Is there a way to "show in finder" multiple images at a time instead of just one?

[Max25909328szqi]

I'm looking to quickly locate about 100 photos at a time by highlighting them in lightroom first and doing "show in finder" but noticed that only works with one image at a time. Is there any other way to pull up multiple raw images in finder through lightroom? Thanks!

[Rob_Cullen · Accepted solution]

TBMK No.  If the files in Lightroom are located in various disk Folders- How would you expect Finder to display the files from differing folders?

You can select a Folder in the LrC Folder panel and [Show in Finder].

[maxloew]

They are all in the same folder in finder. Trying to pick out 100 favorites out of 2000 images total though. Instead of searching for each one within the folder, I was wondering how to pinpoint the favorites a little bit faster

[Conrad_C]

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@Rob_Cullen wrote:

If the files in Lightroom are located in various disk Folders- How would you expect Finder to display the files from differing folders?

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That part might be doable. The Finder could pop open each of the containing folder windows for each image that was selected. Similar to what happens if you select multiple folders in the Finder and choose Open in New Windows…no problem, each selected item gets its own window. If a Lightroom Classic feature request comes out of this, it could be suggested that Adobe follow that example.

On the other hand, many Mac applications support this feature for only one selected item at a time. For example, in Apple Photos, Show Referenced File in Finder is available if you select one image, but not available if you select multiple images…so even Apple’s own photo editor/organizer won’t let you.

(edit after later reply)

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@maxloew wrote:

They are all in the same folder in finder.

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Oh…unfortunately, that is something I’ve never seen a Mac app do, Reveal in Finder for multiple items and have each selected in the same window.

[johnrellis]

Here's one method that would be faster than doing the photos one at a time:

1. In Library Grid view, select all the desired photos in LR.

2. In the Keywording panel, add the keyword ZYX.

3. Do Metadata > Save Metadata To File (or enable the option Catalog Settings > Metadata > Automatically Write Changes Into XMP).

4. In Finder, navigate to the folder and search for ZYX.

Note that this will find the .xmp sidecars of raws, not the raws themselves. Also, it won't work for videos, since LR doesn't write metadata to video formats.

You can also use the EXIF User Comment field or Rating. (There might be other photo metadata fields Finder searches -- I didn't do an exhaustive search. Finder is pretty random about photo metadata.)

[Jao vdL]

What are you trying to accomplish? f you want to send somebody for example your 100 favorite originals from a folder or back thhose up to somewhere else, you might be better off selecting all you want in Lightroom Classic and doing an export as originals to a desired destination folder.

[Richard8234]

Workaround with a temporary subfolder:

Given the fact all the photos are located in the same folder: Select these 100 out of 2000 photos in Lightroom library module, right-click on that folder in the left panel, pick "Create folder inside..." and check the "Include selected photos" box. You have now created a temporary subfolder that contains all the files you need. You can open the subfolder in Finder / File Explorer and work with these files. But don't cut them, delete them or rename them! When you're done, go back to the Lightroom library and drag&drop the 200 photos back into the original folder. Delete the now empty subfolder.

In case anybody is wondering about the use case:

You want to copy the best shots from your vacation from your personal Lightroom catalog to your business catalog (both with different folder structure or stored on different hard drives).

I hope this helps those who have the same problem 🙂

[johnrellis · Accepted solution]

@Richard8234: "You want to copy the best shots from your vacation from your personal Lightroom catalog to your business catalog (both with different folder structure or stored on different hard drives)."

Another method, which was designed for this use case: Select the photos and do the menu command File > Export As Catalog, with the options Export Negative Files. In the other catalog, do File > Import From Another Catalog.

[Richard8234]

Thank you, great advice! 🙂

[ExUSA]

A small plugin that wrote Finder tags to file system metadata would be great. This would be Mac-only but would solve your problem easily.