P: Smart Collections based on Color Labels show 0 photos upon starting LrC 12.2

Such a nice and friendly way of you to talk to me.

Will you please understand that your issue has nothing to do with the original subject of this thread and thus start a different thread? The issue I first reported about is solved. Your issue is different. Thank you for your understanding and for starting a new thread!

"once I have chosen any metadata set and labeled a photo with a color, I expect the filter to work by selecting that color. And that doesn't work. It only notices any label from any set as custom. Even if the correct set is activated."

Can you provide a precise sequence of steps that misbehaves? The previous steps you posted were behaving as intended, as I described.

@johnrellis thank you very much for the detailed response. 

The process you described makes sense. But either I misunderstand something or the bug is existent. Because once I have chosen any metadata set and labeled a photo with a color, I expect the filter to work by selecting that color. And that doesn't work. It only notices any label from any set as custom. Even if the correct set is activated. 

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@PatrickG, color labels can be confusing, and what you describe is the intended behavior.

All photos have a metadata field Label, which can contain any text, and you can enter that text in the Metadata panel:

A "color label set" provides a mapping between text in the Label field and colors displayed in LR.  The two sets you mention are:

Bridge Default: "Select" = red, "Second" = yellow, "Approved" = green, "Review" = blue, "To Do" = purple

Lightoom Default: "Red" = red, "Yellow" = yellow, "Green" = green, "Blue" = blue, "Purple" = purple

So let's work through your example:

1. Set Metadata Color Label Set to "Bridge" and add a RED label to Photo-01

The Bridge Default set maps the text "Select" to the color red. So typing 6 to assign the color red to Photo-01 stores the text "Select" in the Label field:

2. Set Metadata Color Label Set to "Lightroom Default" and add a RED label to Photo-02

The Lightroom Default set maps the text "Red" to the color red. So typing 6 to assign the color red to Photo-02 stores the text "Red" in the Label field:

3. Filter set to RED > Photo-02

When you then filter by clicking the red square in the Filter bar, Photo-02 is displayed because its Label text, "Red", is mapped by the current color label set (Lightroom Default) to the color red.  Photo-01 is not displayed because its Label text, "Select", isn't mapped to the color red by Lightroom Default.

4. Filter set to Custom > Photo-01

When you then filter by clicking the white square ("Custom") in the Filter bar, Photo-01 is displayed because its Label text, "Select", isn't mapped to any color by the current color label set (Lightroom Default).  Photo-02 is not displayed because its Label text, "Red", is mapped to the color red by Lightroom Default.

* * *

Note that smart collections have two criteria, Label Text and Label Color, that let you distinguish between those two.  Label Text searches through the text contained in the Label field, while Label Color searches the colors mapped by current label set from the Label field texts.

Addendum:

LR appears to set multiple color label sets to a single photo depending on the chosen set.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Set Metadata Color Label Set to "Bridge" and add a RED label to Photo-01
2. Set Metadata Color Label Set to "Lightroom Default" and add a RED label to Photo-02

Filter returns following results:
Filter set to RED > Photo-02

Filter set to Custom > Photo-01

So the problem seems to lie within the filters inability to work with labels other than the default set and does not switch its search / filter function alongside with the selected metadata color label set.

There still is a similar issue with the color labels. 

Setup:

• LR Classic 12.3
• macOS Ventura 13.4
• Apple M1 Max

Steps to reproduce:

1. set Metadata Color Label Set to "Bridge"
2. mark any photo with any color label
3. activate color filter in either library module filter attributes or develop module "Filter" icon menu by selecting any previously set color label

Result:

zero images found: "No photo selected"

Expected Result:

previously labeled photos appear in filtered result

Workaround: 

• Use "Lightroom Default" Color Label Set – works as intended

or

• select "Show photos with 'Custom' Label" – this at least shows any labeled photo even with "Bridge" labels, but of course not filterable by specific color

The problem is fixed in my LR 12.3, thanks.