How Fotobank stores and edits photos
Follow one photograph from import through browsing, editing, and recovery. Fotobank keeps the catalog. Embedded Docbank keeps the exact files and versions.
- ImportKeep related files together
- BrowseFind and organize photographs
- EditSave changes as new versions
- RecoverRestore files and the catalog
Fotobank is pre-alpha software with no stability guarantees. Keep independent copies of irreplaceable photos.
Import
One photograph is often several files. A camera RAW, a JPEG, and an XMP sidecar are recorded as one photo with three files.
Fotobank waits until a file's size and modification time stop changing, then reads it. It does not rename, move, or edit your source files.
Import your first collectionOne photograph
IMG_1042.JPG- Display file
IMG_1042.CR2- Camera source
IMG_1042.CR2.XMP- Edit sidecar
- Docbank keeps the files.
- Fotobank passes each file's SHA-256 checksum and size. Docbank verifies the bytes and stores them as a version that never changes. Later edits create new versions. Content and storage.
- Fotobank keeps the relationships.
- The catalog records which file is the display file, the camera source, and the sidecar. Albums, visibility, and sharing change in the catalog without copying or changing stored files. How the catalog works.
Browse and search
Browse by date, camera, tags, or location. Collect photographs into albums. Search by metadata does not need AI.
Check supported files and previewsDocbank reads metadata such as camera settings and GPS coordinates and renders previews for supported formats. Fotobank builds thumbnails and search indexes from them.
Thumbnails and indexes can be rebuilt. Albums cannot. They live in the photo catalog, which needs a backup.
Edit
A checkout copies selected versions into a working directory as ordinary files. Edit them with any editor, file manager, or shell tool.
The server notices edits once they stop changing and marks them pending. Nothing is stored until you run fotobank checkout commit, which saves the edited files as new Docbank versions.
The server must be running to create checkouts, scan and commit edits, and browse. Import starts the server if needed.
Checkout workflow and current limits- Version 1Stored file
Kept in Docbank, unchanged.
- Working copyYour edits
Ordinary files in your checkout folder. Changes stay here until you commit.
- Version 2Committed file
New bytes stored in Docbank. Version 1 is still available.
Back up and restore
A backup archive contains both Docbank content and the Fotobank catalog. Restore checks the saved bytes and the catalog's references to them.
Restore into a separate directory. Check configuration and saved checkout paths before starting the restored deployment. Then rebuild thumbnails and indexes.
Make a backup and test recoveryOne backup archive
- Docbank content
- Stored files and versions
- Fotobank catalog
- File relationships, albums, visibility, sharing, settings, and stored authentication hashes
Not in the archive
Configuration files, provider credentials, and checkout directories. Back these up separately. Thumbnails are also excluded and can be rebuilt. Catalog settings and authentication hashes, including hidden-media passcode hashes, are in the archive. Backup repositories are not encrypted.
AI features
Metadata and previews come from Docbank without AI. Optional tagging, captions, and semantic search run in Fotobank and need a configured provider. Some of that may move into Docbank later. Ratings and people grouping are not built.