Albums and Tags
Albums and tags let you group the photos from different folders and library locations, without moving them around. They are great for creating photo collections to print, share, or view later. To see all your albums and tags, go to the Albums tab.
Albums are photo collections you can create in Tonfotos without moving or altering the photos. Albums are kept in the Tonfotos program data. The information about albums is not saved to Tonfotos data files and doesn't synchronize with other Tonfotos installations that work on the same catalog.
Tags, on the other hand, are labels attached to the photos and stored permanently in the image metadata.
When to use albums
Create an album when you need to:
- Add images to a temporary collection. For example, to export them for printing or share with friends.
- Group images that relate to an occasion that isn't recognized well by Tonfotos events feature, for example, because it lasted several days.
When to use tags
Create a tag when you need to:
- Label all images of a certain kind or with a certain theme.
- Use this label for searches across your library, now or at any future time.
Difference between albums and tags
Tags are written directly into image metadata, while albums are stored in Tonfotos program data. This causes the following differences:
| Adding a tag | Adding to album | |
|---|---|---|
| Changes the image and makes it different from possible duplicates |  |  |
| Can be viewed in other photo cataloging tools | | |
| Synchronizes with other Tonfotos installations working on the catalog | | |
Saved to .tonfotos.ini | | |
| Can be used in filters | | |
| Works with JPEG, HEIC, TIFF and PNG image formats | | |
| Works with other image formats | | |
Automatic albums
Tonfotos creates some albums automatically:
- Recents: the recently indexed photos.
- Favourites: the photos that you selected as favourite (CtrlL or
to add a photo to favourites). - Additionally:
- Duplicates: created when you remove duplicates.
- For people in your library, see personal albums on the People tab.
Managing albums and tags
To add photos to albums or tags:
- Select one or several photos.
- Right-click, select Add to..., then select New Album or New Tag to enter the name of the new album or tag.
- The context menu also displays your existing albums and tags. Select one from the list to add the photo there.
Naturally, any one photo may be part of many albums and be labeled with many tags.
To rename an album or tag, right-click its name in the left pane and select Rename Album / Rename Tag.
To remove an album or tag, right-click its name in the left pane and select Delete Album / Delete Tag. You will be asked to confirm.
Albums and tags in the File information pane
When you view the information about a photo (CtrlP or 
in the upper right), the albums and tags it belongs to are also displayed in the File information pane.
Double-click the album or tag to view it in the Albums tab.
Right-click the album or tag for more options:
- To remove the image from this album or tag, select Exclude from <name>.
- To clear all tags from the image, select Exclude from all Tags.
- To delete the album or tag altogether, select Delete Album / Delete Tag.
Search and filters
Both albums and tags can be used with search and filter features in Tonfotos. See more in Filters and Search.