External Library Setup: New Uploads Cause Duplicates for Non-Admin User

[seniyakk]

Hello.

My Immich has 2 active users who upload photos:

• admin
• user

I have an external library, which includes folders:

• gallery-admin
• gallery-user
• gallery-admin-user

I’ve connected an external library in the docker-compose.yml for Immich so that new uploaded photos are stored directly in that location.
The reason for this setup is that my external library (old photos before Immich) is located on the same drive where I store new photos. I want to avoid maintaining two separate folders for the same purpose - storing shared photos for both the admin and user.

In "Managing External Libraries" in Immich, I connected folders in the following way
admin:

• gallery-admin
• gallery-admin-user

user:

• gallery-user
• gallery-admin-user

When I upload photos as the user through Immich's mobile app, they are stored in the folder "gallery-admin-user". Admin sees these photos correctly, but the user sees the new photos twice. It is only with the new uploaded photos, which were not in the external library.

Do you have ideas why the user sees the new uploaded photo twice?

docker-compose.yml

`services:
immich_server:
container_name: immich_server
image: ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-server:release
depends_on:
- immich_redis
- immich_postgres
environment:
DB_HOSTNAME: immich_postgres
DB_USERNAME: immich
DB_DATABASE_NAME: immich
DB_PASSWORD: jLWwM6EhjT6f7jfgbscvbnbmL89DBrzH
REDIS_HOSTNAME: immich_redis
UPLOAD_LOCATION: /usr/src/app/upload
restart: always
volumes:
- data:/usr/src/app/upload
- /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
- gallery-admin:/gallery/aldmin
- gallery-user:/gallery/user
- gallery-admin-user:/gallery/admin-user
- gallery-admin-user:/usr/src/app/upload/library/admin
- gallery-admin-user:/usr/src/app/upload/library/user
networks:
- immich
- traefik

immich_microservices:
container_name: immich_microservices
image: ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-server:release
restart: unless-stopped
depends_on:
- immich_redis
- immich_postgres
- immich_server
environment:
DB_HOSTNAME: immich_postgres
DB_USERNAME: immich
DB_DATABASE_NAME: immich
DB_PASSWORD: jLWwM6EhjT6f7jfgbscvbnbmL89DBrzH
REDIS_HOSTNAME: immich_redis
volumes:
- data:/usr/src/app/upload
- /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
- gallery-admin:/gallery/aldmin
- gallery-user:/gallery/user
- gallery-admin-user:/gallery/admin-user
- gallery-admin-user:/usr/src/app/upload/library/admin
- gallery-admin-user:/usr/src/app/upload/library/user
networks:
- immich

immich_ml:
container_name: immich_ml
image: ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-machine-learning:main
restart: unless-stopped
volumes:
- model-cache:/cache
networks:
- immich

immich_redis:
container_name: immich_redis
image: redis:6.2-alpine@sha256:84882e87b54734154586e5f8abd4dce69fe7311315e2fc6d67c29614c8de2672
restart: unless-stopped
networks:
- immich

immich_postgres:
container_name: immich_postgres
image: tensorchord/pgvecto-rs:pg14-v0.2.0@sha256:90724186f0a3517cf6914295b5ab410db9ce23190a2d9d0b9dd6463e3fa298f0
restart: unless-stopped
environment:
POSTGRES_PASSWORD:jLWwM6EhjT6f7jfgbscvbnbmL89DBrzH
POSTGRES_USER: immich
POSTGRES_DB: immich
volumes:
- db:/var/lib/postgresql/data
networks:
- immich

volumes:
db:
driver: local
driver_opts:
type: none
o: bind
device: $VOLUMES_PATH_PREFIX/immich/volumes/db
data:
driver: local
driver_opts:
type: none
o: bind
device: $VOLUMES_PATH_PREFIX/immich/volumes/data
gallery-admin:
driver: local
driver_opts:
type: nfs
o: addr=192.168.0.1,rw,nfsvers=4
device: :/mnt/raid-z96tb/storage/gallery/admin
gallery-user:
driver: local
driver_opts:
type: nfs
o: addr=192.168.0.1,rw,nfsvers=4
device: :/mnt/raid-z96tb/storage/gallery/user
gallery-admin-user:
driver: local
driver_opts:
type: nfs
o: addr=192.168.0.1,rw,nfsvers=4
device: :/mnt/raid-z96tb/storage/gallery/admin-user
model-cache:
driver: local
driver_opts:
type: none
o: bind
device: $VOLUMES_PATH_PREFIX/immich/volumes/model-cache

networks:
traefik:
name: traefik
external: true
immich:
name: immich`

[bo0tzz]

I'm struggling to fully understand your mounts setup, but

So uploaded photos are stored in an external library.

You should not do this. UPLOAD_LOCATION and any external libraries should be entirely separate.

[seniyakk]

@bo0tzz
But this doesn’t seem logical.
Based on your explanation, it sounds like:

• Old photos are accessed through an external library.
• New photos are uploaded to UPLOAD_LOCATION, which is separate from the external library.

This would mean having two separate locations for photos.
However, my external library is located on the same drive where I store new photos. So why can’t I continue storing new photos in the same folder where I’ve kept photos before using Immich?

[bo0tzz]

Because that's not how Immich works. External libraries are external, just like the name says, and entirely separate from uploads. You can either manage the files yourself and use external libraries, or let Immich manage them by uploading, or go for some awkward inbetween.