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Photo sources
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A project can contain several independent photo sources. The current source types are local folders and Synology Photos albums.
Each source has its own active state, recursive option where applicable, metadata policy and stable identity. Two source entries may point to the same folder or server and still remain distinct.
- Disabling a source hides its photos from the rest of the application without deleting the source snapshot or editorial corrections.
- Re-enabling it restores those photos.
- Deleting a source removes that source and its project records after confirmation. Other sources are not changed.
- A completed refresh marks missing assets as absent instead of silently deleting their project history.
- Manual dates, GPS coordinates, places, captions and usage choices survive a refresh.
The application processes active sources sequentially. A failure in one source does not discard successful work from the others.
Local sources scan JPEG and PNG files. Recursive scanning is configured per source. Adding a folder or changing the recursive option starts a scan. After editing the folder path, run Analyze sources. None of these settings changes source files.
When a file has not changed in size or modification time, the stored analysis is reused. Files that disappear from a completed scan are marked missing; a cancelled scan does not mark unvisited files as missing.
Choose Add… → Synology Photos…, enter the NAS address and Synology credentials, optionally provide a 2FA code, then select an album. The adapter uses Synology Photos WebAPI calls in read-only mode.
The password, 2FA code, session ID and token are kept only for the current connection and are not written to the project. The NAS address, API path, TLS verification choice, selected album, stable source ID and, when provided, username are stored.
Import creates a project snapshot and downloads thumbnails. Full-size originals are fetched only when needed, notably before PDF export. After reopening a project, cached thumbnails remain available, but synchronization or access to uncached originals requires reconnecting the source through Modify….
Reconnecting the same NAS and album attaches a session without refreshing the snapshot. Use Synchronize sources to explicitly update remote contents.
Synology Photos uses a private API that may vary between DSM or Photos versions. Connection compatibility is therefore limited to the behavior implemented and tested in the current adapter.
Analyze sources scans local folders and recomputes metadata from saved remote snapshots. Synchronize sources also refreshes the remote photo list before recomputing metadata.
Cancellation is checked between stages; a remote import already in progress is not interrupted halfway through its snapshot.
Each source exposes choices for the effective date, GPS coordinates and location according to the candidates it provides:
- local folders normally prefer EXIF dates and GPS; filenames are a date fallback;
- remote sources normally prefer provider metadata;
- location can come from the provider, Nominatim reverse geocoding, or be disabled;
- manual values always take precedence over automatic policy choices.
Changing a policy recomputes effective values from stored candidates; it does not discard the alternatives or manual corrections.
When Nominatim is enabled, GPS coordinates are sent over the Internet to the configured OpenStreetMap Nominatim service to retrieve geographic information. The option defaults to enabled for local folders and disabled for Synology. Disabling it prevents automatic enrichment during analysis, but saving or restoring GPS coordinates in the editor still triggers geocoding, independently of this option. Results are cached in the project and nearby cached positions may be reused.
EXIF dates are read in this order: DateTimeOriginal, DateTimeDigitized, then DateTime. Recognized filenames can supply a fallback date; file modification time is not a capture date.
Date preferences fall back to other candidates: EXIF → provider → filename; provider → EXIF → filename; filename → EXIF → provider. GPS can also use the other available candidate.
The photo editor lets you correct the date or GPS coordinates and restore automatic values. GPS accepts a decimal point or comma, latitude from −90 to 90 and longitude from −180 to 180. Clearing both fields removes the effective coordinates.
Every active, present photo has one of three usage states:
- In the album body: the photo participates in chronological photo pages and is available to templates.
- Outside the body, available to templates: the photo is omitted from ordinary photo pages but remains selectable by album-wide templates such as covers.
- Disabled: the photo is excluded from both the body and template photo pool.
This state is independent from source activation and missing-file status, and is preserved during source refreshes.
For editing location text and captions, see User guide. For maintenance commands, see Advanced usage.