maybe someone can modify or create a mod for this?
Seems like you haven't read or understood my reply: it would be extremely easy to grant others than the admin permission to access the batch-add page searchnew.php (in fact you'd just have to edit the security check and hard-code some user-IDs in), but that is not the point: for batch-add to work it is a pre-requisite that the files already reside on your publicly accessible web-space. The only way the files can get there is by FTP (all other methods would have the same drawbacks the existing http uploads form has). This would mean that you would have to grant those users FTP-access. But granting FTP access to others is the actual security risk. There would be no security risk to grant others the privilege to batch-add once files exist on your webserver (the only thing that could go wrong is some level or disorder in your gallery), but no breach of security.
As the security issues lies in granting FTP access to others and does not lie in allowing users to access searchnew.php, this is nothing that could be accomplished by modding coppermine.
i think i'm not the only one with this suggestion...
No, you're not the first one to request this. All others who requested this got a similar reply to yours. I was just playing nicely and answered your question in detail instead of just posting "search the board, the answer has already been given". You have to understand that the fact that many newbies would find the feature helpfull doesn't mean that the goal can be achieved. I tried to explain why it can't be achieved. I definitely will not come up with code that will lead others to believe that it is a bright idea to give FTP privileges to your users and everything will be fine. So if you're not concerned at all about the security impact that granting FTP access to your users would have, go ahead and code the needed small changes in searchnew.php in (or hire someone to do this for you). I will definitely not come up with such a crappy piece of code, as I'm not keen on Coppermine getting a reputation similar to PHPnuke.
And: Yes, I trust these friends
So you gave them your access data to your mysql database, your car keys and your credit card? Do they sleep in your bed together with your girlfriend if you're away? If your answer to all those questions is "yes" as well, then go ahead and grant them FTP access.
Joachim