P: Add SDK support for moving photos between folders in the catalog

Report · Dec 22, 2022

When using the Lightroom Classic SDK it would be great to be able to move photos in the catalog between folders programmatically.

A simple example would be for writing a plugin that moves selected photos between parent catalog folders, while maintainig folder structure (to move files between disks).

While it is possible to create folders and move disk files using `LrFileUtils`, any catalog photo moved that way ends up as 'missing' in the catalog because their disk location is changed by `LrFileUtils` but the photo `path` in the catalog is not updated.

It is possible to read a photo's path using `photo:getRawMetadata("path")`, provided by `LrPhoto`, but it is not possible to change a photo's path using `photo:setRawMetadata("path")` because `path` is not a valid key for writing back to the catalog photo.

So in summary, it is currently not possible to move a photo between catalog folders in a Lightroom Classic catalog using the SDK.

`LrFileUtils` does not update the photo path in the catalog upon moving it on disk, and `LrPhoto` can't be used to update a photo path on disk using the SDK.

Please consider adding support for that operation to the SDK.

Thank you.

Report · Dec 22, 2022

There was a years-old feature request for this (and to delete photos from the catalog) in the old feedback forum, but apparently it didn't get copied over when Adobe transitioned to the new forum platform.

Report · Oct 05, 2023

While finally automating our complete Lightroom workflow top to bottom, I now discover there is no photo:move() and photo:delete().

I am so extremely dissappointed right now. For what reason could these functions be possible missing from the SDK?