Download the Windows version in the .tar.xz compressed archive format from the digiKam download repository. You can use 7-Zip, PeaZip, Bandizip, or similar programs to extract from the .tar.xz file. Unlike the Zip format, there are two format layers. xz is the compression layer and tar is the archive layer. Here is the hierarchy:
digiKam-8.1.0-Win64.tar.xz (compressed archive)
digiKam-8.1.0-Win64.tar (archive)
digiKam (folder containing the app)
Copy from the CODE box and create a batch file. It should be on the same drive as digiKam, but does not have to be in the same folder. It makes portable two folders: AppData\Local and AppData\Roaming. Running the batch file will set an environment variable and start digiKam.
Code: Select all
cd /d %~d0\digiKam
:: %~d0 is the drive letter (including :) of the batch file.
:: This will set USERPROFILE to the digiKam folder.
:: The program uses this as the parent for the AppData\Local
:: and AppData\Roaming folders.
:: An alternative is to set USERPROFILE to a folder on the same drive,
:: but outside of the digiKam folder.
SetLocal
set USERPROFILE=%CD%
REM set USERPROFILE=%~d0\
start "digiKam" digikam.exe
The first time the program is run, it will start with a configuration assistant known as the “First Run Dialog.” On the “Configure where you keep your images” screen, the assistant will propose a location such as H:\digiKam\Pictures . It is the value of the USERPROFILE environment variable with \Pictures appended. Drive letter assignments can change for removable drives. To point to the removable drive, there should be no explicit drive assignment. In this case, delete H: . The next screen is “Configure where you will store databases.” To store on the removable drive, the user should similarly delete any explicit drive assignment.
What if you specified a removable drive, but forgot to delete the drive letter assignment? Here is another way to delete it:
Settings > Configue digiKam > Database
You should also look at:
Settings > Configue digiKam > Collections
You may store the images, and even the databases, on one or more network drives. The Windows Map Network Drive facility or the Net Use command can be used to assign an available drive letter to a network storage space. Here are specific instructions for Microsoft OneDrive. digiKam can then be configured with the drive letter and a folder. Another configuration option for the network storage of images is Settings > Configure digiKam > Collections > Collections on Network Shares.
For the sake of performance, the thumbnails database should not be on remote network storage. To set different locations for the individual databases, you can edit the configuration file digikamrc with a text editor while digiKam is not running. It contains a number of key-value pairs. In the Database Settings section four keys start with Database Name. The values assigned to those keys are the database locations.
The assistant will propose the folder Pictures for the image and database files, and offer to create it if it does not exist. The user can choose a different folder name. To increase the separation from the code, the user can specify a folder, new or existing, that is outside the digiKam folder. The user can also store the database files in a different folder than the image files. More folders can be added later for the image files with Settings > Configure digiKam > Collections.