Chapter 7: Albums
7.1 Album Overview
A Photocatalyst album is like a photo collection — after adding photos to an album, you can quickly access them from the sidebar. Albums do not copy or move original files; the same photo can exist in multiple albums.
- Removing a photo from an album does NOT delete the original file
- Deleting the original file affects all albums that contain it
7.2 Creating Albums
Method 1: Create from Menu
- Go to the Albums page (Sidebar → Albums)
- Click the "Create Album" button
- Enter the album name
- (Optional) Set matching rules to automatically add qualifying photos to the album
- Confirm to create
Method 2: Create from Photos
- Select one or more photos
- Right-click menu → Add to Album → New Album
- Enter the album name and confirm
Matching Rules
When creating an album, you can set matching rules to let the system automatically collect photos. Wildcards are supported for matching filenames or paths, for example:
*.jpg— Matches all jpg filesTravel/*— Matches all files under the Travel folder
7.3 Managing Albums
Adding Photos to an Album
- Select photos → Right-click → Add to Album → Choose the target album
Removing Photos from an Album
- In the album, right-click a photo → Remove from current album
- Batch selection and removal are supported
Setting Album Cover
- Find a suitable photo in the album
- Right-click the photo → Set as Cover
- The cover will be displayed on the album list page
Clear vs. Delete
| Operation | Effect |
|---|---|
| Clear Album | Removes all photos, keeps the album itself |
| Delete Album | Deletes the entire album, does not affect original photos |
7.4 Album Right-Click Menu
Right-click an album title or card to access:
| Menu Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Rename | Modify the album name |
| Edit Submenu | — |
| — Write Tags | Batch edit EXIF tags of photos in the album |
| — Copy to Folder | Copy album contents to a physical folder |
| — Move to Folder | Move album contents to a physical folder |
| — Share | Create a password-protected online sharing link |
| Copy to Other Collection | Copy photos to another album (requires multiple albums) |
| Merge to Other Collection | Merge photos into another album (requires multiple albums) |
| Export to Folder | Export photos to a folder |
| Export as ZIP | Package as a ZIP file |
| Move to Folder | Move photos in the album to a physical folder |
| Aggregation Settings Submenu | — |
| — Aggregation Settings | Configure auto-aggregation rules |
| — Run Aggregation | Automatically collect photos based on rules |
| Clear Album | Remove all photos |
| Delete | Delete the album |
7.5 Aggregation Settings
After configuring aggregation rules for an album, the system will automatically collect qualifying photos from multiple dimensions:
Aggregation Dimensions
| Dimension | Description |
|---|---|
| File Path | Match by path keywords and filename keywords |
| OCR Text | Match by recognized text content |
| Metadata | Match by geolocation and image description keywords |
| Date Range | Match by shooting time period |
| Semantic | Match by AI semantic keywords |
| Face | Match by specified facial features |
| Image | Match by visual similarity to reference images |
Configuration Steps
- Right-click album → Aggregation Settings
- Select the dimension tab to configure
- Enter matching criteria (separate multiple criteria with commas)
- Choose match logic: Meet all criteria or Meet any criteria
- Save settings
- Right-click album → Run Aggregation
7.6 Other Operations
Exporting Albums
Right-click album → Export to Folder or Export as ZIP to export album contents (see Chapter 9).
Sharing Albums
Right-click album → Share to create an online sharing link (see Chapter 9).
Search to Album
On the search results page, you can save all search results as an album with one click.
Person to Album
On the Person page, you can convert all photos of a person to an album with one click.
Next: Read Chapter 8 to learn about batch operations.