Delete file or album without deleting files?

[Daniel Bauer]

Am 05.09.25 um 21:08 schrieb Glenn Manuel:
> Hi,
> I want to migrate away from Lightroom, and Digikam looks like an excellent choice.
> 
> I am experimenting with the latest version (8.7.0, in Windows 11),
> importing a few folders to figure out the best way to migrate,
> and to use it going forward.
> 
> As I am learning, I would like to delete an album from the database, and re-import it
> (e.g. import using a template, etc.).
> 
> Digikam does not seem to support that.
> Delete seems to want to delete the files (or move it to trash).
> 
> The documentation says Settings -> Miscellaneous has settings for what to do when a file/album is deleted, but I could not find any such setting.
> 
> I found a post about this in the mailing list archive,
> saying this is a long standing wish item.
> That post is dated Nov 2011.
> 
> Is the ability to delete from the database without deleting the files still not available?

I don't think such a possibility would make any sense. It would add 
inconsistency to the database, as some folders of the album tree would 
be in the database, others not.

I also don't see a reason for it, but if you want to remove one 
directory from the database without deleting the files, you can use the 
file-manager (with digikam closed) and move that directory on another 
place on your disk, outside of the album tree. (Move is fast if within 
the same partition, because only directory entries are changed, not the 
files).

When you start digikam the next time, the now missing directory will be 
removed from the database, provided you have set "remove old database 
entries at start" in the settings (miscellaneous).

Now you can import those images again the way you want, from the folder 
to where you moved them, back to the album tree. This will take the 
usual import time, as the files are copied. After that you can delete 
the moved folder (not the new created with import!).



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