Why can't list of collections be sorted manually?

[mkwilkin]

I was told by many that Lightroom is superior software for organizing photos so I'm considering this option.  By why can't Lightroom allow users to manually sort your list of collections instead of only alphabetically or by type?  How does one keep track of multiple projects without having to display their collections alphabetically?  This sounds like a crazy limitation to me.  There should be some sort of "album" equivalent that allows this.  Even much simpler programs like Apple Photos has a more user friendly (and more powerful) way to organize your photo sets.

Or perhaps I'm misunderstanding the purpose of "collections" within Lightroom.  My understanding is that it allows users to "point" or "reference" their photos wherever they may be on an internal, or external hard drive (or even a NAS I imagine).  Therefore collections is the true way to custom organize your huge directories of pictures.  No?  So why do I have to do reference and list my group of collections (each for a different project) alphabetically?  Am I missing something?

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[Just Shoot Me]

Yes you are misunderstanding both LR in general and collections in LR.

LR References your images in its catalog file, a Database file, from where they are stored on any drive connected to your computer or a NAS connected to your LAN.

Collection are just that. A Collection, a Grouping, of images for Display purposes. If you have a project you can place all the images from that project into a collection no matter where they are stored and not see any other images in the LR modules.

If you have another project you can group all the images from that project and place them in another collection.

[john beardsworth · Accepted solution]

Because Adobe designed the collection code so collections sort alphabetically. They could have designed them so they could be reordered to sort manually, but they didn't. Don't hope for any change.

If you want to group related collections, put them in collection sets.

Another tip is to add a prefix to collections. Look at my Workflow smart collections  for an example.

[dj_paige]

As John said, use collection sets. This allows you to group collections together and makes individual collections easier to find (although within collection sets, the collections are sorted alphabetically). This is the "album" you were asking for.

If you're still considering Lightroom as your organizing software, you might want to switch to using Keywords as your primary organizing tool. There are more feature and more benefits to using keywords — although in your hierarchy of keywords, the child keywords are still sorted alphabetically, but you can have hierarchies of unlimited depth.

[john beardsworth]

Yes, keywords and other standard metadata. I find Job is particularly useful, for example. Collections, like Apple albums, are proprietary and mean little outside their own environments.

[GustyK]

Apparently a Collection or Stack uses keywords or filenames for sequencing, which is not helpful.

Lack of manual sorting is a serious flaw. I want to lay out a photo book VISUALLY, not by keyword, date made or filename, and the Library module should be the place to do that before switching to the Book module. At least that's what the vieo tutorial for using the Book module suggests "because it's easier" - but the lady does not say how. She also says photo resequencing "can always be done later" - maybe in the Book module? - but again, she doesn't show how.

Very disappointing!

[dj_paige]

"Lack of manual sorting is a serious flaw. I want to lay out a photo book VISUALLY"

While Keywords or Collection names in the list of Keywords or list of Collections cannot be sorted manually, photos within a collection can indeed be sorted manually by dragging them to whatever order you want.

[Rob_Cullen]

Apparently a Collection or Stack uses keywords or filenames for sequencing, which is not helpful.

Lack of manual sorting is a serious flaw.

You CAN manually sort a Standard COLLECTION. Simply drag the photos to a new position in the Grid view of the Collection.

You can select multiple files in a Collection and drag them, as a group, to a new position.

You should always create a Standard Collection for a new Book- adding your photos to the Collection, re-arranging the custom sort, before going to the Book module.

(Also- You can custom sort , by drag & drop, files in Library Grid view- as long as you are viewing a single Folder that does not have any sub-folders!)

Hint: Once you have started a new Book- You must create a "Saved Book Collection" and then always, I repeat ALWAYS, re-open this Book from the "Saved Book Collection", to which you can add more photos that will appear on the Book Filmstrip.

[GustyK]

Thank you very much for these procedures, which work!

I got my first Blurb book laid out and ordered last night. I'm very grateful you took time to respond.

Gusty K

[GustyK]

I gave you praise in the BB just now - thanks!