Import "Done" Button

[dwterry]

Two questions and a gripe:
1) What is the purpose of the "Done" button on the Import dialog?
2) Has it always existed or is it a new addition?

After getting everything set to import (keywords added, etc), I keep accidentally clicking the "Done" button, which might as well be "Cancel" because the effect is that absolutely nothing happens (except wasting my time because now I have to start completely over and this time watch for the "Import" button).

I swear it hasn't always been this way.  Am I right?  Is the "Done" button a new addition? Because I've been using Lightroom since v1.0 was released and I don't ever remember having this problem, only recently have I started accidentally hitting the "Done" button. That's what makes me think it is new.  And if it truly is as useless as it seems ... why not get rid of it?  There is already a "Cancel" button, we don't need two buttons that both effectively cancel the import process.

[Just Shoot Me]

1] I have wondered the same thing. I have never Clicked it to see what exactly it is supposed to be for but I suspect it is for creating import presets and or setting default settings that are used everytime the import dialog is opened without actuially Importing any images.

2] It is a New addition, Feature. As far as I know there was No documentation on it in the Release notes and I have gone back several versions release notes. I don't recall when I first saw the Done button in the Import dialog window but it isn't there in Lr 5.7.1.

Then I suggest you be more accurate with your cursor before clicking the left button on your mouse.

[dwterry]

It's not an accuracy issue ... it's more like having driven the same car for 13 years suddenly someone moved the break pedal and when I simply step where I expect it to be, something different happens.  It's called "muscle memory".  Things are not the way they used to be, and my "muscle memory" has not yet adapted.

[Just Shoot Me]

But it is an Accuracy issue. Likw if you buy a New car and the radio and heater/AC controls are in a different spot.

Retrain your muscle.

[DdeGannes]

If you use your mouse to hover over the Done button for a couple of seconds there will be a popup which displays what effect it will have. I believe this is a common function in LrC.

[JohanElzenga · Accepted solution]

This is something new and was actually requested. When you click 'Cancel', Lightroom will forget what you have just selected and fall back to your previous import settings. When you click 'Done', Lightroom will also cancel the actual import but it will store the settings you just made in memory for next time.

[PhotographyMD]

Thank you.

What a horrible thing to name this button. I was on the 3rd "Import" before I noticed that all that was being created were the Collections. No photos were brought into Lightroom and a fair amount of time was wasted trying to find them before realizing this.

[virgo47]

Luckily I could find this answer and now I understand the reason for it. But the execution is poor I guess. It really is the first thing to press. Is "Done" the wrong name? Is "Import" just next to it? Yes, but we're used to software with buttons with wrong names already. "Done" is the first "positive" button in the way. Just for an example, I could imagine a dropdown button, like an arrow on Import that would serve this probably way less used function so it's still possible (which is of course important), but doesn't stand in the way so much.

However, now at least I understand why it's there. But the naming, placement and its prominence is all off.

(As this is my first post here and I started with LrC few weeks ago, I'd like to say that in overall it's a great software. Sure, not without problems, e.g. working with People is incredibely slow and unresponsive, but Develop is just magical.)

[Ian Lyons · Accepted solution]

It was added with 9.4 follwoing mutiple requests on the Lightroom Feedback forum.

As Ddegannes has shown, it enables the User to exit the Import window with the current seetings (excluded import source) whereas these were previously ignored.

A similar button exists in the Export window.

[islandfella]

I hate that done button. My issue is the same as dwterry - I feel exactly the same way. The reason why I am here is because I jjust googled in search of an option to disable the "done" button. It is a waste of time! After all these years, it is second nature to click the leftmost button to import. By instinct, I click it only for nothing to happen. Place it in another position, if it is that it is useful to some people. Or else, give me the option to disable it.

[DuanePDX]

It would have been better if placed to the right of where it is now.

[Wm Schwartz]

Completely agree. Import is an action -- you either do it or cancel the action. You don't "Done" the import 😉 I press it all the time by mistake, and I know that it's there. Muscle memory and years of workflow.

Here's a suggestion, make it a user setting to remove it from the UI.

Anyhow, just thought I'd chime in.

-Wm

[Conrad C]

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@Wm Schwartz wrote:

Completely agree. Import is an action -- you either do it or cancel the action. You don't "Done" the import 😉 I press it all the time by mistake, and I know that it's there. Muscle memory and years of workflow.

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Until this changes, or in case it does not change, I have been suggesting this as a way to re-calibrate muscle memory:

The positions of buttons did not change. In earlier versions, Cancel and Import were the last two buttons. They are still the last two buttons. The Done button is just a new one on the left. The way to get it right every time, regardless of version, is to train muscle memory to always click the button at the right end. It hasn’t moved or changed, it has always been Import.