When uploading observations, I often have cases where a photograph would be useful for several observations. e.g. a half dozen species of lichen on a rock: with closeups of each species, but the habitat shot of the rock would be useful on all observations. A bushclump of 4 or 5 species, all of wh…

I sometimes do this, and when I want just one photo from an observation I submit the observation, then duplicate it and uncheck the other photos in the Edit page. It’s a bit tedious so a way to do it in the uploader would be nice, but I don’t have to do it very often so it’s not a big deal to me.

Another way is to upload the first observation, and then in the comments you can add an html image tag using the url of the photo in that first observation. We often do this when showing a comparison to another species with explanation accompanied of the differences. If anyone is unsure how to do th…

[image] tonyrebelo: A bushclump of 4 or 5 species, all of which have observations, but I would like to add the habit and habitat photosgraphs to all of them. In the old groups I alluded to many of us doing this, and it was pointed out to me that ALL observation photos are supposed to be of th…

[image] tonyrebelo: It would be nice to be able to “duplicate” the picture in the uploader and share it amongst observations while only uploading the actual photograph once. So you would like to be able to add a photo of, say, a bee on a flower to the uploader and, while still in the uploader…

If I’m understanding @tonyrebelo ’s request correctly, one would be able to point several different observation records to the same, single copy of a photo upload. I’m all for this if it is technically feasible, either during initial upload, or going back after the fact and creating a separate obser…

It is super easy to duplicate photos on an upload (on the web anyway - I haven’t used any apps). Add the photos you want to upload to the upload window as usual. Combine them into observations on each card as usual. Any photos you’d like to duplicate - drag and drop them from your photo folder o…

My impression is that what you do uploads the image separately each time (at least the displayed time on the card is just as long as if the photo was being uploaded to iNaturalist separately). I will try it an check. How does iNat know to use the image as a duplicate rather than save several insta…

Sorry: it does not work. I followed your instructions, and I now have: https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/32540852 & https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/32540740 for exactly the same photograph uploaded as suggested. What I want is to use the uploader, and when I am finished have both observati…

Ah, so it looks like the “Duplicate” functionality on an existing observation already creates the relationship between photo and observations that you are looking for, just retroactively instead of proactively. I didn’t realize that before, and thought it made a copy of the photo(s) also. So you a…

Is the desire to have multiple observations be attached to the same uploaded photo because of the extra bandwidth/RAM the photos take during upload? I’m just trying to parse how essential it is to your request for duplication. If, as I think I described in my last reply (hopefully it was cogent), yo…

Duplicate Photos in the Web Uploader

Feature Requests

Topic		Replies	Views
Duplicate prevention: Notify observers if their image checksums match others already uploaded Feature Requests web , mobile-app	51	6222	August 4, 2025
Observations using the same picture General question	6	463	January 6, 2022
How can you treat multiple observations that depict the same individual? General	30	1341	July 30, 2024
What is the appropriate response/action for a user uploading multiple duplicate images, organisms? General question	22	3502	November 22, 2020
Add a 'Request Duplication' button Feature Requests declined	14	1149	September 18, 2024

Duplicate Photos in the Web Uploader

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