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WPA57
Known Participant
May 2, 2018
Question

How to Batch process and preserve the original folder/subfolder structure?

  • May 2, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 1095 views

Finally got Lightroom 6 after years of making do with other software.

I have a set of scans from 35mm transparancies that I want to do some basic batch processing on - but I can't quite see how to do what I want.

What I want to do is

- Point Lightroom at the (TIFF) files, which are all neatly arranged in folders and subfolders

- Have Lightroom perform a few presets such as crop (to remove black border from the scannning), some gentle sharpening and lighting changes

- Then put the processed files - obviously these are "processed copies" now in a different location on my hard drive, creating an exact copy of the folders/subfolders

- So I end up with what looks like two identical sets of folders/subfolders - except the files in the second set have been processed by Lightroom (and eg may now be jpg not TIFF)

I'm pretty sure this is the kind of thing the Lightroom is designed for but

- Although I can see how to import multiple files and in so doing, apply presets

- And then to export multiple files

...how to I get Lightroom to duplicate the folder structure (rather than just end up with all the files in one folder)?

Many thanks!

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    2 replies

    JohanElzenga
    JohanElzenga
    Community Expert
    May 2, 2018

    WPA57  wrote

    Finally got Lightroom 6 after years of making do with other software.

    I have a set of scans from 35mm transparancies that I want to do some basic batch processing on - but I can't quite see how to do what I want.

    What I want to do is

    - Point Lightroom at the (TIFF) files, which are all neatly arranged in folders and subfolders

    - Have Lightroom perform a few presets such as crop (to remove black border from the scannning), some gentle sharpening and lighting changes

    - Then put the processed files - obviously these are "processed copies" now in a different location on my hard drive, creating an exact copy of the folders/subfolders

    - So I end up with what looks like two identical sets of folders/subfolders - except the files in the second set have been processed by Lightroom (and eg may now be jpg not TIFF)

    I'm pretty sure this is the kind of thing the Lightroom is designed for but

    - Although I can see how to import multiple files and in so doing, apply presets

    - And then to export multiple files

    ...how to I get Lightroom to duplicate the folder structure (rather than just end up with all the files in one folder)?

    Many thanks!

    You have to ask yourself whether this workflow makes any sense. Lightroom is a non-destructive editor. That means that any edits you do are not directly applied to the images, but are stored as a kind of 'to do list' in the catalog. Only when needed -for example because you want to make a print- Lightroom will apply the edits, and send the results to the printer.

    So what would be the purpose of making a copy of all the edited images? You will only double the required disk space, and you don't really gain anything that you do not already have right now.

    -- Johan W. Elzenga
    W
    WPA57Author
    Known Participant
    May 2, 2018

    JohanEl54  wrote

    WPA57   wrote

    Finally got Lightroom 6 after years of making do with other software.

    I have a set of scans from 35mm transparancies that I want to do some basic batch processing on - but I can't quite see how to do what I want.

    What I want to do is

    - Point Lightroom at the (TIFF) files, which are all neatly arranged in folders and subfolders

    - Have Lightroom perform a few presets such as crop (to remove black border from the scannning), some gentle sharpening and lighting changes

    - Then put the processed files - obviously these are "processed copies" now in a different location on my hard drive, creating an exact copy of the folders/subfolders

    - So I end up with what looks like two identical sets of folders/subfolders - except the files in the second set have been processed by Lightroom (and eg may now be jpg not TIFF)

    I'm pretty sure this is the kind of thing the Lightroom is designed for but

    - Although I can see how to import multiple files and in so doing, apply presets

    - And then to export multiple files

    ...how to I get Lightroom to duplicate the folder structure (rather than just end up with all the files in one folder)?

    Many thanks!

    You have to ask yourself whether this workflow makes any sense. Lightroom is a non-destructive editor. That means that any edits you do are not directly applied to the images, but are stored as a kind of 'to do list' in the catalog. Only when needed -for example because you want to make a print- Lightroom will apply the edits, and send the results to the printer.

    So what would be the purpose of making a copy of all the edited images? You will only double the required disk space, and you don't really gain anything that you do not already have right now.

    OK - valid point.

    Partly the reason is that I have all my (other) pictures stored on my hard drive as individual files.

    That way, it's easy to back them up, and pull them off to my laptop if I want to take some somewhere or to copy some to Dropbox or similar.

    If just in Lightroom then I can only see the final edited versions on one computer.

    It just gives more flexibility to have the discreet files.

    I guess the summary is - I can't think why I would want to have all my edited pictures only visible/useable in Lightroom.

    But... I realise this is how the world does it so am I missing something?

    JohanElzenga
    JohanElzenga
    Community Expert
    May 2, 2018

    Visible, yes perhaps so. You can install Lightroom on two computers however, and for example use Dropbox to sync your catalog. Useable only in Lightroom, no. The whole idea of Lightroom is that whenever you need to use an image elsewhere, you export it in a size and format specificly for that purpose. So if you need an image for the web, you export it as a jpeg of perhaps 1200 x 800 pixels in sRGB color space. If that same image is used in a book or magazine, you export it as full size tiff in AdobeRGB. In all these cases you can delete the derivative image as soon as it has been used, because you can export it again any time.

    -- Johan W. Elzenga
    D
    dj_paige
    Brainiac
    May 2, 2018
    I'm pretty sure this is the kind of thing the Lightroom is designed for

    I would say the opposite is true, Lightroom was not designed for this as there is no built in feature to do this.

    However, you can use a plug-in written by Jeffrey Friedl to do this.

    Jeffrey Friedl's Blog » Jeffrey’s “Folder Publisher” Lightroom Plugin

    W
    WPA57Author
    Known Participant
    May 2, 2018

    Wow that was quick - thankyou - I'll check it out.

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