Sort on Title or Caption in Lightroom classic

[Lorne0D4C]

I would  like to sort images in the library for collections based on either Title or Caption. I want a title or each slide for identifying Genus/Species of each picture. That is easy enough to do. There is however no sort option in Lightroom for either Title or Caption, and sort is limited to metadata fields that are useless to me. I am very disappointed that a top rated program like Lightroom is crippled by its limited sort options. Is there any hope that Adobe will rectify this? In the library subcatalogue folders, their is no way to arrange photos aphabetically using the Genus\species name. Being a long time user of Aperture, I really had better expectations when I recently made the switch to Lightroom. Any suggestions?

[Todd Shaner]

Please add your Upvote (Green Arrow) at the below feature request for this capability. There's also a plugin suggestion that can sort on title, caption and other fields.

https://feedback.photoshop.com/conversations/lightroom-classic/lightroom-classic-sort-by-more-fields...

[Lorne0D4C]

I do not find this particularly helpful, in fact very frustrating given that this problem has been identified for over 5 years, with no action by Adobe to rectify it. It is a major shortcoming in Lightroom and is forcing me to reconsider continuing using this product.

[Todd Shaner]

Agreed! I suggest ading a comment at the above request link and copy and paste your post here with any additions you'd like to add there.

[DS256]

Check out the List View Plug-in https://www.photographers-toolbox.com/products/jbeardsworth/listview/

[Lorne0D4C]

Futher to my message, it appears the genus/species info can be added as a label text, placed at the top of the image in the library viewer, and sorted under Label? This allows images to be viewed alphabetically. Does anyone know if there is a maximum limit to the number of Label Texts that can be added in Lightroom?

[DS256]

If you are referring to 'Color Label Sets', then see here https://helpx.adobe.com/ca/lightroom-classic/help/flag-label-rate-photos.html. I don't think you can create more that then 5 colors they are associated with.

Going back to your original "I would  like to sort images in the library for collections" have you considered using Keywording? In LR, you can create keyword hierarchies which may support the taxonomy you need to describe. Smart Collections can automatically assign a picture based on the keywords associated. 

[Randy Hufford]

This seems like the best solution.  Use keyswords. Than use smart collections, Smart Collections can automatically assign a picture based on the keywords associated. 

[Lorne0D4C]

Yes, I understand the functionality of keywords, but they really do not address my issue. Even with Smart Collections, I realize it can assign a picture to a folder in the phylogenetic tree. But in that folder there may be 300 or more species that will all be randomly arranged in the folder rather than alphabetically grouped. To further break the folder down to species level would make an enormous catalog. When I transferred my database over from Aperture, LR retained the simplified phylogenetic tree I had set up and the files in each, and for that matter most of the functionality. I could select any phylogenetic ‘order’ and it would pull up all the slides in that order sorted under ‘Version Name’. Perfect for my needs. As I mentioned in my earlier post, in LR I can use the ‘Label Text’ to assign Genus/Species name and put that in one of the folders. The library is thus displayed with the genus/species ID over each thumbnail picture. I understand that these are mapped to the XMP metadata scheme which can be sidecar saved with the file. The pictures with the Label Text metadata fields can be sorted under “Label" and seems to work fine. I do not need the complexity of getting into Keywords. Only concern is before I get too far into the process of reassigning metadata files, will there be a limit to the number of Text Labels I can use? Again, thank you for your help.

[DS256]

WRT "Even with Smart Collections, I realize it can assign a picture to a folder in the phylogenetic tree." it may just be your choice of words but Collections do not move pictures to or create folders.

I also just came across this plug-in that may be useful Jeffrey’s “Collection Publisher” Lightroom Plugin

"This Lightroom “Publish” plugin allows you to export copies of your Lightroom photos to local disk in a folder hierarchy that mimics the collection hierarchy you build within Lightroom."

[Lorne0D4C]

I am using the "Label Text" in the metadata list. No colour label. The label has been assigned to the top of each image in the viewer. The file name at the bottom. I can then set sort via Label and it will sort images aphabetically. So far I have attached about 40 labels to slides (Genus/Species) and it appears to work. I prefer to see the slide in the viewer with the scientific name above it. In an ideal word, the scientific name could be applied as "Title" (which it can) but cannot be sorted with this field. 

   I have looked into Lightroom Toolkit but it must be added to LR to do what I need. I send many of my slide collections to colleagues who use LR, but in order for them to see the Library in sorted view, they would also need to install the app. Unfortunate; a few dozen lines of code would probably solve this problem and allow sort by Title. 

[DS256]

Apologies. The 'Label' field you are referring to maps to the XMP metadata schema field Label. This is one of the challenges in that LR by default works with standard photo related metadata schemas.

• Here is an article on understanding Keyword Hiearchies https://laurashoe.com/2011/11/14/organize-your-lightroom-keywords-into-keyword-hierarchies/. 
• I did find one related article on using LR Hierarchies for taxonomy. See https://feedback.photoshop.com/conversations/lightroom-classic/lightroom-classic-hierarchical-keywor...
• I also found a site that has prebuilt taxonomies for LR. See https://www.photo-keywords.com/specialist-list-download.php

To your point of  "I send many of my slide collections to colleagues who use LR," then you may be able to export a Catalog for them to use. They would then be able to view that Catalog using your taxonomy giving them further flexibility. Just a thought.

[robirdman1]

Bridge is much better for this.  I apply species names before unique number system to sort thus and more filtering possiblities.