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A
andrew.o.jones
Participating Frequently
January 10, 2026
Question

Create Virtual Copy directly into a different collection?

  • January 10, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 283 views

Does anybody know of a way to create a virtual copy of an image directly into a specific collection? My use case is as follows:

 

I have several collections of images, organised by 'photo shoot'. I have a need for some photos to be edited with different aspect ratios (typcially 6x4, 16x9 and 16x10) so they can be published on varying media. I then want to collect up these photos into collections based on the aspect ratio. So currently I end up making several virtual copies of some of my images in the original 'photo shoot' collection, then manually adding them to the relevant 'aspect ratio' collection, then removing the virtual copies from the main 'photo shoot' collection. What I am after is a way to drag and drop (or some such) the original photo to an exisiting 'aspect ratio' collection and create a virtual copy there which I can go and adjust.

 

Thanks

1 reply

dj_paige
dj_paige
Legend
January 10, 2026

Not exactly what you asked for, but maybe a better workflow: use the AnyFilter plugin from John R Ellis to find photos with a specified aspect ratio (for example, all photos with a 1.5 aspect ratio). Then no need to move a virtual copy into a collection for that specific aspect ratio, just set up a filter for the various sizes of interest.


When you create a collection, there is an option to make new virtual copies.

 

 

 

 

A
andrew.o.jonesAuthor
Participating Frequently
January 10, 2026

Thanks for the suggestion. To be honest I've got no problem with getting the virtual copies into the relevant collections, its the fact that it's an inefficent workflow to then have to remove the virtual copies from the original collection they were created in. At the moment the process is three steps - create a Virtual Copy -> add that Virtual Copy to desired collection -> remove the Virtual Copy from the original collection - which surely could be done in a single step - create Virtual Copy in [target collection].

dj_paige
dj_paige
Legend
January 11, 2026

Maybe I don't understand why the virtual copies have to be removed.

 

I think that the AnyFilter plugin removes a step or two from the workflow. Just crop to whatever size is needed and then use a filter (which can saved for future use after you first create it) to find the virtual copies with the desired aspect ratio. And really, no collections needed either, you don't have to put anything into a collection.

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