P: Please add Export to Parent Folder option

​@kurtisk78351541 

Sorry, I’m a bit late to the party. You ask:

"Export to: Parent folder of original photo"

Here's my use-case... My photography drive structure looks like this:

• Working Drive
  • Pictures
    • Clients
      • YYYY-MM-DD-ShootName
        • RAW
        • Edited-JPEGs
        • High-Resolution
        • Low-Resolution
        • Rejects

This is possible with Export by using this set up in an Export template

However, you can’t edit the Subfolder in the Export Dialog; you have open the relevant .lrtemplate in a text editor, find the option export_destinationPathSuffix and modify to be either

export_destinationPathSuffix = "..\\Edited-JPEGs",

or

export_destinationPathSuffix = "../Edited-JPEGs",

The first version needs the double backslash for Window, but appears as a single backslash in the Export Dialog. The second version is for Mac OS, but it will also work in Windows.

However, there is a big problem: the option Add to This Catalog doesn’t work when the Subfolder is a relative path. No idea why.

Something else I have notice in the Export .lrtemplate preset file: there is an option

export_useParentFolder = false,

This seems to be new because it is not in any of my older Export presets. Setting it to true does nothing, so it looks like there have been plans to add this as an option, but it hasn’t been completed; it certainly isn’t in the Export Dialog.

My experience is that when external applications (other than LrC) want to access the same file structure, these applications are generally not looking for Raws and may not even see these. In this case we are more likely looking for JPG, perhaps TIF, and there the distinction of which kind of derived file (say, high-res or low-res) does seem sensible to implement through standardised subfolder names. Because in that case the application we are using to browse these files is itself file-centric.

But from within LrC the Raws is what we are mainly looking for, not these derived files (which will generally not even be visible, nor will their containing subfolders need to be). We are not in such a file-centric environment, and I see only disadvantages from needing to click into a Raws subfolder to find a given Raw original. IMO the parent shoot folder is the place for those (also Photoshop working files which are themselves imported to the Catalog). And then that is the (auto, dynamic) root location for any subfolders being made as part of Export, without introducing that complication of a folder-path difference between exporting from a Raw based image, or exporting from a PS Edit based image.

And it is straightforward to include a suitable auto (local) subfolder name within the definition of each Export preset.

I have a similar structure:

• Regular Models
  • Shoots YYMMDD
    • Original Images
      • Full Res Exports
      • Low Res Exports
• Photo Clubs
  • Events YYMMDD
    • Models at Event
      • Original Images
        • Full Res Exports
        • Low Res Exports

I provide models with both hogh and low res imges. Low is find for social media, high res if they ever want anything printed. Its great to see a photo of yours printed as a poster and hanging on a wall. 

Ideally, the full res and low res images should be sibling folders of the originals, not subfolders. #$%&ing lightroom creates this problem. I use filtering within lightroom to narrow down the images to the ones I will edit, work on them and then hit export. With the currently broken subfolder export, my Full Res and Low Res pics end up as subfolders of the original images, so I now have 3 copies of each image under each models name.

I could use filtering to hide the JPG eports from the NEF originals, however, there are some images that I edit in Photoshop first (eg panorama stitching) and save back as large JPG (yes, 16 bit TIFF or DNG may be better here) before running them through Lightroom.

Simple option … Export to “Sibling folder” would at least put Low and high res as separate folders under the model’s name, so that each folder, Original, High Res  and Low Res would have 1 set of each image.

Basic option … support for folder by reference using “..” which may even export to “..\..\Exports\High Res”. This allows complete separation of Exports from Originals

Adcanced Option … support grabbing parent folder names. For example. export to “..\..\Exports\{name’..’}\HighRes” or even “g:\Exports\{name’..\..’}\{name’..’}\HighRes”.  This also allows for exports to be in a completely different area and not dragged into, and clog up, the lightroom collection structure.

For all of the advanced features of Lightroom, you would think that fundamental support for file folders is a given, but even the simplest “sibling” export described above would help a great deal.

I like my images organized into physical folders because I work in apps outside of just Lightroom, I deliver organized files to clients, and using collections as you suggest doesn't really address my concern in any way so far as I can tell. 

I do not want my RAW files and 3 different sizes if JPEGs all sitting in the same folder. That is incredibly annoying, and I do not want to have to sort by type or do a search for .ARW files or have to append my filenames to say -full-01, -high-01, -low-01, etc...

The simple fact is that my request would be a relatively easy addition for developers and would allow me the flexibility to easily work in the manner I wish to.

You could consider using collections rather than physical folders. That is how Lightroom is designed. Folders are physical storage places only, not the best way to organize images. Collections and smart collections can be seen as virtual folders designed for organizing your images faster and better.

What you need is a way to quickly see the type of image you want, and collections and smart collections do just that. There is no compelling reason why these images would also have to be in different storage places.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. But every shoot gets its own parent folder within "Pictures/Clients" for example:

2023-07-31-DiazFamilyPoolside

2023-08-01-FuegoRestaurante

etc... So within each individual shoot I have those RAW, Edited-JPEGs, High-Resolution, Low-Resolution, and Rejects folders. 

Is this the same catalog each time? 

RAW, Edited-JPEGs, High-Resolution, Low-Resolution, and Rejects all end up in the parent folder of that shoot 'YYYY-MM-DD-ShootName'. To locate it there from the start, I'd have to pick the folder each time I edit a new shoot. It's less tedious and less accident prone to just export to current folder and create a sub-folder of the appropriate name at that time (via preset), and then just drag it. However, I'd like to eliminate that step and just have the option to make it go to the parent folder so that it creates a folder in the same directory as the original photo, beside that folder, not within it. Does that make sense?

I then export full-resolution full-quality JPEGs to a folder named Edited-JPEGs which currently goes under the RAW folder, then I manually move it to the parent folder in Library view.

Maybe I misunderstand, maybe a similar file structure chart for the finished file structure will help. But, why what sounds like an extra step? Why not locate "Edited-JPEGs" in the file structure location you finally move it to?