'Copy to folder', album=folder with symlinks to photos

[forgi007]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
If I am right then the albums are realized by entries in the database, managed somehow via the Photos app. I think it is not ideal:
1., if I want to backup my photos including my albums then I need to store the database as well. I think database contains data which can be generated from the photos/videos (except the albums), so it is not optimal that we need to store it in the backup.
2., If I would need to migrate to another platform, then having the albums only in the database might be a problem.
3., we have a dependency with another app

Describe the solution you'd like
Please just add a 'Copy to folder' option beside 'Move to folder' and 'Add to album' options. This new option should offer the selection of an existing folder, please also offer the creation of a new folder. Having a real copy instead of (the default) symlink might be also an option (that might be handy if you would want to edit a photo differently just in one album). 'Copy to folder' would make it possible to have the same photo in more albums (folders) efficiently (via symlinks).

Describe alternatives you've considered
Creating folders with symlinks from albums might be an option also in a backup or data export app.

Additional context
This way we would not break any existing usage/preference and it would be easy to get the data on the file storage consistent with the content (including the albums, without (hidden) content in the database). If this feature is implemented, then I could disable the Photos app (having just one photo related app, which is nicer in my op.) and I would not need the albums at all; we already have share folders and with subfolders we can also keep any kind of hierarchical view of our data.

[pulsejet]

I've thought about this at length, there are a few things to consider here:

1/ Re-implementing the albums backend is a non-trivial task, It's not undoable, but other issues have higher priority since it already works quite well.
2/ For migrating to other apps, we need to use some standardized export format. I don't think other apps would understand symlinks either, so that won't directly solve this problem.
3/ I'm not sure how (or how well) Nextcloud handles symlinks in general. The last time I tried it it was a disaster, though I may be doing something wrong. But it does open up bad possibilities like loops.

Regardless, I'm not against this idea; just that it needs a lot more thought / effort before it can be implemented.

[forgi007]

Ok, understood, thank you for your effort in considering it.
The symlinks are working in nextcloud, so I can get my old photos in folders with some symlinks (to avoid duplicates). For new 'albums' I can choose to use folders and I can move the photos there by Memories, which is generally ok. For albums which refers to photos in several folder I will use the nextcloud photo album (it is rare anyway). So, I am happy with this, thank you for your great work again!

[reox]

Even if not implemented with symlinks: copy images to a folder would be very useful. I just had the usecase where I needed to select several photos to share them and wanted to copy them into a folder for sharing. But the only option I get is "move". The current workaround is to download the photos and upload them again into the folder.

[PatrickJosh]

I'd like to comment on that again. I frequently have the use-case that I want to share photos with friends. However, due to them not being able to add the photos to either their own timeline or to other albums/folders when I those with them via an album, I usually prefer copying the photos I've taken into a shared folder. However, I always have to resort to using the Files app for that, which is a bit annoying since I have to copy them from a folder containing more than 10,000 photos/videos, and although the Files app's handing of folders with such amounts of files has improved in the past, it is still nowhere near the smoothness and easiness of handing such an amount of photos and videos with Memories. Hence, I'd like to advocate for the possibility of copying files to a folder as well.
This solution is not optimal, especially because it causes unnecessary duplication of data. For me, an alternative could be an improved albums system with the ability to add photos to your own library and reshare photos from a shared album. But I know that the albums system in provided by the Photos app and thus it either would have to be implemented there, or a complete reimplementation would become necessary. Thus, the easier task, which—at least for me—would solve a lot of these problems, would be the a possibility to copy files.

[brzeziniol]

Same problem here
I usually take a lot of photos for my family but not all of family members are interested in all photos, so I ended up in creating separated albums for member groups. Unfortunately I realized that pictures from albums are not visable in the timeline :/ is is possible to link it somehow ? Or create an option "Show album content in Timeline view?"

[jovanbulck]

Unfortunately I realized that pictures from albums are not visable in the timeline :/ is is possible to link it somehow ? Or create an option "Show album content in Timeline view?"

See issue #503 and PR #1371