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dennishmiller
Known Participant
April 28, 2021
Question

How to save custom order

  • April 28, 2021
  • 4 replies
  • 6426 views

I've got a catalog wth 500 images that I have pulaced into a custom order/arrangement. Is there any way to save this particular ordering? I want, for example, to resort the view based on a few things, such as file type of Added order, then return to the ordering I've created. Would a Smart Collection save the order, for example? (I don't want to try it to find out ;-)) Thanks for any help.

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    4 replies

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    Gabriele24388990343s
    Participant
    July 24, 2024

    Hi dennishmiller, I created a post to suggest this simple function that's still lacking inside Lightroom (3 years after your post)... You and anyone would like to let the developers know about this issue can upvote my post here:
    https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-ideas/p-let-us-save-images-custom-order-to-a-file-inside-library-sort-type-to-save-our-storytelling/idi-p/14757532

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      hjz04
      Participant
      April 3, 2023

      Really good question, I have wondered about this very same problem as well. Here is one solution I found: Lightroom allows you to sort your pictures by "Label text". So, what I did was to add label texts 000 ... nnn to my pictures, in the order in which I want them to appear in the collection or folder. Now I can go back between different sort orders like file name, label text, etc., without losing ordering I created by labelling the pictures.

        jappiee91413758
        jappiee91413758
        Participant
        July 25, 2023

        Hi, I really like this idea. Is there a way to do this sequential numbering automatically? 

        Conrad_C
        Community Expert
        Conrad_CCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        July 25, 2023

        Select photos, choose Library > Rename Photo, and build a filename template that includes a sequence token at the beginning, so that when sorted by Filename, the numbers at the beginning of the filenames determine the sort order. It will number them based on the current order, so be sure to set a custom order before batch renaming. If you save the template as a filename preset, you can re-use it in the future to rename more batches of photos.

         

        In the example below, the file’s original name was house.RW2, and the filename template is going to add a two-digit sequence number and a hyphen to the beginning of the filename.

         

        Jim Wilde
        Community Expert
        Jim WildeCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        April 28, 2021

        Custom Order is "saved" when you create it, and it remains set that way until you change it again, and switching back and forth between the various sort orders will have no effect on the set custom order. But you need to be careful that you don't inadvertently (or forgetfully) drag a thumbnail into a different place in the grid while using one of the non-custom sorting orders, as that will reset the previously set Custom Order into the new order that you just created by dragging that one thumbnail into a different position.

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          dennishmillerAuthor
          Known Participant
          April 28, 2021

          Well I spent about four hours yesterday getting the catalog into the custom order so that my slideshow would run in the desired sequence. I had to jump into another catalog to retrieve some images and I changed the sort order in that catalog to Capture Time. When I returned to my slideshow catalog, it had reordered all the images into Capture Time and my custom, well-planned, precision, carefully conceived, desired order was gone. I don't see any way to switch back to the custom order, but if you know of one, please tell me. Much obliged in any event.

          Jim Wilde
          Community Expert
          Jim WildeCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          April 28, 2021

          I get it. But as mentioned, renaming all the files is not an option at this point. And Jim mentions that the custom order can be accessed and moved away from, but that failed on my system. 


          How are you trying to use it? You mentioned switching between "catalogs" earlier, though I guess that's not what you meant. You can set a Custom Order for a collection or any sub-folder, which are you using? You can switch between the various sort orders (including Custom Order) when in the Library module by using the Sort drop-down list on the Toolbar, and whichever order you select there will be how the images are ordered in the Slideshow module. You can set or change a Custom Order the Slideshow module, but you can't switch the order from say Capture Time to Custom Order, you'd have to switch back to Library and change the sort order there.

           

          Renaming is an option if you feel prone to inadvertently messing up the Custom Order, but I've never found the need to do that. YMMV.

          gary_sc
          Community Expert
          gary_scCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          April 28, 2021

          The only way I've found the guarantee the order is kept is to rename the images using a sequence number at the end such as "my-photos-001.jpg"

           

          wish there was a robust function for this myself. 

          Good luck!

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          dennishmillerAuthor
          Known Participant
          April 28, 2021

          Thanks much, but in this case, that's not really an option. We need  Save Sort Order function. So simple. 

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