Describe the feature you'd like
I would like to request a global setting/toggle under Settings -> Tasks/System to completely disable automatic file hash (MD5) deduplication and merging for Images and Galleries.
When this toggle is turned off:
-
Stash should strictly respect the physical folder structure and import duplicate image files as entirely separate database entries based on their unique file paths.
-
It should prevent Stash from forcing different galleries to share the same image entity or consolidating separate galleries together just because they share identical files (e.g., identical placeholder pages, cover arts, or logos).
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Ideally, a manual "Unlink / Split" button should also be added to the Image/Gallery UI to allow users to reverse any unwanted automatic merges.
Describe the benefits this would bring to existing users
For users who manage structured picture sets, multi-volume manga, or scene-by-scene image galleries, this feature is critical:
-
Eliminates sequence misplacement: Users will no longer have their image sequences chronological broken due to filename/index overwriting, which mistakenly shifts middle transition images to the very end of the gallery view.
-
Fix Missing Pages & Ruined Viewing Order: For example, if Gallery A (early version) and Gallery B (later version) both have an identical black transition page, Stash's current logic overwrites the record to point to Gallery B's higher file number. This causes the transition page to completely disappear from its correct chronological order in Gallery A, while creating a seemingly "extra" or misplaced image at the very end of Gallery B. Disabling merging ensures chronological consistency.
-
Honors physical layout: It allows users who prefer managing their data by filesystem directories to have a 1:1 match between their hard drive and the Stash Web UI.
Is there an existing way to achieve this goal?
No, there is currently no native or clean way to achieve this in Stash.
The only known workarounds are highly counter-intuitive and frustrating:
-
Running external scripts (like PowerShell or Bash) to append random empty bytes to the end of every duplicate image file on the hard drive to artificially alter their MD5 hashes before scanning.
-
Forcing users to compress every single image folder into a .zip or .cbz archive just to trick the scanner into separating them.
Both workarounds add massive unnecessary friction to the importing workflow.
Have you searched for an existing open/closed issue?
Additional context
Tested on Stash v0.31.1. While automatic deduplication makes sense for video assets to save disk space, forcing it onto image files without an opt-out mechanism severely disrupts the core experience of browsing multi-volume image galleries.
Describe the feature you'd like
I would like to request a global setting/toggle under Settings -> Tasks/System to completely disable automatic file hash (MD5) deduplication and merging for Images and Galleries.
When this toggle is turned off:
Stash should strictly respect the physical folder structure and import duplicate image files as entirely separate database entries based on their unique file paths.
It should prevent Stash from forcing different galleries to share the same image entity or consolidating separate galleries together just because they share identical files (e.g., identical placeholder pages, cover arts, or logos).
Ideally, a manual "Unlink / Split" button should also be added to the Image/Gallery UI to allow users to reverse any unwanted automatic merges.
Describe the benefits this would bring to existing users
For users who manage structured picture sets, multi-volume manga, or scene-by-scene image galleries, this feature is critical:
Eliminates sequence misplacement: Users will no longer have their image sequences chronological broken due to filename/index overwriting, which mistakenly shifts middle transition images to the very end of the gallery view.
Fix Missing Pages & Ruined Viewing Order: For example, if Gallery A (early version) and Gallery B (later version) both have an identical black transition page, Stash's current logic overwrites the record to point to Gallery B's higher file number. This causes the transition page to completely disappear from its correct chronological order in Gallery A, while creating a seemingly "extra" or misplaced image at the very end of Gallery B. Disabling merging ensures chronological consistency.
Honors physical layout: It allows users who prefer managing their data by filesystem directories to have a 1:1 match between their hard drive and the Stash Web UI.
Is there an existing way to achieve this goal?
No, there is currently no native or clean way to achieve this in Stash.
The only known workarounds are highly counter-intuitive and frustrating:
Running external scripts (like PowerShell or Bash) to append random empty bytes to the end of every duplicate image file on the hard drive to artificially alter their MD5 hashes before scanning.
Forcing users to compress every single image folder into a .zip or .cbz archive just to trick the scanner into separating them.
Both workarounds add massive unnecessary friction to the importing workflow.
Have you searched for an existing open/closed issue?
Additional context
Tested on Stash v0.31.1. While automatic deduplication makes sense for video assets to save disk space, forcing it onto image files without an opt-out mechanism severely disrupts the core experience of browsing multi-volume image galleries.