Removing photos from IG without deleting them from source folder

[CluelessBloke]

Hi all - wondering if someone can help with a problem I haven't seen before?

I've been looking through various folders tonight, with IG as my preferred default viewer. Right now I have 164 photos open in IG. And I can't see any way to remove or close them. I can see delete options, but I don't want to delete. I just want to remove them from the open IG viewer.

Using Win11. Have updated to v 9.4.1.15 and repeatedly closed the IG app. It just comes back with the same 164 photos loaded when I restart it. This is a new behaviour, I'm sure. I've used IG for years, and I've always been able to close images in IG without deleting them from my hard drive. I did it earlier today while working on something else.

Have I exceeded an open files count and broken the poor thing? Grateful for any suggestions. Thanks.