P: Develop presets not sorting correctly

[WinstonInBoise]

TheyRackMultipart201804039331215qg-c8f7b329-4af5-42e3-ba14-bd44aef398bd-279039350.png used to be sorted alphabetically. In version 7.3 the order is random

[JohanElzenga]

Yes, consider them as grouped:
1: Adobe general presets
2: Adobe effects presets
3: Adobe Classic presets
4: Custom presets
Inside each group everything sorts as expected. When you specify some presets as 'favorite', you will see that the Favorites group comes all the way at the top.

[JLCKJC2015]

Well, looking inside this is what I see:



Doesn't look like it's alphabetical to me

[JohanElzenga]

Presets sort by an internal field. So whether or not the Adobe presets sort alphabetically is (probably) by design. But your own custom presets should sort correctly now.

[JLCKJC2015]

OK, I'll take your word for it. If that's the case it is certainly confusing and somewhat illogical. No wonder the sorting of 'Presets' has raised so many questions lately.

Thanks for your comments on my questions.

[johnrellis]

I just released the free Fix Presets plugin that corrects the ordering bug with a click of a button. You may need to invoke the plugin whenever you rename presets, change their groups (folders), or import new ones from earlier versions of LR.

The plugin also provides workarounds for a number of other develop preset issues.

[Todd Shaner]

John, thanks for creating this plugin. My User Develop presets are a mess so I'd like to give it a try. Exactly what does it do and how will this affect future LR updates that correct the sort order?

[johnrellis]

The new preset format in .xmp files has a SortName field that is used for sorting the presets.  Camera Raw consistently sets SortName, but some operations in LR set SotName, some leave it empty (freshman programming). The Fix Ordering button of Fix Presets sets the field  to a version of the Name field, so that all the presets sort consistently.

FIx Presets will replace numbers embedded in the name with zero-padded numbers, to achieve the proper numeric sorting that was present in LR 7.2 and earlier and is still used in the Collections and Folders panels.  For example, collections with leading numbers in their names will sort "1 C", "3 C", "20 C".  Given a preset name "23 - 5 Orange", Fix Presets will give it the SortName "000023 - 000005 Orange", to achieve the proper sorting.  (Internally, LR has a sort function that does this hybrid numeric sorting, but the programmer forgot to use it in the new Presets panel.)

If/when a future release of LR fixes the issue, presets that have been corrected by Fix Prests will continue to work and sort properly.  (The internal LR numeric sorting treats a leading "000023" in the name the same as "23".)

[Todd Shaner]

Sounds good I'll give it try and report back.

[johnrellis]

The Restore Original command will restore your original preset .xmp files if you don't like the results.

[Todd Shaner]

I just tried the 'Fix Ordering' function and I'm getting the below error message on every preset. There also doesn't appear to be a way to cancel the operation and I've got a lot of presets. Any ideas?

[johnrellis]

Re canceling, the modal progress bar has a Cancel button, but perhaps LR isn't giving you a chance to click it when the error dialog keeps popping up in your face.

Please contact me by email at the support address on the plugin's web page. Based on that error message, something obviously unexpected is happening with your preset folder.

[Todd Shaner]

Thanks just sent you an email.

[johnrellis]

The Fix Presets plugin was tripping over another intermittent LR 7.3 SDK bug with presets: 
https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/lightroom-sdk-preset-getfile-incorrectly-retu... 

I released a new version that works around it.

[Todd Shaner]

Thank you John. The updated 'Fix Preset' v1.3 plugin works like charm! I haven't used the other features yet, but they will come in handy. Your due diligence is most appreciated!

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Thank you John.It works, but I can't rename any preset because doing this all the presets in that specific folder go back to the original wrong alphabetic order.Did you noticed this before?

[johnrellis]

You need to re-run the Fix Ordering command every time you rename a preset. (LR's rename operation "forgets" to set the internal SortName field of the preset.)  I'll make this clearer in user interface and the documentation.

[JohanElzenga]

Nice that you added the adjustment brush to the preset options. You could probably do the same with the spot healing brush too.

[johnrellis]

Good suggestion, I'll add Spot Removal to the plugin.

[johnrellis]

Unfortunately, LR 7.3.1 doesn't recognize the spot-removal settings in preset .xmp files.

[WatraczDesign]

I have the same problem, the sorting is not working correctly...

[BillPohlmann]

You were "investigating" this a month ago. How's that coming? And why did you mess with something that worked perfectly well in the first place?

[johnrellis]

"Why did you mess with something that worked perfectly well in the first place?"

Adobe changed the internal implementation of presets considerably, to allow them to be shared with Camera Raw and as part of the new "enhanced profiles", which provide users with a number of new features and advantages.

Unfortunately, Adobe completely botched the testing (quality assurance) and released these worthwhile changes with lots of obvious bugs.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Lightroom Classic CC 7.4 was released with some preset/profile management features. After installing, if you are still seeing preset sorting issues related to alphabetization, please let us know. 

[gregseth]

Are you seriously calling the new "manage presets" window a fix ?!
As a developer myself I would be ashamed to offer something like that to my clients. 

[johnrellis]

Grégory, this topic is concerned with the incorrect sorting of presets introduced in 7.3. The Manage window doesn't have anything to do with that bug. My testing shows that 7.4 correctly sorts presets -- do you experience incorrect sorting?