Renaming and Searching Problems

Question

I'm looking for a few suggestions on renaming and searching in Lightroom. Let me explain...

I'm primarily a wedding photographer. When I finish the batch of wedding photos, I have recently started renaming the photos so that they're titled with the couples names, as well as the new chronological numbering system based on the final files. I use the "sequence" option for renaming. I type in their names, then start the sequence at "1."

For example, the new file names might look like: Kerri and Daniel-1.CR2, Kerri and Daniel-2.CR2, and so on.

So that's all good and fine, until we move forward.

When I deliver the files, I often request to hear back from the couples on the "top favorites" for their wedding album. They will then send me a list that looks something like this: 1, 23, 31, 49, 56, 98, 123, 141, 187, 189, 198, 206, 212, 223, 227, 243, 271, 224, 297, 302, 09, 316, 326, 337, 368, 395, 401, 442, 443, 465, 467, 469, 479, 492, 508, 579, 597, 618, 627

The problem now occurs when I'm back in Lightroom and trying to search for their list. If I paste that list into Lightroom's search field and select "Contains All," I it finds MANY more photos than just the ones on the list. Reason being, if its looking for "1," it will also show me "101" and "110." If its searching for 23, it will also show me 230. Etc.

Any suggestions here??

Thanks in advance!

johnrellis · Accepted Answer

Lightroom does not allow me to preface the sequencing with a zero. So if I'm starting a sequence of renaming, I'm unable to use "001." Instead, I'm only allowed to use "1."

You can use the "Sequence # (001)" token in the renaming template:

johnrellis · Answer

It's hard to do exactly what you want with LR's limited search features (or even get close).

To search using a pasted list of numbers, you'd need to use the Contains criterion -- it matches a file if any of the strings in the search field match.

Contains All won't work, since any matching file must contain every number in the pasted list -- not what you want.

Contains Words won't work, since like Contains All, a matching file must contain every number in the pasted list.

Some possible solutions:

1. Change your numbering scheme to use 3-digit numbers, e.g. "Karri and Daniel-017.CR2". When the client sends you a list of numbers, you'll have to add leading 0's to the numbers that are one or two digits before you search. But that will get you exact matches of the numbers.

2. Just use numbers in the filenames, e.g. "12.CR2", "123.CR2". Use keywords, collections, or folders to group the photos by job. Then use the Extended Search plugin to search for exact filename matches of a pasted list of numbers. You'd do:

Images whose filename without extension is exactly any of the comma-separated items

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