Lumora Archiv – User Guide

Your pictures. Organized forever. Lumora Archiv is a product of ortegamedia & style.

Lumora Archiv Online – in the browser

Lumora Archiv Online is the same app as Lumora Archiv for Mac and Windows – it runs directly in the browser on vrf.ch. Your photos and videos stay on your computer: Lumora reads the source folder, writes the archive to a folder of your choice and uploads nothing. Face and content recognition also run in your browser.

Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge only

Lumora Archiv Online works only in Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge (Mac or Windows, current version). Safari and Firefox cannot write to folders on your computer – which is exactly what Lumora needs. Other browsers see a notice instead.

Granting folder access

On first access the browser asks whether Lumora may view (source) or edit (archive folder, drive) the folder. Confirm with “View files” or “Save changes”. After reloading the page the browser asks once more per session.

While processing

Keep the browser window open and in front and do not let the computer sleep – in the background the browser throttles the work heavily. If processing is interrupted, Lumora continues next time with the same archive folder.

Test mode and annual access

Without annual access Lumora Archiv Online runs in test mode: up to 300 files per archive. The annual access “Lumora Archiv Online” on vrf.ch lifts the limit and includes TV/USB export and both designs. There are no licence files or packages online – access is tied to your customer account on vrf.ch.

Differences from the desktop app

Videos are converted in the browser only from MP4/MOV/M4V; MTS, AVI, MPG, WMV and FLV as well as TIFF images are stored unchanged.
The final report as PDF is created via “Print” of the documentation in the browser.
“Slideshow in Lumora Motion” is not yet connected online.

The following guide applies to all editions of Lumora Archiv.

1. Welcome

Lumora Archiv organizes your photos and videos into an archive: by year and month, by people and by events. You choose a folder, the app does the rest. Everything happens on your own device. Nothing is uploaded, no cloud is involved, and your originals are only read, never changed.

The result is an archive folder with the file “archiv.html”. This view works in the app and in any browser, even without Lumora Archiv and without internet – forever.

The app's version number is shown in the top right of the window, for example “v1.0”. You will need this number when contacting support.

You choose the language of the app with the small flags in the top right. The choice is kept until you change it again. The Archive view itself is in German.

2. Getting started

Creating a new archive

Start Lumora Archiv and choose “Create New Archive”.
Photos and Videos From: Choose the folder with your pictures (source). Subfolders are included. This folder is only read.
Archive Name: For example “Muster Family Photo Archive”. The name appears at the top of the Archive view.
Save Archive To: Choose the location where the archive should be created. The app creates a new folder there with the name of the archive. The folder must not be inside the source.
Organization: “By People and Events” recognizes faces, groups them into people and forms events from date and location. This is the recommendation. “Chronological” organizes only by year and month and is the fastest. “Legacy” organizes conservatively by decades and people.
Appearance: “Lumora” (default) or “Amber on Blue-Black”.
Press “Create Archive”.

Supported formats: JPG, PNG, HEIC (iPhone), TIFF, GIF, WEBP, MOV, MP4, M4V as well as older film formats such as AVI, MPG, MTS or WMV. HEIC photos and old films are converted to JPEG and H.264 respectively for the archive so they play everywhere. Documents, RAW files and other non-media items are left out and listed in the documentation.

During processing

Processing runs in steps: importing files, recording inventory, capturing images, finding duplicates, analyzing image content, recognizing faces and grouping people, building the archive, sorting videos, generating the archive view, cleaning up. A progress bar shows the status, with the messages running underneath.

Depending on the amount, this takes minutes to hours. As a rough guide: 10,000 photos take one to two hours on a current laptop. You can keep using the app in the meantime. Please do not put the computer to sleep and do not move the source folder.

“Cancel” stops processing and deletes the archive that has been started. Your source remains unchanged.

At the end, the app reports “Your archive is ready.”. “View Archive” opens the Archive view.

Space required

The archive needs about as much space as your source, because the pictures are copied. During processing, somewhat more space is temporarily needed. Duplicates are not included in the archive.

3. The overview

The overview shows all archives as cards with name, folder, number of photos, videos and people, and the date.

View Archive opens the Archive view.
Add new picks up new files from the source folder (chapter 5).
Show in Finder or Show in Explorer opens the archive folder.
The trash icon only removes the archive from the list. The folder remains on your device.
Open Existing Archive adds an archive folder to the list, for example an archive you received from ortegamedia as a service, or an archive from another device.

4. The Archive view

The Archive view itself is in German – folder and register names, buttons and messages all appear in German on screen. Wherever this guide names one of those German terms, it is followed by its English translation in brackets, so you can match what you read here to what you see in the app.

At the top are six registers: “Archiv” (Archive), “Personen & Anlässe” (People & Events), “Karte” (Map), “Favoriten” (Favourites), “Papierkorb” (Trash) and “Dokumentation” (Documentation). The header with the name and the registers stays in place while you browse.

“Archiv” (Archive)

On the left is the folder tree: years, with months underneath, plus the category “Videos” (Videos) and the folder “ohne-datum” (without date) for shots with no date. Clicking a folder shows the pictures on the right. Clicking a picture opens it full size. Arrows at the edge or the arrow keys browse through, the × in the top right or the Esc key closes it.

Tools in the top right:

▶ Slideshow (Slideshow) starts the slideshow in full screen. Without a folder chosen it runs over the whole archive, otherwise over the folder.
Kategorien-Filter (category filter) shows only pictures of one kind, for example people, nature, celebrations, food, pets, screenshots or documents. The categories come from the content analysis.
♡ Ordner zu Favoriten (add folder to favourites) marks all pictures of the chosen folder as favourites.
↦ zuweisen (assign) turns on marking mode: click pictures, then choose a target folder at the bottom and press “Zuweisen” (Assign). This is how you move pictures from “ohne-datum” (without date) into the right month, for example. With “📍 Ort zuweisen” (assign location) you give all marked pictures the same location.

Pointing at a folder shows three symbols: ✎ renames the folder, 📍 gives it a location, 🗑 moves it to the trash.

Every picture has a heart on it: ♡ marks the picture as a favourite, ♥ removes it again.

Videos are located under “Videos” (Videos) by year and month and play directly in the view.

“Personen & Anlässe” (People & Events)

This register shows the people as cards with face and picture count at the top, with the events underneath. An event is created when more than eight hours lie between two shots. If the picture carries a location, it appears in the name, for example “2023-08-01 · Alghero (IT)”.

Clicking a card shows all pictures of that person or event.
✎ on a card renames it, for example “Mum” or “Christmas 2010”.
⚯ verbinden (connect): If the same person was recognized more than once, press “⚯ verbinden” (connect) at the top, click the matching cards and confirm with “Verbinden” (Connect). The ⚯ on the card separates them again.
The search field finds people and events by name.
Pointing at a picture zooms the quick view onto the face, so you can recognize the person even in group photos.

A person only gets a card from three shots onward. Anyone appearing less often does not show up as a person, but the pictures remain in the archive.

“Karte” (Map)

The map shows where your pictures were taken, provided the files carry a location (GPS, for example from an iPhone). The map works offline with a built-in place list. With internet, the map imagery from OpenStreetMap also appears. Locations you have assigned yourself appear as well.

“Favoriten” (Favourites)

Everything you have marked with the heart. The slideshow is available here too. Lumora Motion can take over the favourites as a picture selection for a slideshow.

“Papierkorb” (Trash)

Deleted pictures and folders end up here and are hidden from the archive. “Wiederherstellen” (Restore) brings them back. “Papierkorb endgültig leeren” (Empty trash permanently) removes them from the view for good. The files themselves remain on the storage medium – the app never deletes pictures.

“Dokumentation” (Documentation)

The documentation shows what happened during processing: number of photos, duplicates, conversions, excluded files, recognized people and the folder structure. It is also available as a PDF in the archive folder under “30_doku”.

Your changes

Everything you change in the Archive view – names, connections, assignments, locations, trash, favourites – is saved by the app in the archive folder in the file “30_doku/kunden.json”. These changes are kept when you add to the archive, copy it to another device, or reopen it with “Open Existing Archive”.

The “Meine Änderungen sichern” (Save my changes) button under “Dokumentation” (Documentation) creates the same file for download. You only need it if you use the archive outside the app in a browser and want to pass the current state on to ortegamedia for an update order.

5. Adding to the archive

When new photos or videos are added, you don't need to select anything: put the new files into the source folder and press “Add new” in the overview.

The dialog shows which folder Lumora searches for new files. The default is the folder the archive was created from. With “Change …” you choose a different folder, for example a stick or an iPhone import. “Search and add now” starts the comparison.

Lumora compares the folder with the archive and only adds what is still missing:

Renamed or moved files do not count as new.
Duplicates are detected, including scaled-down copies.
New faces are matched to known people. If a face is left over and appears at least three times, a new person is created with the next number.
New pictures go into the matching year and month folders, new events are formed from date and location.
Your changes in the archive are kept.

At the end there is a summary: number of new files, photos added, duplicates, new people. If Lumora finds nothing new, it says so.

For an archive from the ortegamedia service, the first update recalculates the features of the existing collection once. This takes a little longer.

6. Exporting for TV/USB

In the Archive view, choose “Export for TV/USB …” in the top right and then the stick or drive. The storage medium should be formatted with FAT32 or exFAT, which every TV can read.

The app copies the archive, including a TV version (“archiv-tv.html”, with smaller pictures for older TVs), into a folder with the name of the archive, and clears the storage medium of hidden helper files that bother some TVs. On the second copy, only new or changed files are copied.

On the TV there are two ways:

The TV's media player: Insert the stick, open the archive folder under “Photo & Video”. The year and month folders appear as in the archive.
The TV's browser: Open the file “archiv-tv.html”. It shows folders, photos, favourites, videos and the slideshow.

Then eject the storage medium.

7. Lumora Motion

Lumora Motion is the slideshow app from ortegamedia & style. It turns photos and videos into a film as an MP4. An archive from Lumora Archiv can be loaded directly into Lumora Motion: on the start page of Lumora Motion choose the section “Load files from LUMORA”, specify the archive folder and select by period, event, person or favourites.

If you own both apps with a licence, the connections are unlocked in both directions. [BITTE PRÜFEN: Knopf «Slideshow in Lumora Motion erstellen» in der Archiv-Ansicht, folgt mit der Lizenz-Version]

8. Updates & plugins

[BITTE PRÜFEN: Dieses Kapitel gilt ab der Version mit Lizenz und Paketen.]

Licence

Without a licence, Lumora Archiv runs as a trial version. After purchasing on vrf.ch you receive a folder with the licence file “ortegamedia_archiv_XXXX.omlic”, a text block and a short guide. Load the licence file via the “Licence” menu. The licence is valid for Mac and Windows and is bound to you as the customer. Keep the file – the article number is your product reference for every later purchase.

Updates

One update year is included with the purchase. After that you buy the update year again on vrf.ch and receive an update package as well as the installer of the new version. You install packages via the “Licence” menu → “Install package …”. Licence, plugins and archives are kept.

Plugins

Plugins extend the app, for example additional views of the Archive view or the export for TVs. The full version contains all plugins. Product names and prices: see vrf.ch.

9. Tips & help

No cloud folder: Do not put the archive in iCloud Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive or Google Drive. Sync services disturb processing and can change files.
Source stays source: Leave the source folder where it is. “Add new” will then find it again. If you have moved it, choose it again in the update dialog with “Change …”.
Windows and iPhone files: For HEIC photos and HEVC videos, Windows needs the extensions from the Microsoft Store: “HEIF Image Extensions” (free) and “HEVC Video Extensions” (paid, about one franc). If they are missing, the app reports this on the affected file.
Faces: Recognition is a help, not a guarantee. Correct mix-ups with “⚯ verbinden” (connect) and separate, missing names with the pencil.
Large collections: From about 20,000 photos, plan for an overnight run. Leave the window open.
Archive in the browser: The archive folder is self-contained. Double-clicking “archiv.html” opens the view in Safari, Chrome or Edge, even without the app.
Diagnostics: In case of an error, “Show Details” in the processing view shows the messages. The file “start.log” in the app's program folder helps support. [BITTE PRÜFEN: Diagnose-Export folgt]
No data transfer: Lumora Archiv works entirely locally and sends no data. Face recognition runs on your device – no picture leaves it.

Questions and support: info@ortegamedia.ch. Please quote the version number in the top right of the window.