On most systems, gThumb will automatically launch the import dialog when a digital camera is connected to the computer, or a memory card with photos is plugged into a card reader. (It does this because it is registered as the default handler for x-content/image-dcf and x-content/image-picturecd mime types.)
To manually launch the import dialog, use File ▸ Import From ▸ Removable Device.
The import dialog shows thumbnails of the photos available on the selected device. The user can select one of more photos using normal keyboard or mouse techniques (for example, Ctrl+click to add a photo to the selection, or click and drag the mouse over the desired photos.) If no photos are explicitly selected, all will be imported.
Tags may optionally be associated with the imported photos, using the Tags control below the thumbnail window. Click the drop-down control to see the predefined tags.
An event name may also be optionally associated with the photos. This event name can be used to generate an automatic subfolder name (possibly incorporating a date) as described below. For example, if the base destination folder is "/photos", and you enter "Wedding-Jennifer" in the Event field, you can configure generation of automatic subfolders like "/photos/2010-07-31, Wedding-Jennifer".
As mentioned above, subfolders for imported photos can be automatically generated based on event names and dates. This is enabled or disabled by clicking on the destination foldername in the import dialog. This opens a second dialog, where the base folder for imports may be selected (the Destination folder). To generate automatic subfolders, select Automatic subfolder.
You can select either the File Date or the Current Date to use as the basis for subfolder naming. (The File Date examines the dates embedded in the file metadata to determine when the photo was taken.) A variety of standard date formats are available (year-month for example). The as single subfolder checkbox controls whether a "deep" or "shallow" hierarchy of files is made (for example, with year-month, you can have year subfolders with month subfolders under them, or all subfolders can be at the same level in the filesystem, with the year and name both the folder name.
It is not necessary to use the predefined date formats. If you select custom format, standard date codes can be used. Click on the help icon to the right of the custom format field for a list of format codes. "%E" is a special code that will embed the Event name defined in the main import dialog.
See Date/Time Format Codes for more date format codes.
If you use automatic subfolder naming, the Destination field in the main import dialog will show the automatic portion of the folder in red. (For date-based formats, dummy data may be shown in the red portion.)
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