As I mentioned in another post, I am new to Syncthing and am currently using it mainly for the automated transfer of my photos and videos from Android to my laptop and PC, instead of a cloud (I have been using Nextcloud up to now, but I don’t need the photos on a device that I don’t control).
To do this, I have set up a folder on my laptop: /home/user/Pictures/02-Photos/Pictures from Android. The synchronization is one-way. Files are only sent from the smartphone to the laptop.
Once the photos are synchronized (downloaded), I want to move them to the client (laptop & PC) from time to time, e.g., to /home/user/Pictures/02-Photos/2026.
Is there a way to keep the photos in their original folder on Android, but not synchronize them to the laptop again? I delete them from my Android at the end of each year, but until then I would like to keep the images in their original folder (DCIM/Camera), if possible.
Or would you suggest a different solution? As I said, I would prefer not to use the cloud.
First you speak about “automated transfer of my photos and videos from Android to my laptop and PC”, but then you say that “files are only sent from the laptop to the cell phone”. Which of the above is actually right?
As for keeping the deleted files intact, you could add them to the ignore patterns. Syncthing will then leave them alone as if they weren’t there at all.
Thanks for pointing that out; I made a mistake there. Synchronization is from Android to laptop.
As you describe it, would I then have to add the individual files to the ignore patterns manually? That’s doable, but quite time-consuming and requires a lot of discipline (which I don’t always have).
Is Syncthing perhaps not the right tool for this task?
If the folder on the phone is set to “Send Only”, then I think you could also just move the files on the other side with on impact on it. Syncthing will display an “override changes” button, but until you press it manually, the files will stay on the phone only.
