P: Keyboard shortcut for All Photographs

[normandb3006935]

As I work on many project and create as many collection I do have to edit a lot of picture from specific collection but to make sure I'm editing the right pix I have to leave the collection and scroll up all the way to all photographs. Why couldn't we get a keyboard touch that permit to go directly to all photographs? And by the way if possible the same touch activated again to return to the collection you were.

[johnrellis]

I agree it would be good if LR had more keyboard shortcuts for working with sources.

You could use the Go Back/Go Forward buttons at the bottom left to go to the previous source and then return to where you were:

If you're bouncing back and forth between All Photographs and a collection, this should do the trick.

If you want actual keyboard shortcuts to go to All Photographs, Quick Collection, and Previous Export, you could use the Any Source plugin. The plugin offers lots of other features to make working with sources more efficient.

[normandb3006935]

Thanks, that help!

rgds
norman

[areohbee]

I agree with John: if you have any unsatisfied needs photo-source-wise, AnySource would probably satisfy.

Also, a short script could be used to select the all-photographs collection:

local lrApp = import( 'LrApplication' )
local lrCat = lrApp.activeCatalog()
lrCat:setActiveSources{ lrCat.kAllPhotos }

that's it.

If you put that in a file and install it as a script (see instructions here):

http://www.robcole.com/Rob/ProductsAn...

then you can assign a keystroke to it using AutoHotkey or equivalent on Mac.

But if you don't really need a keystroke for it, the "all photographs" collection is also a "sticky" source in your drop-down favorites menu - lower left area above the filmstrip.

R

[Jonathan B]

Since Lightroom was first launched I have been frustrated that there is no keyboard stroke/shortcut for 'Show All Photographs'. If one has a lot of folders or collections it is often necessary to scroll or close panels in order to click on the 'All Photographs' command in the Catalog panel. Even in solo mode an extra click is still required to open the Catalog panel and locate the Show All Photographs control. Alternatively there is a good pop up navigation control on top of the filmstrip but this disappears if the filmstrip is closed which it often is in order to maximise thumbnail space when browsing through records.  The keystroke 'Command B’ takes you to your target collection and so logically I'm always wanting to use something like ‘Command A’ to take me straight to All Photographs. 
A simple request which would surely be quite simple to implement!

[LittleLew]

My catalog is chronological - year, month, day, so I am typically in a folder that is 3 layers deep and long enough so that the Catalog section of scrolling box on left hand of screen disappears.  Often I will want to run a search on a search on the entire catalog and that means mousing over scrolling up and clicking.

Is there either a simple keyboard shortcut to select all the images in the catalog or to lock the catalog section so it doesn't scroll off screen?

[Jonathan B]

Thanks to John Ellis for his recommendation of the AnySource PlugIn - I may give it a try.  
However I was under the impression that this was the place to leave Lightroom Feature Requests. Whilst I understand the value of third party PlugIns and appreciate the recommendation, such a solution would be a workaround and I would still like to suggest that this could be built into Lightroom itself. I'm no software writer but I can't imagine this would be a difficult to thing to implement - a quick and easy way to offer better functionality. There is already a keyboard command for Go to Quick/Target Collection and it just seems completely logical that there should also be a command for Go to All Photographs. I see the merged conversation is from 2 years ago (and I also remember putting in similar requests when LR was first launched) so I guess there is not much popular support for this feature request!

[johnrellis]

I agree entirely that there should be built-in keyboard shortcuts for all the sources.  More generally, LR's support for keyboard shortcuts is weak, and it would be much better if every command was able to be assigned a shortcut and LR supported easy assignment of shortcuts.   The Any Source plugin gets the problem solved, but it's not nearly as convenient to set up than if it were built-in.

This forum is used for product feedback of all sorts and many come here looking for immediate workarounds and solutions.

[Jonathan B]

Thanks, and I now see AnySource is one of a range of interesting sounding PlugIns you offer on your own website. They look like a great resource and a potential immediate workaround but I'm glad you agree it would be preferable if it was built into Lightroom itself.

[J Isner]

To perform a global search of all photos currently requires several steps: Switch to the Library module, go to Grid view, select the Pictures folder in the Folders panel, and finally enter the filter criteria.  In my opinion this is such a common use case that there should be a more efficient way to do it.  I particularly dislike having to use the Folders panel.

Here is what I do now: Click the small triangle in the breadcrumb bar above the filmstrip and select "All Photographs."   This saves me from having to use the Folders panel, but it is still clumsy.  If there were a keyboard shortcut to select All Photographs it wouldn't be necessary to touch the breadcrumb bar.

Does anyone else see this as a problem and think a shortcut would be useful?  Or maybe there already is a good way to do this that I have overlooked.

[johnrellis]

Surprisingly, there is no keyboard shortcut for All Photographs.  As a workaround, you could add a short script that goes to All Photographs and then assign a keyboard shortcut as described here: Lightroom: Keyboard shortcut for All Photographs | Photoshop Family Customer Community .  Or you could use my Any Source plugin, which provides menu items and keyboard shortcuts for many of the source commands.

Be sure to add your me-too vote and details about why you want this to the feature request in the official Adobe feedback forum: Lightroom: Keyboard shortcut for All Photographs | Photoshop Family Customer Community

[J Isner]

Thanks for pointing out the community discussion.  I will add my vote.  Meanwhile, I will try your Any Source plugin.

[J Isner]

I absolutely agree that a shortcut is needed for "All Photographs."  Searching all my photos with a filter is something I do quite often, and it requires too many steps.   I like JonathanB's suggestion that ‘Command A’ to take you straight to All Photographs, by analogy to 'Command B', which takes you to your target collection.

[MikeEvangelist]

Just want to add an enthusiastic endorsement of the 'Any Source' plug-in mentioned above. Not only does it make it easy to jump to any folder/collection in your library, it can enables syncing of Smart Collections to LR Mobile, which is something I've wanted for ages.

[judy04]

I often select all photos in lightroom in order to find a particular photo or set of photos with a keyword or filename.   It would be GREAT to have a keyboard shortcut to do this.

[johnrellis]

"I often select all photos in lightroom in order to find a particular photo or set of photos with a keyword"

As Yves indicated, you can show all photos containing a keyword with these steps:

1. In the Keyword List panel, type the keyword you want in the search box. 

2. Hover the mouse to the right of the keyword and click the right-arrow. This will automatically select All Photos and then filter those photos by exactly that keyword:

[johnrellis]

"I often select all photos in lightroom in order to find a particular photo or set of photos with a ... filename.   It would be GREAT to have a keyboard shortcut to do this."

Unfortunately, there is no keyboard shortcut for selecting All Photographs. As a workaround to this lack of basic functionality, you could use the Any Source plugin or follow the scripting directions in this post: https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/keyboard-touch-to-return-to-all-photographs?t...

[judy04]

That's neat if you're looking for a keyword.   But still faster to get 'All photographs' and then ctl-f for keyword (or filename or whatever)

[johnrellis]

I use Ctrl/Cmd + F all the time for non-keywords, but it has a couple of issues with keywords:

- There is in general no way to get exact match when searching for keywords via the Filter bar (Ctrl/Cmd + F).  "Contains Words" usually gets closest, but "Keywords Contains Words San Jose" will match a photo containing the two keywords "Mission" and "San Jose" or the single keyword "Mission San Jose".

- You may not save keystrokes compared to the Keyword List panel, if you have to use the mouse to choose "Keywords" and "Contains Words" from the dropdowns.

(Note that I use a plugin-supplied keyboard shortcut for All Photographs frequently and voted for this feature request many years ago.)

[$$PhotoHobby]

I too would like to have a quick way to select "All Photographs" and have been frustrated by the lack of a keyboard shortcut for this.  I was not aware of the film strip trick mentioned by @J Isner.  Thanks.

I would appreciate a keyboard accelerator to select "All Photographs" from the "Catalog" panel.

[johnrellis]

The referenced feature request is seven years old:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-ideas/lightroom-keyboard-shortcut-for-all-photograp...

In addition to the back and forward buttons on the filmstrip, it describes two other solutions you might consider while waiting for Adobe to implement this: Using the Any Source plugin, and writing your own tiny script and assigning a keyboard shortcut to it.

[johnrellis]

Moderators, @Rikk Flohr: Photography, please merge with the existing Idea:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-ideas/lightroom-keyboard-shortcut-for-all-photograp...