[digiKam-users] Newbie digikam user has questions

[Andrew Goodbody]

On 24/02/2019 16:47, Jim Kahnweiler wrote:
> Hi, I just download and installed digikam on my Mac, running Mojave. As 
> a user using MediaPro for many years I have been forced to search for a 
> replacement because PhaseOne has abandoned the software. DK is the most 
> likely replacement. However, my initial experience has been frustrating.
> 
> I have several questions for which I can't find answers. Can someone 
> help me, please or provide a link to a tutorial that will explain how to 
> do what I want to do.
> 1) My first album copied the images to the database location. Is there a 
> way to create an album without moving files?

To add photos that already exist on your HDD simply create a collection 
and make it point to the directory containing your photos. It will not 
copy those photos anywhere.

> 2) The second album I created opened in a new window and was not saved. 
> No files were moved. The verticle images were not displayed in a rotated 
> view. And, I added the MIME preferences to recognize tif, psd and 
> dng format, but the application did not respond, so thumbnails were not 
> displayed.

I have no idea what you did here. You will need to explain exactly what 
menu options you chose etc etc
If you have photos that are not displayed in the correct orientation 
then you may need to file a bug and provide the developers with a sample 
image. Auto-rotating images according to the embedded EXIF data is 
certainly supported and does work, at least most of the time.

> 3) Screenshots on the DK website show a dark background, but I couldn't 
> find a way to change from the default white background.
> 4) When I first launched DK, the icons in the sidebar were solid, now 
> they appear greyed-out.
> 
> I see that v.6 is a .0 version, with new releases scheduled for the near 
> future. Would I find a more stable release if I downgrade to v.5.8?

I strongly suspect the issue is more to do with how you are using 
digikam, rather than any stability issues. This may be because it uses 
unfamiliar concepts that are not sufficiently intuitive especially when 
coming from other photo management applications.

> I'm sure as I use the program more, I'll have more questions.
> 
> I appreciate your help.
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> -- 
> Jim

Andrew