Can Thumb nail display order in PE-13 Organizer import advanced dialogue be changed?

[JacB.Nimble]

Using the PE 13 Organizer advanced import dialog, I’m trying to import a large number of images shot over several days at a variety of times. This dialog box displays the thumbnail images from top to bottom in an inconsistent fashion. Regardless of how I adjust the settings under the View menu or Sort By (Name, Oldest, Newest), the advanced import dialog box always displays the thumbnails by date from newest to oldest and then within date, from oldest to newest. Here is an example: May 25 6 PM, May 25 6:30 PM, May 25 8 PM, May 24 2:30 PM, May 22 7 AM, May 22 7:25 AM, May 22 9 AM.

In fact, changing the two settings mentioned appear to have no bearing on how the thumbnails are displayed In the Organizer, the import dialog or even the folder listing in the when the folder tabs clicked. These settings do not appear to do anything. What do they control?

Is there a way to change the order in which image thumbnails are displayed in the advanced import dialog?

[arshla jindal]

Hi,

I would like to clarify few points to you regarding the sort order and its bearing on various components in Organizer, which you might have misinterpreted:

• Is there a way to change the order in which image thumbnails are displayed in the advanced import dialog?

No there is no way of controlling the sort order of thumbnails within the advanced import dialog. It remains fixed as displayed there.

• Regardless of how I adjust the settings under the View menu or Sort By (Name, Oldest, Newest), the advanced import dialog box always displays the thumbnails by date from newest to oldest and then within date, from oldest to newest. .......changing the two settings mentioned appear to have no bearing on how the thumbnails are displayed In the Organizer, the import dialog or even the folder listing in the when the folder tabs clicked. These settings do not appear to do anything. What do they control?

Sort by setting from view menu or in main grid controls the sorting order of only thumbnails displayed in main grid. So they are serving the same functionality, just the invoke points are two. This functionality has no effect on either folders or on advanced import dialog.

To check what effect does it have on main grid, follow these few simple steps:

1. In main grid if you are in adaptive view, press Ctrl/Cmd + D to switch to detailed view (the images have their date and other file info under their thumbnail)

     Detailed view: (press ctrl /cmd  +D to change to this setting in case you are in adaptive view)

2. Apply sort by or View> Sort by and see the results in main grid. Cross check it by the dates mentioned under thumbnail. In case your are sorting by Name and your filenames are not displaying, go to view menu> File names. This toggle on/off the filenames only when you are in detailed view.

Hope this would be helpful in understanding the functionality better. also you can refer to the Elements Organizer Topics Page or Help manual PDF for any queries around any feature. Also feel free to reach out to us here for the same.

Thanks,

Arshla

[JacB.Nimble]

The pattern is easier to see in detailed view (Ctrl+D). I was selecting one image at a time to view the meta data in the side panel while trying to understand the display order. I have not encountered a file display presentation such as this before.  This order, date newest-time oldest, would appeal to unsophisticated users who infrequently purge memory cards or camera memory.  Thanks for the info.

[MichelBParis]

To add to Arshla's detailed answer, you should forget about 'sort' order having any bearing with how the files are physically stored, especially when you view your thumbnails in the explorer or finder. The files are stored randomly on your drive(s). The order you are seeing is the result of indexing. Just look at the dozens sort criteria offered by the explorer. Your choice for display order in Explorer or in the organizer are totally independent. You may have a 'custom' sort order in an album, but that will never transfer to the folders in the explorer.

To illustrate that point, think about an album with 'custom' sort order in the organizer. You want to keep that order in the explorer for other users. The only way to give the explorer a clue about the custom sort order is to rename your files sequentially in the organizer (or to export them with renaming) so that you can choose the filename sort order in the explorer.

Is there a way to change the order in which image thumbnails are displayed in the advanced import dialog?

No, as stated by Arshla, because in 99% of the downloads, the users want to copy only the most recent shots. Changing the order is not needed.