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shikamu
shikamu
Known Participant
October 5, 2026
Question

photo and virtual copy are not adjacent in grid view

  • October 5, 2026
  • 3 replies
  • 27 views

I just discovered something weird that in over 15 years of using Lightroom Classic (and it's several other names over the years) I have never seen before.  I have 165k photos imported into my catalog.  I have a photo with the name DSC01885.ARW and a virtual copy of it.  When I sort the photos by capture time they are separated by several photos.  Looking carefully at the times of the photos I see the several photos were taken at 12:52:09 to 12:52:47 on 2009/12/23.  Here is the order they appear in grid view when sorted by capture time:

DSC01885.ARW 12:52:47
DSC01882.ARW 12:52:09
DSC01883.ARW 12:52:31
DSC01884.ARW 12:52:46
DSC01885.ARW 12:52:47 (virtual copy)

When I sort the photos by file name they are not next to each other either.  They appear separated by several photos.

Weird.  Any ideas?

Mac version.  Backup function performed on every exit daily.

3 replies

Califdan2
Califdan2
Inspiring
October 5, 2026

Are any of these images in stacks?   When images are in stacks, the sort order of the grid only applies to the top of stack image.  The other images in the stack are then displayed right after that sorted top of stack image in the current “stack order”.  

Sameer K
Community Manager
Sameer KCommunity Manager
Community Manager
October 5, 2026

Hey, @shikamu. Welcome to the Lightroom Community. I'll clarify this for you.


To some extent, depending on whether you're in a Folder or Collection. Standard sort modes (Capture Time, File Name) sort all images by the chosen field, with no special "keep virtual copy adjacent to original" rule. Adjacency is guaranteed only for certain collection types. Similarly, sorting by File Name sorts alphabetically, and virtual copies don't have a distinct filename; they share the original's name but may be treated as separate entries with a secondary sort key that doesn't guarantee adjacency.



Thanks!
Sameer K
(Type '@' and type my name to mention me when you reply)

jrsforums
Inspiring
October 5, 2026

​@Sameer K 

“…virtual copies don't have a distinct filename; they share the original's name but may be treated as separate entries with a secondary sort key that doesn't guarantee adjacency.”

can you explain what you mean by ‘secondary sort key’ and why it would factor into a ‘sort by name’.  I would think ‘sort by name’ would use just name…possibly including ‘copy name’, but would still be adjacent to original name.

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