Skip to main content
popejo
popejo
Participant
October 21, 2026
Question

Confirmation dialog when changing star ratings for multiple selected photos

Hi Lightroom Team,

I use star ratings as my primary and most critical way to curate and value my photography. I spend a massive amount of time carefully reviewing and grading my catalog.

Currently, in Lightroom (Cloud), it is far too easy to accidentally overwrite the star ratings of a large number of photos. If you happen to have multiple photos selected (for example, by accidentally hitting Cmd+A/Ctrl+A) and press a number key (e.g., "3") to rate what you think is just a single image, Lightroom instantly changes the rating for all selected photos. It does this immediately without any warning or confirmation.

While this obviously requires a user mistake, the consequences of this accidental slip-on-the-keyboard are devastating, as it can ruin hours or days of curation work in a single split second.

Proposed Solution:
Please add a simple, toggleable confirmation dialog when a user attempts to change the star rating (or flags) of multiple selected photos at once.

A simple pop-up saying: "Are you sure you want to change the rating for [X] photos?" with an option to "Don't show this again".

This small safety net would save a lot of anxiety and prevent accidental loss of crucial metadata.

Thank you for considering this!

      2 replies

      Community Manager
      Bec from LRCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      October 21, 2026

      There is a confirmation that will appear if you have 100 or more images selected and attempt to change ratings.  It sounds like you would like the threshold to be lower.  From your perspective, is there a point where it would start to get annoying to be prompted each time?  For example, we know there are people who frequently select batches of images and want to update them all at once.  If you’re working through your images in small batches, it could get tedious to see the confirmation prompt each time.  Or would you never find that tedious?  

      Note, if you notice right away that you updated more images than intended, you can Undo the action.  I know that isn’t ideal, just trying to offer options for how Lightroom works today.  

       

      thanks for your input! 

      Translate
      popejo
      popejoAuthor
      Participant
      October 22, 2026

      Thank you for the quick response! 

      To answer your question about the threshold: I completely understand that a constant prompt could become tedious for users who frequently work in small batches. It’s great to know that there is already a 100-image safety net in place! However, from my perspective, a threshold of around 20 images would be the sweet spot. It is high enough not to bother someone doing quick batch-editing on a handful of shots, but low enough to catch those accidental "Select All" slips that can happen so easily.

      Regarding the Undo option: while it does work if you notice the mistake immediately, the real danger is when you don't realize you had multiple images selected. If you apply a rating, move on to another folder, or close the app, that mistake becomes permanent and very difficult to fix later.

      An Alternative Solution: A "Lock" Feature
      Thinking about how to prevent these accidental overrides entirely—especially for finished work, an even more robust solution would be the ability to lock images.

      Here is how it could work:

      Voluntary Protection: Users could choose to lock older, fully curated, or finalized images.

      Two-Step Safety: To edit or re-rate a locked image, you would first have to explicitly unlock it. This would make accidental overwrites virtually impossible.

      Zero Disruption: Since this would be entirely optional, it would have absolutely no impact on users who prefer not to use it, meaning it wouldn't cause any annoyance or tedious prompts for them.

      Universal Mistake Prevention: Furthermore, a lock feature like this would prevent all other accidental mistakes on those images as well—such as unintended develop adjustments, flags, or deletion. Not just changes to star ratings.

      Translate
      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
      Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices