Photo Order Changed when Dragging to Multiple Photos to New Folder

[exhaustino]

The goal: have a second version of a set of images I am working on to experiment on without messing up the original edits (including the specific order of images in the original folder).

The unexpected problem: When I made a copy of all the images and then dragged the copies to a new folder collection (as a batch while they were all still selected from the "Crate Vitual Copy" process) I noticed that the order was changed. There's over 60 images that I put in a specific order. Why did they get shuffled and how do I avoid or fix this so the copies are back in the correct order? I do not want to do it manually again.

Running LrC v11.5 on macOS 10.15.7

[Rob_Cullen]

I don't know if I have an answer, but some comments-

If you 'Create Virtual Copies' they always reside next to the original image thumbnail in a grid view. (ie. Sorted the same!)

Virtual Copies are not physical files that you can move or copy to a new Folder.

You can select only the VCs and add them to a Collection, but the Sort order in this collection will not necessarily follow that of the original folder sort.

If you simply have the Originals and VCs visible in a sorted Grid view you can use the Attribute Filters to view only the Originals or only the VCs- The sort order will be the same.

[exhaustino]

Thank you for the quick reply and for sharing your knowledge here. I actually meant "collection" rather than "folder"so apologies for the confusion there.

The screenshot you included is what I saw after making virtual copies – same order just every other image. I then dragged into the other collection I made that would house the virtual copies only. Once dragged there, they were in a totally different order. This has happened before and it drives me nuts. Jsut spent 30 minutes or so getting them in the correct order.

I had no idea about the original/virutal copies sorting option. That is very useful to know about.

Unfortunately, the way I edit, sometimes in the set that I would refer to as the "original" set, there actually are virtual copies interspersed, if for example I make a second crop to include for the final export. As a result, some of the wrong edits would be included if filtering for copies only. So while it doesn't solve the issue I am having, I do appreciate that knowledge as I will most likely use that for a different scenario in the future.

[Rob_Cullen · Accepted solution]

Here is a hint that might achieve what you want-

Try  using this workflow-

1)  Sort your 'primary' collection as required.  If you move images randomly that will be a "Custom Sort".

2) Create a new 'Secondary' Collection, BUT do NOT place any images into this new collection yet.

3) This sounds counter-intuitive, but, Select the new (empty) 'Secondary' collection and immediately set its Sort Order the same as the 'primary' collection. eg. "Custom Sort"

4) Now drag images from the 'Primary' Collection into the 'Secondary' collection.

Ideally that will maintain the same Sort Order.  eg. If 'Primary' is sorted by "Filename" the 'Secondary' Collection previously set to "Filename" will also be sorted by "Filename" .

This procedure has been used for combining photos in individual sorted "Book Chapter" Collections (A,B,C,D, etc) and then dragging each chapter collection into a 'Master' Book Collection (eg. Z.). The images keep the sort order of Chapter A, Chapter B, Chapter C, etc, in the Collection Z.

[exhaustino]

This worked. Thank you!

Also during this process realized I accidentally had the bar that houses sort order hidden which made everything more confusing.

[exhaustino]

Ok so another variation of this question... Dragging these files into my folder that reminds me to register the batch of images with the US Copyright Office at the end of the quarter...There's already images in that folder that I have published so far this quarter. When I dropped them into there (already images added, sort order set to "custom") they, again, rearrange order. I know this doesn't follow step 2 but in this scenario I see no workaround. Is there one?

[Rob_Cullen]

I am not sure I understand your workflow. (Talking Folders or Collections?)

I find that if I add a 'Custom Sorted' collection of images to another pre-existing 'Custom Sorted' collection- the newly added images go to the 'end' of the images in Grid view and their sort remains.

Example-

Collection A   Custom Sorted

Collection B  Custom Sorted

Images in Collection B dragged onto Collection A:

You must never change the Sort setting for the combined collection (in this case-A). Doing so will completely change (mess up!)  your overall sort order of the collection.

And if you are talking about "Publish Services" in LrC, then that is getting beyond my knowledge.

Another solution? Can you not simply create a Collection SET that contains sub-collections perhaps using a date as the Collection names?  This would save you all the hassle of trying to maintain sorting. The SET won't be sorted, but the individual collections will remain sorted.