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Question

Arrange library by date

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
March 28, 2017
5 replies
10890 views

Hi

Is there a way or a plugin that can go through my entire library and rearrange the photos by date? At the moment I have a mix of dates and named events. I simply want to default by date and use my meta keywords or filter to search for specific photos if needed.

Thanks

Mica

This topic has been closed for replies.

GoldingD

Legend

Might have been mentioned, but

My SOP on import is to rename by capture date/time. so:

YYYYMMDD_hhmmss

Note, if a few shots occur within the same second, a seq number us automatically added

Note, I do not like or accept or use the default file structure based on date. Just irritates the heck out of me. Appears to be about a 50/50 split on that, some acctual pros providing guidance on their web pages state it is bad practice to file via date structure, some others absolutely the opposite. So go with what you want. But do not let LRC force you into the default.

R

rivalg

Known Participant

Mica,

Yes, I read that; it is difficult to change that paradigm.

In my previous life, if I wanted to find a document posted on a certain date, I expected it to be stored in the file cabinet in the correct folder, as the organization’s archiving rules mandated.

That LR changes the creation date and places the files in the folders it wishes, it has cause me much frustration.

I will follow your advice.

Thank you for your reply.

R

rivalg

Known Participant

I also am very interested in this topic and please allow me to butt in.

The structure I am storing the files in LR is based on the original date when the images were created: YYYY-MM-DD.

A large number of files have been placed in folders that have nothing to do with the date the image was created: for example, one image, created on 2006-10-08 is stored now in folder 2020-05-06; I believe this was caused because LR changed the create date, to the current date when the file was imported into LR.

There are thousands of images like that one.

How could I batch change Metadata to store the Date Time Original data in the file’s Metadata date?

A good number of images have no data stored in Date Time Original; that is another issue for a later date.

For now, I will appreciate any suggestion on how to proceed in making sure I resolve the issue with the data available to me.

Thank you very much,

dj_paige

Legend

As was stated above, there is no need to use FOLDERS for this purpose of finding photos by date. Use the Filter Bar to find photos taken on any specific date(s), regardless of the folder they are stored in; or sort the photos in the Library Module by capture date. It's a much simpler and less error prone and less time consuming solution than forcing a folder based solution on your photos.

J

josha14253379

Participant

Did you ever find a good way of doing this?

My problem is I'd like to use a smart collection to get all video, and move that to a new location, but with the same date-stamp folder structure.

I could move it to one massive folder right now but then I don't know how to get Lightroom to re-build the date-stamped folder structure on the other end so I'd have 1 NTFS folder of 2800 videos, which isn't manageable, Any thoughts?

Rob_Cullen

Community Expert

FYI A Smart Collection is not a physical folder, only a 'Virtual' list of photos (& videos)- you cannot 'move' a Smart Collection. You can move the videos.

If you insist on moving videos to a new folder location, rather than using Lightroom's Search/Filter functions (as suggested by DJPaige in Post#3)- there is a way in Lightroom that might do what you want, creating new folders, with some effort-.

Steps with pictures-

1) Use Library filter (or your Smart Collections!) to select Videos (Filetype) and Date (Years, or Months- expand the options)

eg. To move all "2017" videos to a new folder-

2) Select all [Ctrl+A] in the grid.

3) Right-Click the 'Master' folder in the Folder panel (mine is 'Documents') you want to use for the new location of these '2017' videos

4) Select the option to [Create Folder Inside " Master Folder "...]

5) Name the new folder, and put a check-mark in the box to [ Include selected photos ]

6) Click [Create]

You now have all the '2017' videos moved to a new folder called "2017 Videos" within "Documents"

7) Repeat this process as necessary to create the remaining new 'dated' folders for the videos.

Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.1.1, Photoshop 27.3.1, ACR 18.1.1, Lightroom 9.0, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.2 .

Just Shoot Me

Legend

In what respect do you want this to happen. In the Folders area or the images themselves in the Grid view? In Grid view just set the Sort: to Capture Time.

If you want to rename to rearrange folders that is something you will need to do manually, as far as I know of.

S

studiomigoAuthor

Known Participant

The second one.

I would like all the photos to rearrange by date, i.e create new folders and move photos around based on there date stamp.

dj_paige

Legend

As Just Shoot Me said, in the Grid, it's easy to sort by the capture date and time. Use View->Sort

Or, you could also find photos taken on any particular date (or any particular month, or any particular group of months, etc.) by using the Filter bar. There's no need to rearrange your photos in order to use the filter bar, it will work regardless of how your folders are set up.

If you are planning to perform large amounts of work to obtain dated folders by moving photos into new folders, I would advise not to do this. In addition to the above search feature of Lightroom, which enables you to find photos by date, there are much more powerful ways in Lightroom to organize than creating dated folders of your existing photos. You can organize by keywords and other metadata, which provides a more powerful organization, and doesn't require moving photos from here to there.

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