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I need help finding a way of archiving my photographs. My requirements are very few:

  • I want to copy/move a set or files or a folder into my photos-folder where i have subfolders named "yyyu-mm-dd" (=EXIF date taken)

  • When doing this, the tool needs to avoid importing the same photo twice (Like with Acdsee: The second time I import the same image it adds " (1)" to second files name, then " (2)" to the third and so on...)

  • Should work in Windows or Linux. Preferably Windows.

  • Would be nice to be able to select a set of files to import rather then a whole folder.

I used Adobe Lightroom for a while but it was too expensive for this simple task. But I liked it. I could just select a couple of files in windows and drag'n'drop them into Lightroom and the importer would pop up and it didn't import duplicates and so on. So simple.

After that I switched to Acdsee. Liked it a lot but the import UI feels a bit behind and cumbersome. It didn't handle duplicates in a good way, as i mentioned before. Have a missed any configuration for this?

Using the windows build-in photo-importer can only import files from a camera, not a folder or a selection of files.

Can you recommend a tool for this that is either not as expensive as Lightroom or open source?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Writing a shell script for that would take about one minute; take it as a good opportunity to learn it! \$\endgroup\$
    – user29608
    Aug 7, 2017 at 10:43
  • \$\begingroup\$ I've actually considered it. But I would prefer something with a GUI so would a nice overview what I'm doing. \$\endgroup\$
    – He Nrik
    Aug 7, 2017 at 10:46
  • \$\begingroup\$ ... also common! There must be a program that exists that can handle these simple requirements! \$\endgroup\$
    – He Nrik
    Aug 7, 2017 at 10:49
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    \$\begingroup\$ There probably is a program that does it. Finding one that can be trusted for Windows requires wading through many that require a healthy dose of skepticism. That's the nature of the Windows ecosystem (an observation not a criticism). That price (paying for Lightroom as the safe alternative) and the sort of work I do makes Linux a better choice for me. I use a free and open source program called Rapid Photo Downloader written in Python. It does exactly what you want (except the Windows/Mac part). \$\endgroup\$
    – user50888
    Aug 7, 2017 at 14:21
  • \$\begingroup\$ @benrudgers : Thank you for the great response. I could map the windows file server to my linux laptop and import over the network :/ . I'll have a look at Rapid Photo Downloader as soon as I can. Better Linux than nothing! Thnx again! \$\endgroup\$
    – He Nrik
    Aug 7, 2017 at 19:02

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I use the free and open source program Rapid Photo Downloader. It allows renaming files and creating directories. It can also "back up" files to a different location while downloading to the primary location. And it is, in my opinion, rapid enough.

The FAQ indicates Linux only, but it may be useful on an heterogeneous network. It also suggests that porting to OSX or Windows might be practical.

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