Google Photos deletes copy and original on device

Question

I'm facing a very strange issue with the Google Photos app. Every time I copy an image with "copy to folder" (specifically not "move to folder") and then delete either the copy or the original image, both are gone.
In the trash only one image appears after that. If restored both images are back.

This is not the behavior that I natively expect. When I delete one image, I want the other one to still remain untouched in its folder.
I have searched for a solution myself, but was unsuccessful. (I only found unanswered threads like this one.)

My question is: Why is this happening and is there a way to change this behavior?

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Google Photos version: 5.23.3.348108244 (newest to date)
Android version: 10

Answer 1

After a while of trying around, I found a solution.

This behavior of the Google Photos app seems to be intended, because it is more an interface for the network service to synchronize images, and less of a gallery app. It keeps track of exact copies and synchronizes them as one. Therefore they are deleted as one instance, even though they are stored multiple times on the device.

Nevertheless, there is a (rather hidden) function implemented that does exactly what I wanted instead.
Instead of using the trash icon...

                                         
                            _{Screenshot of a device folder opened with Google Photos. Trash icon highlighted.}

... under the available options, when an image is selected, there is a "Delete from device" option doing the trick:

                                         
        _{Screenshot of a device folder opened with Google Photos. Option menu open. "Delete from device" highlighted.}

Note: With this method the image remains in the cloud even if it's removed from all synced folders.

I hope I could help someone who has encountered the same problem.