Increment/Decrement Rating for Consistent Speed Edit Workflow

I would like to propose an enhancement to the rating system that aligns with the workflow improvements introduced by Speed Edit.

Speed Edit represents a significant step forward in interaction design. It enables a continuous, fluid workflow where the right hand remains on the mouse while the left hand acts as a modifier. This creates a highly efficient and uninterrupted editing process, allowing adjustments to be made without shifting attention away from the image.

However, this workflow is interrupted when applying ratings.

Currently, assigning a rating requires moving the right hand from the mouse to the keyboard (often the numeric keypad) to select a value between 1 and 5. This introduces a recurring physical transition that disrupts the established motor pattern and slows the overall process—especially when working with large sets of images, such as wedding or reportage photography.

The core issue is that ratings are implemented as absolute values only, while much of the modern interaction model in Capture One (including Speed Edit) is based on relative, incremental adjustments.

To address this, I would suggest introducing two new commands:

• Increase Rating

• Decrease Rating

These commands would:

• Allow ratings to be adjusted incrementally without leaving the mouse

• Maintain consistency with the Speed Edit interaction model

• Reduce repetitive hand movement between input devices

• Enable integration with a wide range of input hardware (e.g. advanced mice, MIDI controllers, custom devices)

In particular, this would allow rating control to be naturally integrated into the Speed Edit workflow itself. For example, when holding a modifier key, the rating could be adjusted using mouse input such as scrolling. On devices like the Logitech MX Master series, including models with horizontal scroll wheels, this creates a direct and intuitive mapping: scrolling right increases the rating, scrolling left decreases it.

This approach would align the rating system with the same continuous input principles already used for image adjustments, making the entire workflow more coherent and efficient.

Importantly, this would not replace the existing rating shortcuts (1–5) but rather complement them by adding a relative method of interaction.

Adding this would make the rating process as fluid and continuous as image adjustments, completing the workflow paradigm introduced by Speed Edit.