External Libraries

Immich supports External Libraries, which are folders stored outside Immich's own internal library structure. You can read more about libraries in the official documentation. You manage these libraries from Immich Web via a browser. However, the locations you can add are limited by the Immich Distribution sandbox.

Sandbox

Immich Distribution is a Snap package, and Snap packages typically run inside a sandbox. This is a security feature, similar to how applications on phones are isolated. This sandbox limits where Immich Distribution can read and write data. To use external folders, you need to mount them into a location accessible by the Snap.

Locations that Immich can access, suitable for external libraries, include subfolders within /var/snap/immich-distribution/common and /root/snap/immich-distribution/common. The first path is already used by Immich Distribution for its internal data, but you can create a unique subfolder there.

Mount

You can make external storage accessible to Immich by either mounting a drive/partition directly to an allowed location or by using a bind mount for an existing directory. Standard symbolic links (symlinks) will not work due to the sandbox.

Mount a drive, partition, volume or network share

Create a subfolder under one of the suitable locations (e.g., /var/snap/immich-distribution/common/my-external-library or /root/snap/immich-distribution/common/shared-pictures) and then mount your drive, partition, or network share to this newly created subfolder.

Future name collision

Choosing a folder under /root/snap/immich-distribution/common is generally recommended to reduce the risk of name collisions with files the Snap package might create in /var/snap/immich-distribution/common. If you use /var/snap/immich-distribution/common, ensure your subfolder has a unique name.

Use a bind mount

Alternatively, you can use a bind mount to make an existing folder accessible. For example, if your pictures are located in /data/pictures (which is outside the sandbox), you would bind mount /data/pictures to an accessible path like /root/snap/immich-distribution/common/pictures. Then, you add this latter path (/root/snap/immich-distribution/common/pictures) as an external library in Immich.

For detailed instructions on creating mounts, refer to the storage how-to guide.