Knowledge Center

Synology Photos

Synology Photos is built for smart, intuitive, and flexible photo and video management. With its multiple display options, intelligent face and object recognition, a Personal Space for each user, and the Shared Space that can be tailored to fit various sharing scenarios, you can now have full control over file access and never miss a great moment.

Requirements & Compatibility

  • DSM version: 7.0 and above
  • Browsers: Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Safari
  • Dependent packages: Node.js_v20 and Synology Application Service
  • For HEIC/HEVC support: Use Synology Image Assistant to generate additional previews or compressed videos for these formats to properly display these files. Refer to this FAQ for more information.

Getting Started

To launch Synology Photos:

  • From DSM: Go to Main Menu and click Synology Photos.
  • Via web browser: To launch Synology Photos directly in a browser window without signing in to DSM, go to Control Panel > Login Portal > Applications > Synology Photos and configure connection settings and enable a customized alias or port. You will then be able to use the following address to directly access Synology Photos: http://Synology_server_IP address/photo

To set up a photo source:

To use Synology Photos, a photo source must be enabled to keep your photos and videos. Synology Photos provides two options that serve different purposes: Personal Space and Shared Space.

  • Personal Space: To enable this source, sign in to DSM as an administrator, go to Control Panel > User & Group > Advanced > User Home, and tick Enable user home service. Each user with the privilege to use Synology Photos will have their own folder "/home/Photos" created and be able to manage contents in their individual spaces.
  • Shared Space: To enable this source designed for team collaboration, go to Synology Photos and click the Account icon. Next, go to Settings > Shared Space and tick Enable Shared Space. You can then click Set Access Permissions to assign the following permissions to users and groups:
    • Custom: Users can enter Shared Space, but the available operations will depend on the permissions set for the folders. To set up folder permissions for Custom users in batch, click Assign .
    • Full Access: Users can have full management over all the folders in Shared Space.
    • Mobile Backup: Tick this option to allow users to set their mobile backup destination to Shared Space. (Files will be backed up to "/photo/MobileBackup/user_account_name/device_name".)
    A shared folder "/photo" will be created to keep Shared Space files. Share permissions of sub-folders under "/photo" can be modified later on.

Note:

  • The folders follow the permission settings configured in Synology Photos. Settings in File Station will not be applied.
  • You can only set permissions for first and second level folders. Lower-level folders inherit the settings of the second layer folder.
  • Custom and external users require at least Viewer permission to the first and second level folders to access the subfolders.

To operate Synology Photos:

The left-hand side navigation bar includes the Photos, Albums, and Sharing tabs.

  • In Photos, you can add and view photos and videos, switch between Personal Space and Shared Space, switch between Timeline View and Folder View, and use the filter to quickly sort out files.
  • In Albums, the upper section displays automatically created albums while the lower section displays manually created albums.
  • In Sharing, the Shared with me and Shared with others tabs display the two types of shared albums.

To allow non-admin users to share photos:

Go to the upper-right corner and click the Account icon > Settings > Global. Under Guest Settings, tick Allow non-admin users to share photos. Available sharing functions include:

  • Sharing photos with others.
  • Enabling the share link of albums.
  • Setting up Shared Space folder permissions (the user must have Full Access permission in Shared Space).
  • Viewing other account names in the sharing page and shared albums.

To edit file display and duplication settings:

Go to the upper-right corner and click the Account icon > Settings > Personal to set your preferred date and time format, timescale, default sort order of folders and album contents, and determine how to manage duplicated files.

To edit the display theme:

Go to the upper-right corner and click the Account icon > Settings > Personal. Find it under Display.

To edit personal settings:

Go to the upper-right corner and click the Account icon > Profile.