@David,

That sounds like a huge project, doing it manually would take forever!

A couple of tools can really speed this up:

fdupes or rdfind (Linux) – both scan entire directory trees (including subfolders) and let you find/remove duplicates.
dupeGuru – works on Windows, macOS, and Linux, with a friendly interface for finding duplicate photos and other files.
Shotwell or digiKam – photo managers that can import from folders and help organize everything into a clean structure.

I’d suggest first copying all the files into one big “master” folder, run a duplicate cleaner (like dupeGuru), and then reorganize them into a proper folder tree. That way you only have to deal with the mess once, and future organization will be much easier.

I’m trying to untangle years of photos by an elderly lady, and there is a huge mess of duplicates in multiple photos, deep folder trees and so on. My first, and biggest chore, is trying to move them all into an organized tree, and eliminate duplicates.

I started using her preferred Olympus program, but it, so far, has my going through the folder tree and importing a single folder at a time, NO sub-folders. I’ve done about 400 folders this way, and it’s painful.

If anyone knows of a tool that can do this, I’ll be infinitely grateful, after getting through the remaining 800 folders on old USB sticks, I’ll have done about 6GB; with about 36 GB waiting for me on her PC.

mtPaint a bit awkward to use by today’s standards, but it is weightless and snappy. Worth to learn to use. Has a “smudge” tool which you can find in photoshop and probaby GIMP (never tried GIMP, too big for me).

When copying selection, it’s pasted at exact pixel location in the other image. Try to do to do it with kolourpaint, pinta or lazpaint…

Mypaint has a ton of brushes, much smaller than krita.

Your article provides a valuable resource for Linux users seeking to enhance their images with professional-grade tools. I’m excited to explore the possibilities further with these fantastic tools!