Skip to main content
A
Anonymous
April 17, 2013
Question

Can Lightroom sort by dimensions?

  • April 17, 2013
  • 3 replies
  • 24949 views

I'd like to either use Grid view sorted by dimensions, or create a Collection based on dimensions.  I can do this in Adobe Bridge, but thought Lightroom would add functionality to this. But I can't find it.

Thank you.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    3 replies

    P
    photoshack
    Participating Frequently
    November 27, 2013

    While it is nice that everyone comes up with complex ways to do a simple task like sorting by file size criteria, I think that it is worthy of considering to actually put this in the product that we are using daily to manage our digital media.   I do not want to go outside of LR to work on images; I want to do this in one place.   I do not want to have plugins to do a basic simple function.  I want to sort, filter on this information and then ACT upon it within the interface.

    I will go back again to my use case.

    I want to find all image with keyword ocean, sorted by file size because I know that my library has a combination of print prepped work, raw files, virtual copies, websized, and intermediate sized files and I want to filter on JPG >2mb but <5mb, regardless of dimensions.  I want to sort them in descending order and compare within grid view and then act upon them.

    All these tools mentioned as work arounds just muck up what should be very easy.   Good for plugin developers and all...but really I don't get why this can't be simply another metadata used to sort like all the rest.   Excusing them away with costly tools is stupid.

    dj_paige
    dj_paige
    Legend
    November 27, 2013

    While it is nice that everyone comes up with complex ways to do a simple task like sorting by file size criteria, I think that it is worthy of considering to actually put this in the product that we are using daily to manage our digital media.   I do not want to go outside of LR to work on images; I want to do this in one place.   I do not want to have plugins to do a basic simple function.

    All these tools mentioned as work arounds just muck up what should be very easy.   Good for plugin developers and all...but really I don't get why this can't be simply another metadata used to sort like all the rest.   Excusing them away with costly tools is stupid.

    I understand your point of view, and I can see the value of this feature, but if the Lightroom developers stopped what they were doing and programmed up everyone's requested favorite feature, we wouldn't see another version of Lightroom for years. Like it or not, this feature, and many many others, has not been a priority. If you'd really like to have an impact, and potentially get this feature inside of Lightroom, you should make a formal request at http://feedback.photoshop.com/

    web-weaver
    web-weaver
    Inspiring
    April 17, 2013

    Lr 4.4 doesn't have that.

    But in Lr 5 beta is a new feature: you can create Smart Collections based on Size / Dimensions.

    P
    photoshack
    Participating Frequently
    September 7, 2013

    I have LR 5 and do not see this anywhere; did this not get released?   If so is there some kind of how-to?

    Update: ok I found in smart collection but was surprised to see I can't do this in standard sort/filter in grid view.  Weird.

    N
    nahcr
    Participating Frequently
    November 27, 2013

    Personally, I think your looking at this bass-ackwards. If you want to select specific image types for website use I'd suggest first searching by keyword criteria such as 'ocean.' Then select the ones you think are best regardless of size. If they aren't the right size then simply Export them and create the size you want. Why the heck would you want to "limit" your selection of images by "size?" It simply makes no sense, especially when hard drive storage is dirt cheap today–Just my 2 cents worth!

    This table may give you a better idea of JPEG file sizes based on LR's compression settings 0-100. In case you weren't aware there are really only 13 different compression levels in both LR and PS and one of them is virtually useless (54-61%). See this post:

    http://forums.adobe.com/message/5641903#5641903

    The file used for comparison is from a 5D MKII, but the compression 'Size' and 'Step' data applies to most any "typical" image type.

    PSLRLR EquivSizeSize %Step %
    0   00-7%      675 5%-11%
    1  108-15%      756 5%-23%
    2  2016-23%      983 7%-14%
    3  3024-30%   1,137 8%-14%
    4   3531-38%   1,318 9%-16%
    5  4039-46%   1,569 11%-24%
    6  5047-53%   2,051 14%-4%
    7  5554-61%   2,127 15%-27%
    8  6562-69%   2,894 20%-25%
    9  7070-76%   3,863 26%-31%
    10  8077-84%   5,570 38%-35%
    11  9085-92%   8,566 59%-41%
    1210093-100%14,579 100%

    Notice the anomaly between PS 6-7 steps. There's more information at the above link.


    I would like to be able to sort by size.  I am collecting images from various sources, and i want to use the four best of each group.  While artistic merit is slightly involved, i most want the pictures to be clear and good quality.  in general, bigger size means less pixelation.  I cant just pick the four biggest because that isnt always true, so i want to look at the pictures starting with the largest size pictures.  As far as i can see lightroom doesnt let me do this.

    another reason for sorting by size is when you have thumbnails mixed in with the originals.  an easy way to segregate the thumbnails would be to sort by size

    Rikk Flohr: Inactive
    Rikk Flohr: Inactive
    Participating Frequently
    April 17, 2013

    This functionality for Smart Collections was added in Lightroom 5. You can check out the Public Beta for details.

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