Lightroom 5 importing photos in random order

[Michael Dinsmore]

I have been using Lightroom 5 for some time and just recently my photos are importing out of chronological order. It will import photos from all over the card. They appear in chronological order but they are numbered according to which one was imported first. I can see them in chronological order on my computer but when I hit import through Lightroom the photos are imported and numbered in a non chronological order. This only started happening recently so I think it has to do with a recent update. I've tried formatting my card, using another card, and importing to another catalog, but nothing has changed yet.

[areohbee · Accepted solution]

I dunno what order Lr is supposed to import in.

But here is one way to resolve your issue:

* Choose a filenaming convention which does not rely on import sequence number.

For example, if you name according to "capture-date + original-image-number", then it won't matter what order they're imported in.

Maybe somebody else can get import order straightened out so you don't have to resort to changing filenaming convention - check: order in OS, and order in import dialog box for clues.

Rob

[northboundphoto]

I have this exact issue, and it is driving me nuts. I have tried uninstalling LR5 and deleting all the system files I could get my hands on. The only thing I have not deleted is probably my catalogue file as that would more or less be the end of me...

And nothing works... after the import is done I end up reordering my shots by capture time and I have given up trying to have them in a numbered sequence however much it helps when I am doing edits with several thousand raw files from long work trips.

Rob, your solution is not a bad suggestion, but I still don't understand what has changed since I haven't changed settings anywhere.

[J__Scott_S · Accepted solution]

When you click on import look at the bottom of Lr5, center and slightly right ... you should see a button titled "Sort", click on it and choose capture time.  That was annoying until I found the button.  Good luck.  James

[msanity]

Very helpful - thank you!

[lostanco]

Hello. Here my experience.

My workflow includes to rename file with a preset that works like this

Date (AAAA)Date (MM)Date (GG)_File Name_Personal Text_Sequence number (01)

A couple of month ago I experienced that importing by capture time did a mess with chronological order then I switched to importing by file name. Today I had problemi importing by file name and I switched again to capture time.

[Todd Shaner]

Can you be a little more specific as to what you mean by "mess?" It may have something to do with the naming preset you are using. If you can provide screen shots of the two sort orders (i.e. mess) perhaps we can make some sense of what's happening?

[LindaClaudette]

Thank you Thank you!!! I was having the same issue and I do believe it started when I upgraded to Yosemite.  Found the TINY Sort option at the bottom of the screen and it works. 

[Marsha Kemp Photography]

Thank you for the answer, this has been driving me nuts!!!

[drbt]

Thx, That has been driving me nuts!!!

[slaflamme]

Here it is in 2016 and this problem keeps cropping up. Thanks to your suggestion I can stop pulling out my hair!

[David Goorevitch]

Exactly!

[RobbieK]

Thank you. Over 10 years later snd i had this same issue in LC 2025. I know i have never used that selection box and hadnt even noticed it was there. Normally i go to import and it fisplays the files according to file name. This time it was randomly selected as None. 

👍

[ruthlessphotos]

I have the same issue and I never had to sort them previously.

[Teggey]

I have also had this issue and I believe it has been happening since I upgraded my Mac os to Yosemite. Before that it was never an issue. Now I seem to have to either hunt for my recent images or try to remember to delete previous shoots from my cards so that only current images are available for import. Very annoying.

[D Fosse]

[Temple Dog]

Tried changing the import dialogue as suggested - no luck. This has only happened since the latest LR update and its about t time Adobe got off their butt and fixed it. It seems a lot of us are having this issue.

[Just Shoot Me]

Temple Dog wrote:

Tried changing the import dialogue as suggested - no luck. This has only happened since the latest LR update and its about t time Adobe got off their butt and fixed it. It seems a lot of us are having this issue.

There is nothing to fix. It doesn't matter how, in what order, the files are copied into the LR catalog. It is how you Display them in the Library module. Set the Sort: order to Capture time and all your images will be displayed in chronological order. earliest to latest or latest to earliest depending on what A > Z is set to (A - Z  Z - A).

[Jim Kelowna]

While I may agree that it does not matter what order LR imports the images, it matters a great deal to me what order it assigns numbers to the images! I do not agree that there is nothing to fix.

My template naming and numbering scheme has been unchanged for a long time:

     Date (YY)Date (MM)_Custom Text_Image # (0001)

where Image # is tracked and assigned by the catalog.

I have experienced this problem too for months. LR used to happily import my images (sorted by Filename or Capture Time) in the Import dialog, and assign numbers to the images in the same order. I had never seen the results in the "Previous Import" window being displayed by "Added Order" before. When I now sort by Filename, the images are out of capture sequence. When I sort by Capture Time, all the filenames are out of sequence.

I now go through a two step importing and renaming sequence. But I find it prone to error. I have to re-sort after import. Then find the last number from previous imports. Select all of the images from current import. Apply the renumber scheme manually setting the starting number. I have found myself making errors in the subsequent steps. Besides, one of Lightroom's main features is the ease of managing the workflow for large numbers of pictures. This change in behaviour has been counter-productive.

If Adobe's official position is that the sequence number ordering is not defined, then please advise us! Otherwise, please FIX THE ISSUE.

Jim

LR 2015.8 (yes it remains unchanged after the latest update)

MacOS Sierra 10.12.1 (and also on El Capitan)

MacBook Pro Late 2013, 15" Retina

Import with "Copy as DNG" directly from "Devices" (the SD Card in the MBP slot, pix from Canon 70D, Canon t4i, Sony RX10-III)

[Just Shoot Me]

Then set the Sort: in the import dialog window to Capture Time.

Simple solution to a problem caused by user error.

[Jim Kelowna]

THE IMAGES ARE SORTED BY CAPTURE TIME IN THE IMPORT DIALOG. Sorry if that wasn't clear above (and also very clear in other users' posts.)

But during import, the images are renumbered in the order LR imports them, which differs greatly from the order they appear in the Import Dialog.

After import, if I display images by Capture time, the file name numbers are all jumbled. If I sort by file name, the Capture time is all jumbled.

[ManiacJoe]

Temple Dog wrote:

Tried changing the import dialogue as suggested - no luck. This has only happened since the latest LR update and its about t time Adobe got off their butt and fixed it. It seems a lot of us are having this issue.

This thread is over 70 messages long.

Which issue are you actually having?

Which suggestion(s) did you try?

[ManiacJoe]

There are two separate sort orders that you need to deal with:

1. Sorting in the import dialog

2. Sorting in the Library module.

Updates to the software often reset these values.

[Augphoto]

I now have this exact problem and it's driving me CRAZY, also.  It always worked before but has just screwed up recently.  Maybe, like suggested earlier, it was Yosemite update that did it.  Setting sort to capture time DOES NOT solve them problem.  It does sort them correctly but the file names do not correspond.  They are numbered randomly now, even though the sort order is correct.

Has anyone figured this out yet?

[ManiacJoe]

What happens if you sort by file name, which should be the same as sorting by capture time?