[Feature] Album Display Improvements: Optional Date Dividers & Default Chronological Sorting

[twirley]

I have searched the existing feature requests, both open and closed, to make sure this is not a duplicate request.

• Yes

The feature

Current Behavior

Currently in Immich albums:

1. Photos are separated by date dividers, which fragments the viewing experience
2. Default display order is "newest first" with no global setting to change this
3. There's no way to custom-order photos within albums except by changing dates
4. No option to organize or divide photos by metadata like photographer or camera model

These limitations make it difficult to view photos in a continuous flow and present challenges when organizing mixed content from different dates, cameras or photographers.

Desired Behavior

1. Optional Date Dividers:

   • Add a setting to make the date dividers between photos optional
   • While keeping the timeline view on the side, allow photos to display in a continuous grid without date separators
   • This would create a cleaner viewing experience similar to Google Photos' approach

2. Default Oldest-First Sorting:

   • Add a global setting to make "oldest first" the default sort order
   • This supports viewing photos in chronological sequence, which is often the preferred way to experience an event

3. Custom Image Ordering:

   • Allow users to manually order photos within albums
   • Alternatively: implement specific tag-based organization to sort by photographer, camera, or custom categories
   • This would help when combining photos from different sources and photographers at the same event

4. Custom Metadata-Based Dividers:

   • Allow users to choose what information creates dividers between photos: dates (current), photographer, camera model, or custom tags
   • Enable editing of divider labels (e.g., adding photographer names)
   • Make these dividers optional and configurable globally or per album
   • This would provide flexible organization for multi-photographer events without needing to modify dates

Why This Matters

These improvements would significantly enhance the viewing and organization experience, making it more intuitive to browse through albums chronologically and giving users more control over how their collections are presented.

Additional Context

I'm including screenshots comparing Google Photos' interface (white background) with Immich's interface (dark background) to illustrate the differences in date separation and layout. The Google Photos approach provides a cleaner, more continuous viewing experience without the date separators.

Platform

• Web
• Mobile

Platform

• Server
• Web
• Mobile

[bo0tzz]

This is several requests in one, including some duplicates.

[textuneser]

Maybe there are more than one suggestion. And so what.
It deserves more than a one-liner reply.
These suggestions are all good, and chronological sort order based on shooting date is as I see it, an absolute must to have.
I am surprised to learn that this still lacks.