Save backup of edited files

[rob1grie]

My wife is coming from using Google's Picasa, and I must say one of its most useful features for the "home user" is automatically saving a copy of the original image (in a .picasaoriginal subdirectory) when an edited file is saved. Picasa hasn't been supported for some time, so I'm trying to get her to start using XnView but ... I'll put it this way, we're both "old dogs" and it's hard to learn "new tricks". I know it won't take long before she overwrites the only usable original of a priceless image.

Does this seem like an add-on/plugin that would be easy to create? I thought I'd throw out the idea before going down the path of learning the API myself. (Again, my aging brain will take some time to figure something like that out, unless someone can offer some useful suggestions!)

XnView's a great product, thanks for everyone's hard work!

[ReefHound]

I'd like that option but you should never have only one usable original. This is just asking for it.

What I do for both photos and videos is copy (not move) files from SD card to event folder on local SSD. The files are then pruned, graded, and tagged. This folder then gets copied onto an external hard drive, hopefully to never be accessed again. It's the fail-safe. At this point I can clear the SD card and still have two copies. The folder on the SSD gets duplicated and one of them gets post-processed (clipped or cropped, color adjusted, etc.). These folders (actually parent folder is "Event" and subfolders are "Event_original" and "Event_processed") then go on a different external hard drive. The processed folder, which is typically much smaller, is also in cloud storage.

[rob1grie]

Yes, I completely agree, but I'm talking about someone that finds it a challenge to copy photos to a thumb drive for sharing. My wife's a wonderful photographer --- from the film days -- and she's never warmed up to the more technical aspects of using a computer. When I'm downloading from her [actually a] CF card, I make the copy for her to work in and a copy on my server. But when she gets home from taking photos outdoors and wants to share them, she's not going to think of making a backup. Because Picasa has saved her butt for 18 years of digital now

Since originally posting this I've been trying to find anything at all about developing add-ons for XnView, but find nothing more than the SDK for plug-ins, which I believe is just for creating other file formats?? I think I'll post a more direct question about where to find any resources at all.

Thanks for the reply, AND for the constructive thoughts!

I'd like that option but you should never have only one usable original. This is just asking for it.

What I do for both photos and videos is copy (not move) files from SD card to event folder on local SSD. The files are then pruned, graded, and tagged. This folder then gets copied onto an external hard drive, hopefully to never be accessed again. It's the fail-safe. At this point I can clear the SD card and still have two copies. The folder on the SSD gets duplicated and one of them gets post-processed (clipped or cropped, color adjusted, etc.). These folders (actually parent folder is "Event" and subfolders are "Event_original" and "Event_processed") then go on a different external hard drive. The processed folder, which is typically much smaller, is also in cloud storage.