very confused

[Remco Viëtor]

On dimanche 3 août 2025 02:10:41 heure d’été d’Europe centrale futurevnv 
wrote:
> I'm trying to learn how to use Digikam because it looks like it has a
> good finder for similar/duplicate images.
> 
> 
> However, I'm finding myself entirely frustrated trying to figure out how
> to use it.  The thing that frustrates me is the idea of "albums."
> 
Albums are basically (sub)directories under the "collection", which is a 
directory on a drive. There are different "types" of collections, based on 
where that base directory is located: permanent, removable, or network.

The main difference in use is that a permanent collection is supposed to be 
present on the system at all times, i.e. the files are always available. For 
removable and network collections, the image files can be temporarily 
unavailable. For more details, please read the manual:
https://docs.digikam.org/en/setup_application/collections_settings.html

> I DO NOT WANT the program to make any copies into new folders on my 
> OS drive nor do I want it to start automatically assuming the folders I 
> input last time are still there since much of my work is to be done on 
> removable drives.

So you have to tell digikam that in your collection setup.

> I don't want the program to move, cut, copy, or delete anything without 
> my express permission.

In over 10 years of digikam use, I can't remember seeing that happen even 
once. But if you treat albums as virtual constructions, I can see how you 
would be surprised by losing a disk directory on deleting an album...

Note that you do want the program to use a database, because that allows you:
- limited operations on images in removable collections (tagging and such), 
and still see the thumbnails
- search the image collection efficiently.
- store fingerprints to allow fast(er) similarity searches.

Good luck,

Remco