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Wei Qing298812192yqo
Participant
May 14, 2023
Question

How to stop smart collection to make virtual copy in Lightroom classic

  • May 14, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 1101 views

Today i just imported some photos, and noticed lightroom smart collection with alle photos begin to duplicate virtual copy. I have over 14000 photos, if duplicate will be double amount. How to stop collection make more virtual copies? Its so complicated and pain to use LCC.

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2 replies

dj_paige
dj_paige
Legend
May 14, 2023

The "Without Keywords" smart collection, and every smart collection, does not make virtual copies. It simplies allows you to view the photo in this smart collection and elsewhere, there is still only one copy.

 

If it was showing you virtual copies, the virtual copy icon would appear on the photo, the turned page icon at the bottom left, as you can see here (scroll down to the section "Create Virtual Copies"). Are you actually seeing this icon on your photos?

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Wei Qing298812192yqoAuthor
Participant
May 14, 2023

If I use filter to show virtual copies, it still keep to make virtual copies in every year folder. And I can see triagle icon of these new copies. How can I stop LCC to make more copies?

dj_paige
dj_paige
Legend
May 14, 2023

Creating a Smart Collection does not cause virtual copies to appear. Somewhere along the way, you have (accidentally?) told LrC to create these virtual copies — because LrC does not create virtual copies by itself. These virtual copies don't have keywords and so they show up in the "Without Keywords" Smart Collection.

 

One guess is that when you create regular collections (not Smart Collections), you have checked the box that says "Make New Virtual Copies" and that's where they are coming from.

 

 

As I said, that's a guess. You could create virtual copies many other ways; if you look in "All Photographs" and find one of these photos, does it show a virtual copy there?

dj_paige
dj_paige
Legend
May 14, 2023

The "All Photographs" view is not a duplicate copy of your photos, and just because you see them in there does not mean you now have duplicates in any meaningful sense. "All Photographs" is just another place where your originals are displayed, they are also displayed in collections and in folders, and there's just one copy.

 

If that doesn't clear things up, then I think more detail is needed here, as I'm not following the steps you go through. Also please explain why you think photos are duplicated.

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Wei Qing298812192yqoAuthor
Participant
May 14, 2023

There is a Smart collection folde that named "Without Keywords". It began to make automatically "virtual copies" from original photos. The amount of photos keep running up. So every photo added one virtual copy that I didnt ask to do.

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