Albums and Folders

[ChasZuck]

I am having a difficult time trying to understand the difference between albums and folders. Attached is a screenshot of a folder pane. Which are the albums?

[jkm]

I am having a difficult time trying to understand the difference between albums and folders. Attached is a screenshot of a folder pane. Which are the albums?

None of them. Everything in the Folder pane is an actual folder or drive; it's like Windows Explorer. The name of the pane, "Folders", should tell you what it is. Everything you see in that screenshot is a folder. Delete it, and it will be deleted from your hard drive. You know all about that, so be careful.

As I told you before, ALBUMS are shown in the Catalog Filter panel. You will never see Albums anywhere else.

View->Panels to enable the Catalog filter, if you can't see it.

Once you are looking at the Catalog Filter, you'll see the Albums tree. Right click on it to create a new Album. Then you can drag and drop things into it, or by selecting images and using Metadata->Add to Album.

There are also, in the Catalog Filter pane, Smart Albums, which you can define by criteria, and which will automatically populate with images matching the criteria you define. Read about Smart Albums in my documentation post:
viewtopic.php?p=212346#p212346

You need to be crystal clear on this: Folders are actual directories on your hard drive. They are real, and hold real files. Albums are "virtual" creations that exist only in the Catalog (the Catalog is a database). An Album is just an association, or list, of files. Delete an Album, and you delete the list, but the files remain. Files and folders are real (delete one, and it's gone): an image file can be in only one folder (without sophisticated tricks). An image file can simultaneously appear in as many Albums as you want.

Hopefully this helps...

[user0]

I am having a difficult time trying to understand the difference between albums and folders.

Folder is real folder
Album is a Collection in Lightroom's term

You are looking for indexed data in db, which is exposed in Settings>Catalog
XnView automatically imports file details (as per Settings>Metadata) on the first folder visit

[cday]

I am having a difficult time trying to understand the difference between albums and folders.

Folder is real folder
Album is a Collection in Lightroom's term

Lightroom Collections Explained.

[jkm]

(Ah, the benefits of documentation; Thank you cday.)

Cday has pointed you at a good link. In that article, every time you see the word “Collection” just think “Album” in XnViewMP. And “Smart Collections” are “Smart Albums” in XnViewMP.

That article is aimed at Lightroom “Classic”. Adobe has start to move away from the term Collection and uses Album instead in the newer Lightroom “Cloud” version.

[ChasZuck]

I am having a difficult time trying to understand the difference between albums and folders. Attached is a screenshot of a folder pane. Which are the albums?

None of them. Everything in the Folder pane is an actual folder or drive; it's like Windows Explorer. The name of the pane, "Folders", should tell you what it is. Everything you see in that screenshot is a folder. Delete it, and it will be deleted from your hard drive. You know all about that, so be careful.

As I told you before, ALBUMS are shown in the Catalog Filter panel. You will never see Albums anywhere else.

View->Panels to enable the Catalog filter, if you can't see it.

Once you are looking at the Catalog Filter, you'll see the Albums tree. Right click on it to create a new Album. Then you can drag and drop things into it, or by selecting images and using Metadata->Add to Album.

There are also, in the Catalog Filter pane, Smart Albums, which you can define by criteria, and which will automatically populate with images matching the criteria you define. Read about Smart Albums in my documentation post:
viewtopic.php?p=212346#p212346

You need to be crystal clear on this: Folders are actual directories on your hard drive. They are real, and hold real files. Albums are "virtual" creations that exist only in the Catalog (the Catalog is a database). An Album is just an association, or list, of files. Delete an Album, and you delete the list, but the files remain. Files and folders are real (delete one, and it's gone): an image file can be in only one folder (without sophisticated tricks). An image file can simultaneously appear in as many Albums as you want.

Hopefully this helps...

When I import a folder into XnView, does it go into albums?

What I am trying to do first is use XnView to consolidate my keywords. Some places I have 3 variations of the same keyword. Can this be done without importing anything into XnView. In the screen capture above, say I want to work on the All Scans folder and all of its sub-folders. Can I just select it and view and change the keywords, then when complete click on Metadata>update Files from catalog?

[ChasZuck]

I am having a difficult time trying to understand the difference between albums and folders.

Folder is real folder
Album is a Collection in Lightroom's term

You are looking for indexed data in db, which is exposed in Settings>Catalog
XnView automatically imports file details (as per Settings>Metadata) on the first folder visit

How do photos get into albums?

[jkm]

When I import a folder into XnView, does it go into albums?

No.

What I am trying to do first is use XnView to consolidate my keywords. Some places I have 3 variations of the same keyword. Can this be done without importing anything into XnView. In the screen capture above, say I want to work on the All Scans folder and all of its sub-folders. Can I just select it and view and change the keywords, then when complete click on Metadata>update Files from catalog?

Please re-read my previous post. I told you how photos get added to Albums: drag and drop, or use the metadata menu.

Albums have NOTHING to do with editing your keywords.

Browse to a folder, and the contents are imported into XnViewMP. At that point you can immediately start working on your keywords. Adding photos to albums is irrelevant for that.

How do photos get into albums?

I’ve already told you that. See above.

[ChasZuck]

Thank you. I will go over all the information you have posted again and look at links suggested.