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Organizing folders in Lightroom Classic

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
March 10, 2018
7 replies
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I immediately organize my imported folders into collections and work from these collections. The folders are now a very long list which I do occasionally have to scroll through after using a plug-in app...the apps usually dump the edited image back into the original folder, not my collection. I would like to organize the folders into years, maybe even months each year to make this search process easier. So how can I taker a group of folders, say from 2010, and make a folder within Lightroom to dump all my 2010 folders into? I am getting warned off anything I have tried by dire messages from Lightroom about the consequences of my various attempts to do this. Thanks for any help here.

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Correct answer cmgap

'So how can I taker a group of folders, say from 2010, and make a folder within Lightroom to dump all my 2010 folders into?'

Your original question was how to make a parent folder by year to move your nested folders into. If the message that you are getting that is worrying you is that 'you are moving files and this can't be undone' please confirm that. My recommendation is to make one parent folder by year - 2018 for example because we are only a few months in... move your sub folders and confirm that you are good with that parent level folder and the way that is working and proceed with the rest.

cmgap

Correct answer

Community Expert

'So how can I taker a group of folders, say from 2010, and make a folder within Lightroom to dump all my 2010 folders into?'

Your original question was how to make a parent folder by year to move your nested folders into. If the message that you are getting that is worrying you is that 'you are moving files and this can't be undone' please confirm that. My recommendation is to make one parent folder by year - 2018 for example because we are only a few months in... move your sub folders and confirm that you are good with that parent level folder and the way that is working and proceed with the rest.

tomw20736430Author

Participant

Thanks, and everyone else also...just needed to get through the fear of the "you are moving files and this cannot be undone."

cmgap

Community Expert

Yay! BTW - it's a rather ironic message because you surely can move them back to where they were before. Good luck with organizing your catalog.

Just Shoot Me

Legend

One of the big reasons I don't use the filter bar much is because it takes up screen real estate.

With the side panels you can show or hide them and even when hidden they can still be brought up by moving the cursor over to the edge of the screen.

With the Filter Bar it always shows, if being used , and only collapses to a small bar at the top of the screen when None is selected (Yes if Text of Attribute is select it is also that small bar but is much bigger when Metadata is selected).

The point most of us are trying to make is it is your choice how you organize your images. Whether with some type of folder structure or not and or using other options/tools inside LR to do it.

Lets not forget Collections and Keywords.

JohanElzenga

Community Expert

You can keep the filters fairly small, also when using Metadata. And that size 'sticks'. Of course that means you'll have to scroll more, but a lot of that can be avoided by saving filter presets.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

Just Shoot Me

Legend

But it still takes up a lot of screen real estate. First the Filter title bar then in the case of the Metadata option the Labels bar then the lists for those label columns.

Where the Folders section doesn't from the normal way LR displays the side panels. And one or the other or both side panels can be hidden but yet still be accessed.

I'm not saying one way it right or wrong. There are many options. But in my honest opinion a good folder structure for storing all kinds of files is imperative.

This is what the OP is trying to do if I read his first post correctly.

Just Shoot Me

Legend

Let me add this.

If you want your images in a certain folders and or subfolders structure then that is completely OK.

As above there is no right or wrong way to store your images.

I personally only work with the filter bar for certain things and none of those things is for displaying images by year or a month of a certain year.

I do use a folder structure that is set up that way. Is my way the right way? Yes for me it is. For your or anyone else, Maybe not.

That is something for each person to decide.

Can you have your images images scattered all over every drive that is connected to your system, Yes you can.

Can you have your images in Year folders and in shot date subfolders as I do, Yes you can.

It is up to you how you do it.

dj_paige

Legend

And my advice is not based on "right" or "wrong" way to organize. My advice is that the simplest, most effective, easiest and least error prone way to find your 2010 photos (and photos from all other years) is to use the Filter Bar.

The user is considering doing actual real work to replicate the features of the Filter Bar that are available at this instant, and I consider that actual real work to be unnecessary. Furthermore, it can be error prone, if you accidentally file a 2010 photo into the 2011 folder, you will have a hard time finding it. The filter bar avoids these complications.

My advice is always to use Lightroom tools to avoid doing work, if said Lightroom tools get the desired result. My advice is never to avoid using Lightroom tools and do actual work instead.

cmgap

Community Expert

Here are a couple of good videos showing how to organize your catalog. There is no right or wrong... pick a strategy that works for you which will be sustainable.

You can use date based (I used date based because it helps with bookkeeping to know at a glance what's invoiced) or category based. The important thing is that it make sense to you and that you understand where your images are located, how to move them and back them up.

Julienne Kost - Adobe worldwide evangelist (date based heirarchy):

Lightroom CC - Organizing Your Photographs - YouTube

Terry White - Adobe worldwide evangelist (category based heiracrchy):

How to Organize Your Images in Lightroom CC - YouTube

dj_paige

Legend

tomw20736430 wrote
I would like to organize the folders into years, maybe even months each year to make this search process easier. So how can I taker a group of folders, say from 2010, and make a folder within Lightroom to dump all my 2010 folders into?

In my opinion, this is a very poor idea.

I would not advise you to create calendar (year or year/month or year/month day) folders. If you want to find the photos taken in 2010, you can use the LR Filter Bar, it will find all photos taken in 2010 regardless of what folder it is in. How simple is that? And it avoids all the hassle and potential complications and potential user errors of creating this folder structure by yourself.

Just Shoot Me

Legend

Also if you start moving folders make sure you lieve LR open until all the files have been moved over. You can check that in the File Manager program for the OS you are using.

JohanElzenga

Community Expert

And make a catalog backup too before you do this. Despite all these warnings, the whole procedure is simple and straightfoward, but you don't want to get into a situation where some error forces you to start again and when you don't have a recent backup.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

Just Shoot Me

Legend

In LR if you right click on any Drive or folder you have the option from the Popup menu to create a folder on that drive or a subfolder inside that other folder.

Once you create all your year folders on the drive then you can create either subfolders under the year folder for months or you can just drag and drop the folders you now have for each particular year into the Top Level Year folder.

I would first make sure you have a Complete current backup of all your images in there present folder structure.

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