Ability to download thumbnails only for browsing, and download full version of only select images?

[miscellaneous5572]

I have skimmed/searched the documentation but haven't found anything that indicates this is already possible, but it is a large tool so it may be.

I have been using imgbrd-grabber and the process has been relatively straightforward:

• Add tags to blacklist (tool filters results post-fetch)
• Select sites
• Search sites for images w/ certain tags
• Download some number of thumbnails (faster viewing, as opposed to downloading full images from the start)
• Browse cached thumbnails
• Open an image (this downloads the full version)
• Save locally

With Hydrus (correct me if I'm wrong), it seems like the process is just to download all images for specific tags (and other metadata).

Is this process possible with Hydrus, or could it be feasible to add? I like the database style of Hydrus and it seems more actively maintained. I'm just not sure if these are two totally different tools or not.

[karikamiya]

Are you saying you want to:

"Download temporary thumbs to select images to download, then discard the thumbs"

Or

"Download and keep thumbs so whenever I want to look at images, I just have to download the image"

[miscellaneous5572]

Are you saying you want to:

"Download temporary thumbs to select images to download, then discard the thumbs"
Or
"Download and keep thumbs so whenever I want to look at images, I just have to download the image"

I suppose it's a hybrid of the two, but closer to the former. I'd like to have the initial download only be thumbs (to search/download way faster), and then instead of "filtering" through every single image, I'd like to be able to open an image in media viewer (which downloads the full image), and optionally archive it.

So the process could be like this:

• Download 1000 temporary thumbs
• Open an image in the media viewer (triggers full download)
• Archive/delete (like filtering)
• Then, either of two things:
  • Advance to the next image (triggers full download, bonus points for option to prefetch the next image)
  • Exit media viewer (back to browsing thumbs)

If this functionality isn't already possible somehow, I could see a simple option like "Initially download thumbnails instead of full image".