[Feature] Ability to hide albums from the timeline.

[rollermy]

The feature

I would like to exclude some albums from showing up on the main timeline.

I have an album of random receipts. Another of store items i might wish to buy sometime. And a few others.
I want to keep these pictures and have access to them, but don't want to see them as i'm scrolling down memory lane.

Possibly a simple version of #2451 but without the complexity and privacy orientation.

Thanks!

Platform

• Server
• Web
• Mobile

[kaaku3]

Yes I want this. I still want to back them up just excluded from the timeline.
Perhaps as an option to exclude local albums from timeline or add local album to archive folder.

[bcsteeve]

The obvious solution is to use the archive feature.

BUT... the problem with archive, in this use-case, is that they then get mixed in with all the archived items and you can't un-archive from within the album. Hmm... I think that might be the solution. Add the ability to unarchive archived items from within the album view. I feel like that might already be in the works?

[stephen304]

I think the main problem with using archiving is that it makes organizing photos into the album a 2 step process.

For example I have a memes album - I don't want my memes to clutter up my timeline so I have to add the meme to the album then archive it. If I change my mind about a photo, I have to open the image and first unarchive it, then remove it from the album. If I remove it from the album before unarchiving it, then it disappears and I need to hunt down the image in the archive so I can unarchive it.

It would be better if the "archive" status could be applied to the album so that adding / removing assets to/from the album automatically archives or unarchives it (and of course handles edge cases, like if an asset is in multiple "archived" albums then removing from one would skip unarchiving it since it's still in another archived album). That way, organizing receipts and memes into albums can be as simple as marking those albums as archived and adding stuff to them.

[bkbilly]

There is also another issue with Archive. These images won't show on People tab.

[OnlyC0RE]

Any ETA on this feature? Is this being / will this be worked on?

[bo0tzz]

We don't give ETAs. If a feature is being worked on, the pull request will be linked in the FR thread.

[arifroni]

I would also want this feature. Archiving is not an ideal solution tbh.
I have screenshot folder/album, which i dont want in my timeline, just like google photos. I dont want to go to the album and archive it everytime i take a new screenshot!

[shortringbear]

Thank you! Right now I'm still holding off on syncing most of my photos to immich, because it would mess up my timeline. So it's basically just my /camera folder right now. The moment this feature gets introduced I would use Immich to manage all my photos, since then I could finally add stuff that I don't want on the timeline :)

[Actpohomoc]

Fully support this feature request

[wrkealey]

This is the one missing feature I desperately want.

I have a lot of pictures I take around the house for various projects and maintenance stuff I have to do. A lot of it is pictures of model numbers, measurements, or whatnot. Just so I can easily look that stuff up later. And Immich lets me just instantly have a glance at those pictures anywhere, from any device. But its off-putting when family photos get interrupted by 3 shots of a microwave magnatron I need to replace, or an oddly shaped hole in the ceiling.

[michaelreiners]

I second this feature. Would be really helpful. In my case I would host photos of other people. But I don't want them im my personal feed.

I imagine something like this in the album options:

[shortringbear]

This looks really good! Though I'd prefer to also have that option in the timeline tab itself, to simply toggle on or off albums.

[l-mb]

Yes, an "Exclude from Timeline" setting for an album (or individual photo) is what I'd be looking for too.

"Archive" isn't exactly the thing (and doesn't work per album), and most definitely isn't what users will look for.

[MergenStudios]

I would also really like this feature. It would really help with saving all my images to immich, as I do want to save screenshots etc., but I dont want them cluttering my main timeline, which is just for normal photos from my phone or camera

[TheToto]

I have a workarround for this. It's a bit ugly but it works.

Share your album by link, and allow upload. Open a private navigation window and upload photos to the album. You're not the owner of the pictures so you can view them in album view, but not in your timeline.

[Untimed4598]

This is an interesting workaround actually, might work out for many cases. Quick question though in case you're already doing this, do the photos added this way still run the face recognition? Like let's if I upload some of my own photos in there and then search using my face will it show up?

[DrD4ffy]

I could imagine that a per-album setting to hide the photos in the timeline would be helpful for everybody. A default setting could be defined in the user profile. This would cover:
1.) Users who see the timeline as an unorganised stream of photos they never touch. Nice things that should be highlighted will be placed in albums for a nice presentation. (default: don't hide)
2.) Users who see the timeline as a bunch of 'not yet sorted" photos. All sorted photos (assigned to albums) will be systematically hidden in the timeline. (default: hide)
3.) Users in between, who organise nice moments in albums without wanting to hide them in the timeline, (default: hide) but want to create some albums like 'screenshots', 'wallpapers', 'bills' ... with photos that are no longer shown in the timeline (album setting: hide)

[l-mb]

Or those who want different things at different times.

There's photos I really don't need to be reminded off that I still want to keep (even in my timeline, but not the "x years ago"), and others that I never want to see in my timeline, and thus that I may want to hide temporarily as "confidential" when I'm looking through my timeline with others, from the medical to personal.

I think those are fairly common needs/use cases.

[bgr]

My workaround for the "screenshots" use case:

1. created a new user "Screenshots"
2. created a new External Library and assigned it to the newly created user
3. uploaded screenshots to the network share
4. logged into new user, went to Account Settings > Partner Sharing
5. shared with my main account

the shared pictures are hidden by default from my main user's timeline, they can be accessed via "Sharing" menu in the sidebar.

[Tre916]

That would be maddening. And defeat the purpose of automatic sync.

[Doomnometron]

Are people in the "workaround photos" recognized and added to the people overview of the main account?

[bgr]

Are people in the "workaround photos" recognized and added to the people overview of the main account?

No, it says "Asset has unassigned faces" and there's an option to assign a person to the face manually.

[l-mb]

I think discussing workarounds is not really constructive. It's clear that Immich can't do it today, and workarounds don't/can't have sufficiently good UX to drop the feature request.

[bgr]

Nobody is asking for dropping the feature request. Workarounds provide a way to do something until the proper way to do it is available. People are coming to this page by googling, and it's useful to discuss what's possible, and what the limitations are. The discussion also provides useful insight to the maintainers as it provides insight on how people want to use the app, and how important it is to them compared to other issues.

[daltimus11]

I agree and I think this is an important feature to have separate from locked photos.

I also want to be able to hide albums such as screenshots & downloads from the timeline view, yet still sync them automatically.

[RBEGamer]

Fully support this feature request, too! And for me there is one other advantage: Archive function don't move the archived images into a separate folder in the library and can't be separated from the other images on the file system, if im using the templating feature.

[eigenphase]

Hi @alextran1502 first of all thank you so much for chiming in on this topic again! I really appreciate you being part of this discussion -- this thread felt already abandoned.

I understand what you are saying, there is no single good solution and at this point, adding something like this opens unintended issues somewhere else.

I will need to try the Workflows and maybe they will improve things. However, I similar slight reservations as many here. For example, being "action" based rather than "passive filter" based means things can be missed if a workflow won't run for some reason. Having all my pictures in the archive, just because I don't want to see them in the timeline sounds rigid as well. As @deadmeu asked, what are the side effects of this? Will me pictures remain fully associated with its albums etc?

I would like to bring up again what I suggested a while ago in this thread: I think the core of the issue is the timeline instead of a timeline. To me, albums are specially curated selection of pictures belonging to a specific event or something "closed". For example "Family Holiday 2025", "Christmas 2024" etc etc.
But for most of my daily use, I'd actually just like to scroll through my pictures and it would make sense if there are several collections, timelines if you will so. I see a timeline like an "automatically filtered album".
Now there could be a timeline "Family" or "Business". Such a timeline could be defined by a set of rules, for example, inclusion and exclusion of date ranges, people involved, assigned albums, locations etc. And then there would be a fixed default one, which just shows everything. It's the timeline as it currently exists. Users have the freedom to just hide this one and create their own timelines according to their own criteria.

I believe the biggest obstacle is that immich was just not designed for it and implementing this would be a major overhaul. But may I ask, apart from labor resources, is there a good reason this wouldn't work? How I said it, it would be fully backwards compatible with everything as it is right now and add timelines without any of the issues we are discussing in this thread.

[JustACasual]

Fwiw I think the workflow solution is a good one. Will solve the issue of automatically hiding an album and offer flexibility beyond that.
Looking forward to it.

Thanks for the good work!

I bought the software and encourage everyone to do so too.

[kondi06]

I'm also planning to buy Immich, but so far it doesn't meet my expectations. One of them is exactly what JustACasual wrote.

[CarmJos]

Excellent suggestion!

If "multiple timelines" are implemented, it seems all the problems are solved! Hopefully, the maintainers will continue to push forward with this solution, and we look forward to you turning this idea into a new topic for the maintainers to see!

[0xskynet]

I would want to be happy with setting up "hiding WhatsApp images" from the timeline via archiving with workflows along with other albums.

However, archiving sounds more of like marking pictures / videos as "I don't want it for now but I want to keep it just in case" and also with the workflow approach, what if I want to undo it and show the whole album in the timeline?

[kevinholtkamp]

Exactly!

The image should not be changed, the timeline query should be changed, so you can undo it more easily

[tinyweasel]

The workflow auto archive is not a great solution for me. I want to be able to see albums (memes, GIFs, receipts, screenshots, same as a few people in the thread), if they are in an archive folder they are not visible, and to my little ADHD brain things cease to exist when I can't see them. I also just imported all my photos from Google photos so there's huge swaths of memes and WhatsApp photos that were imported with the same date, so the timeline is flooded in several places. Could we not have like "hide from timeline" and "keep searchable" as a per image setting?

[bo0tzz]

Archived assets are still visible inside albums

[ReanimationXP]

It would be far better as a filter situation to select which albums you do and don't want on the timeline and as part of memories so you can peruse back in time without all the memes. It should be as simple as 'do not include the Memes album in timeline, memories, etc', not a two-action thing where you have to assign it to memes and then constantly archive all of memes.. that is obtuse and difficult to use.

[TheToto]

alex sometimes reply in this discussion when there is arguments

[alextran1502]

I have responded here and the points still stand. #5158 (comment)

[CarmJos]

I have responded here and the points still stand. #5158 (comment)

While I think this solution may be the best for all of us. #5158 (comment)

[bo0tzz]

The discussion in this thread has long run its course. The decision was explained in #5158 (comment) and #5158 (comment), and every comment since is just devolving into complaints and personal attacks, so I will be locking this thread as well as any unsubstantiated attempts to open duplicates.