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Is there a "This Day In History" filter in Lightroom?

New Here ,
May 16, 2019 May 16, 2019

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Does anyone know of an easy way to filter a Lightroom library to show only the pictures taken on a particular day and month, but of any year?  I've got 18k personal pictures and I'm working on a "This Day in History" themed project.  So far, the best I can do is use Metadata filter to show individual dates, so I'm searching for every year from 1999 to 2018, for say, May 16.  Then tomorrow I'll search every year for May 17, etc.  Since that's rather tedious, I appreciate your help.

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Community Expert , May 16, 2019 May 16, 2019

Couple of options given here if you read through the discussion.

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/community/threads/smart-collection-on-this-day.28865/

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Advocate ,
May 16, 2019 May 16, 2019

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I would say you want this done inside Lightroom of course, and I'm sure there's third party plugins that will get you over the line, but I've attached a screen shot from Find Any File that I use with Mac OS.

Its very successful . . . maybe that could get you started. This example is set find Nikon NEF files although any file type can be used.

Screenshot Using Find Any File.png

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New Here ,
May 17, 2019 May 17, 2019

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Tony, thanks for this solution; I like the simplicity.  Fortunately most of my pictures were digitally created the same day as they were actually created (there's a handful whose capture date had to be edited for various reasons).  Thanks.

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Community Expert ,
May 16, 2019 May 16, 2019

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Couple of options given here if you read through the discussion.

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/community/threads/smart-collection-on-this-day.28865/

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New Here ,
May 17, 2019 May 17, 2019

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John,

Thanks, I didn't find that blog when I went searching.  I'll try the smart collection method after work.

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New Here ,
May 17, 2019 May 17, 2019

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John,

I used that blog's technique of building a set of 2-filter smart collections, all pictures within the last 365 days but none of the pictures within the last 364 days, then another with 730/729, and 1096/1095 (leap year), etc.  That will work for what I'm trying to do.  Thanks.

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Community Expert ,
May 17, 2019 May 17, 2019

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This kind of search can be easier within a systematic capture-date-based folder structure or naming system.

In my own case, I follow a strict and unadorned folder system of YYYY / MM / DD - enlivened by keywords and collections and other metadata which report what each individual photo is about, and other such management to do with its particular purposes and statuses.

A given photo's source file might, in my setup, be at "D: \ files \ library \ 2016 \ 05 \ 04 \ filename.ext"

So if I wanted to find everything taken on the 4th day of the month (any month, any year), that can easily be included in Smart Collection criteria since "04" is the direct folder name for all those images.

If I wanted to find everything taken in May (any year), I now need to refer to the next level up - so I run a Rob Cole plugin which adds parent folder, and grandparent folder, to the available criteria.

I might add a second criterion alongside, say that it should be taken ALL: on day 04 (folder), in month 05 (parent folder) - giving all Star Wars Day photos regardless of year.

An entirely separate method is to include date text in standard format, within file names or within folder names.

For example: the above photo might precede camera filename with capture date - "2016-05-04 Imgp02054.ext".

If such a system is carefully chosen you can search on (say) "-05-04" for the same result (I find these separating dashes helpful since with "20160504", a search on "0504" would also pick up images taken during April 2005: and, "0504" may occur within an image sequence number otherwise).

Unfortunately a "wildcard search" does not work here - if you put in "????0504" literal-minded LR looks for filenames which start with four question marks. That's one downside, from permitting whatever characters people like, in naming!

My own strict filing structure, and/or this addition of capture date into naming, can be executed automatically and end-to-end by LR without any user intervention, at time of physical import (Copy from camera card). This saves the user time, and needless tedium.

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New Here ,
Nov 20, 2020 Nov 20, 2020

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Thanks. This works really well as I have my photographs stored as well in a yyyy-mm-dd folder system. Per your suggestion I made a Smart Collection with a filter that says, for all photos taken on, say, November 20 of any year:

Folder 'ends with' '-11-20'.

Works like a charm in a single line filter.

...

And as a check, I have a Smart Collection which uses a filtering system based on a stack of filters for each year going back to the beginning of my digital catalog (c.2000). This was my original crude way of setting up a 'day of the year' filter. Each filter line in the stack says:

Capture Date is 2020-mm-dd

Capture Date is 2019-mm-dd

Capture Date is 2018-mm-dd

.

.

Capture Date is 2000-mm-dd.

This older filter system works o.k. for a 'this day in history' filter' but I have to manually change the -dd value for each new date search. And once a month I have to change the -mm value

 

..

 

Using the new filter based on your suggestion (a much easier filter) to my old way of filtering for a specific calendar date each year, I can look at the search totals and see if the resulting counts are the same. They should be. If not, I can dig deeper and see where the difference lies and correct my LR catalog if necessary (occasionally I place photos in the wrong date file).

 

Thanks again. Terrific advice.

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New Here ,
Feb 17, 2022 Feb 17, 2022

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I second that... BRILLIANT Solution 🙂
Thanks a Million!
BIG Thanks for the super time saving tip...
Maybe now I can get through the years of past pix I've not looked at...

QUESTION: I thought I tried to rate or color pix in smart collections only to have LR tell me that it's NOT possible in a Smart Collection.  Now I'm thinking I was trying to DELETE unwanted pix from the 'Smart Collection'  
Can I cull and delete these old pix from these collections... and again, if NOT then they're NOT so smart collections 😉
Thanks again 🙂

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Adobe Employee ,
Feb 17, 2022 Feb 17, 2022

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FYI: Day and Month were recently added to the Library filter.

Rikk Flohr - Customer Advocacy: Adobe Photography Products

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Community Expert ,
Nov 12, 2022 Nov 12, 2022

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Yes you can edit an image for such matters as rating or anything else, when viewing in a Smart Collection. It is the same image as also appears in the Folder view, perhaps in a different Collection, whatever.

 

You cannot remove images from a Smart Collection directly.

 

But if an edit means a given image no longer meets the inclusion rules of this SC (for example, rating based) - this automatically stops an instance of that from appearing there, though other instances will still show up elsewhere as before. 

 

So images appear in a SC (or disappear) dynamically as their attributes change moment to moment - or as the inclusion rules get changed - or simply as time passes (e.g., selecting for those edited within the last 7 days). 

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