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Organize Images in Finder and Lightroom Folders

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kikapoo

Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2014
Messages
63
Location
California
Lightroom Experience
Beginner
Lightroom Version Number
Lightroom Classic CC version 8.2
Operating System
  1. macOS 10.14 Mojave
Because many of my photos in Finder are not in folders, I am having difficulty organizing Finder (without causing them to go 'missing' in Lightroom). Is there a way to create a folder in Lightroom and move it to Finder so that I can move all these loose photos (in Finder) into that folder (in Finder)? I would like to move all the loose photos into a particular folder for the year it was taken (say 2015 and 2016 and 2017, etc). My computer is a MacBook Pro and I am using Lightroom Classic CC v 8.2. Please let me know if you need more information or a clearer explanation of my information request. Thank you.
 
What you see in the LR folders panel is a view of what is in Finder. They are just two views of the same. The only differences are that in the LR Folders panel it is only showing you folders that have images which have been imported into LR. The other difference is that if you make folder changes (including moving images from one folder to another) from the Folders Panel in LR, it not only does it physically, which will be reflected in Finder, but also updates the catalog at the same time. If, on the other hand, you make those changes in Finder, LR loses track of where the images are and you get the missing folders or missing images problem.

What you want to do is to do ALL your reorganization work using the Folders Panel in LR and NOT in Finder. Rename folders, or drag them around using LR, not finder. move images from one folder to another using LR and not Finder. If you need to create a new folder, do it in LR. If you can't see the parent folder under which you want to create your new folder, right click on the top one you can see and select "show parent folder". Repeat as necessary till you see the desired parent folder. Then right click on it and select Create New Folder inside......."

Hope that helps
 
Thank you for your reply...
My problem is that what I see in the Lr folders does not reflect what I see in Finder, organization wise. Because I did not organize my images correctly when I downloaded them from my memory cards, they are just scattered in Finder, but not under a main folder (some are, but many are not). Ultimately, what I'm trying to do is move almost all the images from my computer's hard drive onto my NAS system. But because they are not in folders in Finder I don't know if they are already in Lr (most of them should be), but there are thousands of images in a long list, so to speak, with no top level folder.
 
Several options. but first you need to deal with ones you have already imported into LR and subsequently moved them in Finder. Once these are re-linked in LR, you can, from within the LR Folders Panel, put them into one or more folders on your NAS. The best way to do this depends on your situation. but first let's talk about the images already in LR

1) have you done much work in LR on these images (keywords, stat ratings, adding to collections, adjustments in the develop module, etc.?

2) Are the folders in LR folders panel that contain your images showing up with"?"'s About how many folders are we talking about?

3) For folders showing with "?", What exactly did you do with Finder after you had uploaded the images into LR? Renamed folders? Moved Folder? Moved images between folders? Something else?


Once those missing images and missing folders are resolved, we can deal with images not yet in LR and we have a couple of options.

Option 1 - organize them into the desired folders using Finder and then import them into LR. Use the 'ADD" option in the LR Import dialog. If you had organized them in Finder onto the NAS, you are done. However if you organized them into folders on some other drive, after import, use the Folders panel in LR to drag the the folders over to the NAS.,

Option 2 - Import all "New" (i.e. previously not imported) photos into LR using the "Add" option. Then do the reorganization using the folders Panel. In this process you can create new folders on the NAS and drag image into them using LR, you can rename folders and then drag them to the NAS, you move images from one folder to another, Etc. Just do this in LR and NOT finder. This may be a more convenient option as you can sort those images by capture time or deal with them in their current folder structure.
 
1) Most of the images in Lr have been edited, keywords added, star rated, titles and captions added.
2) I don't have any missing photos or folders (no ? on any of them) and I have top level folders for years 2005 through 2019, with many sub folders within each top level folder.
3)The problem I am having with the Add option is that I would have to do each photo individually because there is no top level folder, just gazillions of individual photos in a long list.
4) Maybe I will have to send a screen shot example of Finder so you can see what it looks like. The problem really isn't missing folders or photos. I'll have to continue this thread tomorrow once I figure out how to send a screen shot. Thank you again....til tomorrow!
 
Is your problem with images already in LR or ones you have yet to add?

A screen shot of Finder and LR folders panel would be helpful along with a description of how you want them organized.
 
Screen shot #1 is of Finder in the NAS. It is organized correctly, with everything in folders.
Screen shot #2 is of Finder on my MacBook Pro Hard Drive (just a very small portion) which shows the long list of images NOT in folders. These are the problem files...I can't figure out how to move them to the NAS without doing each image individually.
Screen shot #3 is of the folder structure on the NAS, all neatly arranged in folders.
 

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That helps a lot. You don't show or say what sub-folders you want want under each year folder on the N AS, so I'll just assume that putting them directly in the proper year will suffice (You can always subdivide them later if you wish).

1) Assumption: the desired folder (year) for images is based on the capture time of the photo and that info is still in the DNG files on the internal HD.

2) Make a backup of your catalog in case something messes up

3) Go to the import dialog

4) in the source panel on the left, select your entire internal hard drive. If all these DNG's are in a folder such as "Pictures" then select that folder instead

5) use the "Copy" option for the import. You can also use the "Move" option but then if something goes wrong it's a bit messier to recover

6) In the right panel group, under destination
- Uncheck the "Into subfolder" check box
- Select "By Date" in the "Organize" field
- In the "Date Format" field select any one you wish, but I'd use the "yyyy/mm" (2019/07) one.. This will give you a month folder under each year
- Below the "Date Format" field, find your NAS drive and select the PARENT folder you want each year to be under. In your case this would be "Shared Pictures"

7) To start, just do a few images as a test. To do this, below the middle section, click "Uncheck All". Then select several images and click the space bar to put check marks on them (or you can click the check box on any of the selected images)

8) Click "Import"

9) If you later want to get rid of the monthly folders and have all the images directly under the year folder, in the Grid (not import), multi select all the month folders in any particular year. then select all the images in the grid. Drag any of those selected images (click on the image, not the canvas behind the image) and drag it to the year folder. Say Ok to the warning message. Then remove the now empty monthly folders in LR (select folders, hit delete key), and in Finder delete them there as well after verifying they are indeed empty
 
At this point, I have just one more question...I always 'save' when I exit Lr, so is this the backup you are referring to when you say "Back Up Catalog"? I also have a continuous backup system that that goes to an off-site location (via CrashPlan over the internet); and of course, Time Machine (which may not back up the catalog, just the actual images...?).
I want to thank you so much for your very extensive and detailed instructions. Being a 'right brain person' working in a 'left brain environment', I struggle! Having the Lightroom Forum is such a wonderful resource. Thank you, again!
 
.I always 'save' when I exit Lr, so is this the backup you are referring to when you say "Back Up Catalog"?
Yes. Using the backup optionally created when you exit LR is one way. Another is to just copy the "lrcat" file using Finder or File Manager when LR is not running. In addition your CrashPlan or Time Machine backups would also work if they include the "lrcat" file, but are a bit more cumbersome to utilize if the need should arise.
 
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