Is it possible to create Albums with sub-albums?

[LRAT]

Hi,

Could somebody please tell me if it's possible to create albums with sub-albums in iMatch? (Or Collections with sub-collections if you wish).
Let me explain:
I would like to create albums per Continent - Country - Province/State - City

I can't see any tabs in the program that allow me to do so. If it's already there can somebody show where that function is?
Thanks for your help. I am currently evaluating this software.
Cheers,

Luke

[Mario]

IMatch offers a powerful concept named Categories, which enable you to create "Albums" of any kind, and with any hierarchy depth.
Categories cannot only be used for creating manual "Albums", but also for automatically organizing your files based on metadata, for combining/linking categories by formulas and more. Categories are a unique IMatch feature and well worth learning about. There are some video tutorials you might want to watch.

I would like to create albums per Continent - Country - Province/State - City

Usually you don't do that by hand. If your files have GPS data or existing location data in the standard place (XMP metadata), IMatch automatically organizes your files by their location (green in the screen shot below), and by many other things.
Switch to the Category View and open the IMatch Standard Categories branch:



If your files have no GPS data, you can add them in the The Map Panel, and use Reverse Geocoding to let IMatch automatically retrieve the corresponding location information afterwards.

Alternatively, you input the Country, City, Location manually in the Metadata Panel. After you have entered Country, City, Location, your files will automatically appear the the standard Location category (see above).

If you are new to IMatch, I recommend to have a look at Meet IMatch for an overview. Then read more about the features you are interested in.
The IMatch Learning Center has many free tutorial videos.

[ubacher]

I wrote this at the same time as Mario - and had not read his post before posting this

Your question is quite typical for one who has not seen the power of Imatch.
Imatch does not have Albums but CATEGORIES - which can serve the same purpose but much more.

Example: you set up a category tree labeled ANIMALS with leaves of you liking. Example ANIMALS|PETS|CATS
And you set up a category locationLOCATION with leaves - example: LOCATION|SOUTH AMERICA|BRAZIL

If you want to show only the animals of BRAZIL you would display the category ANIMALS (or a sub-set) and
filter out only the location Brazil.

If you wanted to show only images of BRAZIL taken in 2019 you would filter for this time range.
And you could filter out only images taken by PEOPLE|FAMILY|MARY, with camera Iphone and landscape orientation.


If you wanted to organize by Travel you could organize by using EVENTS - each trip one EVENT.
These are just a few of the possibilities. A bit daunting at first mind you! Advisable to view the introductory videos
and help files!

[LRAT]

Fantastic!
Thanks Mario and ubacher.
I was not familiar with the terms Categories but it seems it will exactly do what I want to achieve.
I will spend some time on this to familiarize myself with this conecept. The reverse geo-coding seems to be a great asset.
Thank you very much for the fast and clear response!
Cheers,

Luke

[Mario]

Terms like Albums, Collections, Categories have a somewhat fuzzy meaning across image management, cataloging, DAM and related software...

That said, IMatch Categories represent a pretty unique and powerful concept.
They combine the "Albums" concept with the "Binder" concept with the "Collections" concept and with various more or less "Smart" concepts - depending on which other applications you use or which marketing blurb you've read.

IMatch categories enable you to organize/group/categorize your files in basically all the ways you can think of. Hierarchies of any depth.
They also allow you go organize your files automatically, based on data created by your camera, smart phone, GPS receiver and whatnot. These are the "IMatch Standard" and "Workflow" categories.
Using the unique concepts of formulas and Aliases, you can combine categories dynamically in many ways to get exactly what you need.

IMatch ships with a set of pre-made categories which do a great job for many users. These categories organize your files by data like make, model, lens, aperture, shutter speed, country, city, location - automatically!

But this represents only a small part of what is possible with IMatch categories...you can use them for so much more.
Depending on your needs, it may be well worth it to spend a couple of hours learn about categories in IMatch and what they can do for your.