## Navigation Trees

### Evidence Tree

Browse the original file system structure:

* **Recursive Listing**: Toggle to show all descendants when selecting a folder
* **Tree Nodes**: Represent evidence sources, disk images, and directory structure
* **Icons**: Visual indicators for file types and status

<Tip>
  Right-click on any item in the tree for context-menu actions like opening in viewer, checking items recursively, or exporting.
</Tip>

### Categories Tree

Files are automatically categorized by type and properties:

```text theme={null}
├─ Documents
│  ├─ Office Documents
│  ├─ PDF Files
│  └─ Text Files
├─ Multimedia
│  ├─ Images
│  ├─ Videos
│  └─ Audio
├─ Applications
├─ Compressed Files
└─ System Files
```

Categories support:

* Hierarchical organization with parent/child relationships
* Click to filter results to that category
* Expandable to show subcategories

### Bookmarks Tree

Manage and organize tagged evidence:

* **Custom bookmarks**: Create named bookmarks for evidence organization
* **Color coding**: Assign colors to bookmark categories
* **Comments**: Add notes to bookmark groups
* **Keyboard shortcuts**: Assign hotkeys for quick bookmarking
* **Counters**: See item counts per bookmark

<Info>
  Press **Ctrl+B** to open the Bookmarks Manager for creating and managing bookmark categories.
</Info>

## Results Views

### Table View

The default results table displays items with customizable columns:

**Available Columns:**

* Name, Path, Type, Size, Modified Date, Hash
* Category, Deleted Status, Carved Status
* Custom metadata fields
* Score (for search relevance)

**Table Features:**

* **Column Sorting**: Click headers to sort (shift-click for multi-column)
* **Column Filtering**: Right-click column headers for quick filters
* **Column Selection**: Show/hide columns via Options menu
* **Row Selection**: Single/multi-select for actions
* **Context Menu**: Right-click for item-specific actions

### Gallery View

Visual grid display optimized for images and videos:

* **Thumbnail Display**: Automatic thumbnail generation
* **Video Frames**: Toggle between first frame and multiple frames
* **Grid Size**: Adjustable thumbnail size (+ / - buttons)
* **Filters**: Grayscale and blur filters (Ctrl+W / Ctrl+Q)
* **Similar Search**: Find similar images or faces from gallery

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Gallery Shortcuts" icon="keyboard">
    - **Ctrl+Q**: Toggle blur filter
    - **Ctrl+W**: Toggle grayscale
    - Arrow keys: Navigate thumbnails
    - Space: Check/uncheck item
  </Card>

  <Card title="Gallery Actions" icon="wand-magic-sparkles">
    * Similar image search
    * Similar face search
    * Increase/decrease thumbnail size
    * Toggle video frames mode
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

### Timeline View

Chronological analysis of events:

* **Time-based sorting**: Items organized by timestamp metadata
* **Event filtering**: Filter by date ranges and event types
* **Visual timeline**: Chart view showing event distribution
* **Multiple timestamps**: Modified, created, accessed dates

<Info>
  Enable timeline view using the clock icon button in the table toolbar.
</Info>

## Status Bar

The bottom status bar displays:

* Current operation status and progress
* Total items in current result set
* Selected/checked item counts
* Case information and warnings

## Customizing the Layout

The docking framework allows extensive customization:

1. **Drag tabs** to reposition panels
2. **Stack tabs** by dragging one onto another
3. **Minimize panels** to save screen space
4. **Detach panels** to separate windows
5. **Save layouts** for different analysis workflows

<Warning>
  Layout configurations are saved automatically. Use **Panels Layout** in the Options menu to reset to defaults if needed.
</Warning>

## Keyboard Shortcuts

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Search and Navigation">
    * **Ctrl+F**: Focus search box
    * **Enter**: Execute search
    * **Escape**: Clear search filters
    * **Tab**: Navigate between panels
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Item Actions">
    * **Space**: Check/uncheck selected items
    * **R**: Check items recursively
    * **P**: Select parent items
    * **F**: Select referenced items
    * **D**: Select items that reference selected
    * **Ctrl+A**: Select all in current view
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Bookmarking">
    * **Ctrl+B**: Open Bookmarks Manager
    * **Ctrl+1-9**: Quick bookmark with assigned shortcuts
    * **Alt+1-9**: Remove from bookmark (when shortcut assigned)
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="View Controls">
    * **Ctrl+Q**: Toggle blur filter (gallery/viewer)
    * **Ctrl+W**: Toggle grayscale (gallery/viewer)
    * **Arrow Keys**: Navigate items
    * **Page Up/Down**: Scroll through results
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Performance Considerations

### Working with Large Cases

IPED is optimized for cases with millions of items:

* **Lazy Loading**: Results loaded on-demand
* **Index-based**: Fast searches via Lucene indexing
* **Efficient Caching**: Thumbnails and previews cached
* **Portable Cases**: Can run from external drives

<Tip>
  For cases with 1M+ items, use specific searches and filters rather than browsing all items at once.
</Tip>

### Resource Management

* **Memory Usage**: Automatically managed, adjust via Options if needed
* **Disk Cache**: Thumbnails and temp files stored in case directory
* **Multi-threading**: Parallel processing for responsiveness

## Next Steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Searching" icon="magnifying-glass" href="./searching">
    Learn advanced search techniques with Lucene queries and regex
  </Card>

  <Card title="Filtering" icon="filter" href="./filtering">
    Master filtering and grouping capabilities
  </Card>

  <Card title="Built-in Viewers" icon="eye" href="./viewers">
    Explore the integrated file viewers
  </Card>

  <Card title="Bookmarks" icon="bookmark" href="./bookmarks">
    Organize evidence with bookmarks and tags
  </Card>
</CardGroup>


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