NEED HELP with creating many albums from folders on an external HD

Question

Dear Lightroom Cecosystem (Cloud-based) Community,

I am baffled by a current need and thought that perhaps someone here could help.

I have an external HD with hundreds of folders, each corresponding to different events. Each folder contains many image files for each event indicated by the folder:

For example:

*External HD

**Event 1 (folder)

***Event 1 (image files)

**Event 2 (folder)

***Event 2 (image files)

**Event 3 (folder)

***Event 3 (image files)

I'd like to find a method by which to quickly create Albums in Adobe Lightroom (currently using v9.1) that correspond to the folder names in my HD. Without this, I have to create each album manually and import the images into each newly created album. This is extremely time intensive and it seems like there should be an easier way to migrate a folder/image structure on an external HD to the folder/album/image structure in Adobe Lightroom.

I've done a bunch of research but can't seem to find a solution. One option presented to me is to use Lightroom Classic as a bridge, suggesting that Lr Classic is able to migrate the HD's folder/image structure to Lr Classic using collections, and then this would then be reflected in my Adobe Lightroom in the folder/album/images structure.

The issue with this is that I don't own Lightroom Classic and I prefer not to have to pay for it (monthly no less) just so that I can perform this migration of images from my organized HD to Adobe Lightroom. One option could be to use a free trial of Lightroom Classic, but before I try that, I was hoping that someone in this forum could provide some helpful guidance.

Many thanks for your consideration.

--Dave

Jim Wilde · Accepted Answer

The option presented to you of using LrClassic to import your existing images (using the ADD Import option to maintain the existing folder structure) is the only "automated" way that I can think of. Once imported, you would then use the option to replicate the folder structure into Collection Sets/Collections, which in turn would translate to Folders/Albums when you migrate the LrC catalog into Lightroom.

The alternative, using Lightroom only, would be to import one folder at a time, specifying the folder name in the "Add to Album>New" box.

Out of curiosity, what software were you using to manage your photo library before switching to Lightroom? If it was Apple Photos there is a migration function in Lightroom for that app, though I don't know if that would provide the ability to migrate folders names into matching album names.

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