How to transfer photos using WebDAV?

Setting up an WebDAV connection

To transfer photos with WebDAV you usually need an internet connection to an WebDAV server or a NAS with an WebDAV server, credentials to access the WebDAV server and the network address or the qualified hostname of the WebDAV server.

Set up the connection to your WebDAV server in the PhotoSync settings under Configure > WebDAV by adding a new configuration.

Add WebDAV configuration
Add WebDAV configuration

Enter the connection data to the WebDAV server. You can choose between "normal", unencrypted WebDAV (http) and encrypted WebDAV (https) as transmission protocol. Please enter the IP address (e.g. 192.168.1.10) or the hostname (e.g. webdav.myserver.com) of the WebDAV server under Server, and the login data for the WebDAV server under Login and Password.

The entry for the directory is best left empty if you do not know the exact path on the WebDAV server, you can select the directory later conveniently via a browser. If no directory is specified, PhotoSync always starts in the so-called home directory of the WebDAV account used. If you enter a directory, please note that the directory entries are always interpreted relative to the home directory of the WebDAV account. For an absolute path, always start the directory with a slash, e.g. /volume1/photos. Directories without a leading slash are interpreted relative to the home directory of the WebDAV account, photos would refer to the directory /home/username/photos, for example, if the WebDAV account uses the login username.

The port is the communication channel used for WebDAV transfer, usually 80 for WebDAV and 443 for secure WebDAV.

WebDAV Configuration example
WebDAV Configuration example

Once you have entered the required data, tap Done, PhotoSync will try to establish a connection and if this works, you can make further settings for your WebDAV connection. Under Title you can give your connection a name to easily recognize it.

Specifying a title for the connection
Specifying a title for the connection

As explained during connection setup, you can now use the Destination Folder option to select a destination directory via a browser to which your transfers are to be saved on the WebDAV server. Tap Select if you want to set the currently selected folder as the destination folder for your transfers. The selection appears in the Destination Folder setting.

Selecting the destination folder, step 1
Selecting the destination folder, step 1
Selecting the destination folder, step 2
Selecting the destination folder, step 2
WebDAV settings with destination folder selection
WebDAV settings with destination folder selection

The Create Sub-Directories option creates individual subdirectories for each transferred file. By default, the name of your device and the name of the current album are created as additional subdirectories.

If you want a selection of the destination folder to be displayed before each transfer, activate the Select Before Transfer option.

In the Transfer Settings you can specify individual file names for your transferred files and make separate settings for Wi-Fi and mobile data connections, e.g. in which quality your photos should be transferred, whether videos should be transferred or not and much more. You can set your photos to be deleted on the device after a successful transfer if you allow Delete After Transfer. If you uncheck the Allow overwrite option, the WebDAV server will check whether a file with the same name but different content already exists in the destination folder and if so, PhotoSync will rename the file to be transferred and add a counter after the filename. By default, PhotoSync overwrites files on the WebDAV server when a file with the same name is transferred to the destination folder again. For most WebDAV servers it is recommended to activate the option Preserve File Dates. By default, the WebDAV protocol cannot change the date of a transferred file after a transfer, i.e. it cannot set it to the original recording date. With the option Preserve File Dates PhotoSync tries out some non-standard extensions of WebDAV servers with which the file date can be changed afterwards so that the entries in the file system on the WebDAV server also contain the correct recording date.

In the View Settings, you can specify how your files should be sorted if you want to view them on the server with PhotoSync and which character set the WebDAV server's file system uses to correctly display file names.

Sending photos with WebDAV

Transferring photos and videos to your WebDAV server works as follows: In PhotoSync, select the photos and videos you want to transfer by tapping them, or drop the tap if, for example, you want to transfer all photos or only new photos.

Selecting photos for transfer
Selecting photos for transfer

Now tap the red transfer button and then tap Send (if photos are selected, Send is also selected automatically). PhotoSync now offers you a choice of three sending options: New transmits only new, not yet transmitted photos from the current album, Selected transmits photos selected by you by tapping, All always transmits all photos from the current album. For each option, the number of photos affected is shown in brackets after the option. Tap the desired option to continue.

Sending options in PhotoSync
Sending options in PhotoSync

Now select the destination to which the photos are to be transferred. To transfer using WebDAV, tap WebDAV. If you have defined more than one WebDAV connection, a selection of the available connections would be offered after tapping WebDAV. If only one WebDAV connection is configured, the transfer will start as soon as you have tapped WebDAV.

Destination selection in PhotoSync
Destination selection in PhotoSync

Your selection will now be transferred to the WebDAV server. You will receive a detailed transfer progress during the transfer.

Transferring photos to an WebDAV server
Transferring photos to an WebDAV server

Receiving photos with WebDAV

To receive (download) photos from an WebDAV server to your device, or to browse or view the photos on the WebDAV server, tap the red transfer button on the main PhotoSync screen, and then tap Receive. PhotoSync offers you a selection of destinations from which you can receive.

Destination selection for receiving photos
Destination selection for receiving photos

Tap WebDAV to connect to your WebDAV server and browse through the directory structures on the server to the desired directory. PhotoSync will show you only directory names and in the directories only photo and video files. Other files, which of course can also be located on the WebDAV server, are hidden by PhotoSync and are not visible.

Browsing on the WebDAV server, step 1
Browsing on the WebDAV server, step 1
Browsing on the WebDAV server, step 2
Browsing on the WebDAV server, step 2
Browsing on the WebDAV server, step 3
Browsing on the WebDAV server, step 3

To download photos to your device from a specific WebDAV server directory, select the desired photos by tapping them, then tap the Download button at the bottom right to download the selected photos. If you want to download all the photos from the current directory or just download new photos, you can also tap the red Download button directly.

If you want to view your photos in full size or mark them for download in full size, please tap the button to change the display/select mode at the bottom left (under iOS) or tap and hold a thumbnail to display options for this photo, including View for display mode (under Android). In View mode, each photo is displayed in full size on your device. In the footer of the full-screen display in display mode, you can also tap to select or deselect photos for download.

Selecting photos to download
Selecting photos to download

After tapping the Download button, PhotoSync offers you three options to download photos: New, only photos you have not yet downloaded from your WebDAV server, Selected, the photos you have selected by tapping or All, all photos from the current folder on the WebDAV server. For each option, the number of photos affected is shown in brackets after the option. Tap the desired option to continue.

Options for downloading photos
Options for downloading photos

Before the download starts, you can now select an existing album on your device as destination or create a new album as destination.

Selecting the target album for download
Selecting the target album for download

Tap Select to confirm the destination album selection and start downloading. You will receive a detailed transfer progress during the transfer.

Downloading photos
Downloading photos

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