immich/docs/docs/guides/external-library.md
Alex 6239365f68
chore(docs): clean up and add new content (#15003)
* wip: Install

* wip: sharing

* wip: features

* wip: features

* wip: tags and folder view

* update links

* fix: broken reference to page sections

* pr feedback

* Update docs/docs/overview/comparison.md

Co-authored-by: Daniel Dietzler <36593685+danieldietzler@users.noreply.github.com>

* webp

* webp is glory

* webp is glory

---------

Co-authored-by: Daniel Dietzler <36593685+danieldietzler@users.noreply.github.com>
2025-01-02 10:04:14 -06:00

2.8 KiB

External Library

This guide walks you through adding an External Library. This guide assumes you are running Immich in Docker and that the files you wish to access are stored in a directory on the same machine.

Mount the directory into the containers.

Edit docker-compose.yml to add one or more new mount points in the section immich-server: under volumes:. If you want Immich to be able to delete the images in the external library or add metadata (XMP sidecars), remove :ro from the end of the mount point.

immich-server:
    volumes:
        - ${UPLOAD_LOCATION}:/usr/src/app/upload
+       - /home/user/photos1:/home/user/photos1:ro
+       - /mnt/photos2:/mnt/photos2:ro # you can delete this line if you only have one mount point, or you can add more lines if you have more than two

Restart Immich by running docker compose up -d.

Create the library

In the Immich web UI:

  • click the Administration link in the upper right corner. <img src={require('./img/administration-link.webp').default} width="50%" title="Administration link" />

  • Select the External Libraries tab <img src={require('./img/external-libraries.webp').default} width="50%" title="External Libraries tab" />

  • Click the Create Library button <img src={require('./img/create-external-library.webp').default} width="50%" title="Create Library button" />

  • In the dialog, select which user should own the new library <img src={require('./img/library-owner.webp').default} width="50%" title="Library owner diaglog" />

  • Click the three-dots menu and select Edit Import Paths <img src={require('./img/edit-import-paths.webp').default} width="50%" title="Edit Import Paths menu option" />

  • Click Add path <img src={require('./img/add-path-button.webp').default} width="50%" title="Add Path button" />

  • Enter /usr/src/app/external as the path and click Add <img src={require('./img/add-path-field.webp').default} width="50%" title="Add Path field" />

  • Save the new path <img src={require('./img/path-save.webp').default} width="50%" title="Path Save button" />

  • Click the three-dots menu and select Scan New Library Files <img src={require('./img/scan-new-library-files.webp').default} width="50%" title="Scan New Library Files menu option" />

Confirm stuff is happening

  • Click Administration <img src={require('./img/administration-link.webp').default} width="50%" title="Administration link" />

  • Select the Jobs tab <img src={require('./img/jobs-tab.webp').default} width="50%" title="Jobs tab" />

  • You should see non-zero Active jobs for Library, Generate Thumbnails, and Extract Metadata. <img src={require('./img/job-status.webp').default} width="50%" title="Job Status display" />