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M double U
M double U
Participant
February 11, 2025
Answered

How do I delete all pictures in my Lightroom catalog from disk that are not part of any collection

  • February 11, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 352 views

I have created a large lightroom catalog with all my individual photos from projects over many years. After importing my photos into the lightroom catalog I then create one or more collections to sort the photos im more logical subcollections. I then start editing from there. If a photo is rejected I delete it from the collection resulting in a usable set of photo's once I'm done. This works fine for me but now I realised I have a lot of clutter on my hardisk from rejected photo's that will neveer be seen or used again. I would like to clean up these rejected pictures from my harddisk so I am looking to find a way to delete all pictures in my lightroom catalog from disk if they are not used in a collection. Any input would be highly appreciated. Thanks a lot

Correct answer JohanElzenga

You can do that as follows. Create a smart collection with criterium 'Collection does not contain a e i o u y'. That will list all images that are not in any collection with one of these letters in their name, which is normally any collection at all (you can add other letters and numbers if necessary in your situation). Select all images in that smart collection, then switch to 'All Photographs' and delete all selected images.

 

1 reply

JohanElzenga
Community Expert
JohanElzengaCommunity Expert
Community Expert
February 11, 2025

Go to 'All Photographs'. That's where every photo in your catalog is listed, regardless of whether it is in any collection.

 

-- Johan W. Elzenga
M double U
M double UAuthor
Participant
February 11, 2025

Thanks for your reply Johan. What I am trying to do is find a way to select all photos that are not part of a collection so I can delete them from both the catalog and dsik.

 

M double U
M double UAuthor
Participant
February 11, 2025

You can do that as follows. Create a smart collection with criterium 'Collection does not contain a e i o u y'. That will list all images that are not in any collection with one of these letters in their name, which is normally any collection at all (you can add other letters and numbers if necessary in your situation). Select all images in that smart collection, then switch to 'All Photographs' and delete all selected images.

 


Brilliant, this is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks

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