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How to Flag/Unflag Active Photo Not Selected Photos

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DavidYoung600

New Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2020
Messages
6
Location
Massachusetts, USA
Lightroom Experience
Advanced
Lightroom Version
Classic
Lightroom Version Number
11.1
Operating System
  1. macOS 11 Big Sur
Is there a way to flag or unflag only the active photo, not the selected photos? I like to select a group of photos to go through (say a series of a few dozen, out of a folder with many hundreds of photos), so that I can quickly flip through them using the arrow keys. That way, when I get to the end of the group it just wraps around back to the first photo in the group, and I can easily make multiple passes through them. I'd like to be able to flag or unflag only the currently active photo, without changing the flag status of the other photos that are selected, and without losing my selection. Currently, I can do this by hitting F to fullscreen view the active photo, hit X, U, or P to set the flag of that photo, then hit F again to return to loupe view. It works, but I'd love to have a faster, more elegant method.
 
one easy way is to click the letters "e. p, g" (one at a time, not all at once) on the keyboard to flag an image or "e, u, g" to unflag an image. (e= loupe view, p=pick or flag, u=unflag, g=return to grid view.
 
Is there a way to flag or unflag only the active photo, not the selected photos? I like to select a group of photos to go through (say a series of a few dozen, out of a folder with many hundreds of photos), so that I can quickly flip through them using the arrow keys. That way, when I get to the end of the group it just wraps around back to the first photo in the group, and I can easily make multiple passes through them. I'd like to be able to flag or unflag only the currently active photo, without changing the flag status of the other photos that are selected, and without losing my selection. Currently, I can do this by hitting F to fullscreen view the active photo, hit X, U, or P to set the flag of that photo, then hit F again to return to loupe view. It works, but I'd love to have a faster, more elegant method.
In the metadata panel, there are two new buttons that do just that: define whether an action applies to all selected photos or just the active photo. I assume that applies to flags too. I can’t post a screenshot because I type this on my iPad.
 
In the metadata panel, there are two new buttons that do just that: define whether an action applies to all selected photos or just the active photo. I assume that applies to flags too.
It doesn't appear to apply to flags....they get applied to all selected images (in Grid view) no matter which of those two options are selected. I don't know if that's a bug or a design "feature".

But in terms of the initial problem, surely the simple solution is to work through the selected images while in Loupe view (no need to go to full-screen mode). In Loupe mode the flag is only set on the most selected image (i.e. the Loupe image) and is not applied to all the other selected images, as @Califdan suggests.

If you absolutely require to be working in the Grid view, then I'd suggest using the Quick Collection for this purpose, i.e. select the images, hit B to add them to the Quick Collection, switch to the Quick Collection, then deselect the images, then start moving through them to apply the flags. With no multiple images selected, only the active image would get the flag.
 
or give your prelim selection a 1 star rating and just select the 1 star images for your pick or reject process.
 
It doesn't appear to apply to flags....they get applied to all selected images (in Grid view) no matter which of those two options are selected. I don't know if that's a bug or a design "feature".

But in terms of the initial problem, surely the simple solution is to work through the selected images while in Loupe view (no need to go to full-screen mode). In Loupe mode the flag is only set on the most selected image (i.e. the Loupe image) and is not applied to all the other selected images, as @Califdan suggests.

If you absolutely require to be working in the Grid view, then I'd suggest using the Quick Collection for this purpose, i.e. select the images, hit B to add them to the Quick Collection, switch to the Quick Collection, then deselect the images, then start moving through them to apply the flags. With no multiple images selected, only the active image would get the flag.
I should have explained in my initial post, I am working thru the photos in Loupe view. Unfortunately, what you describe is not the behavior that I'm seeing. Just now I selected 5 photos in the filmstrip, while in loupe mode. The first photo becomes the "active" photo and is shown in the loupe, and has a brighter highlight in the filmstrip view. I hit P, and ALL 5 selected photos become flagged, not just the active photo shown in the loupe. Is there some setting that changes this behavior?

Thank you for your idea for using the Quick Collection, I'll try that as an alternative.
 
one easy way is to click the letters "e. p, g" (one at a time, not all at once) on the keyboard to flag an image or "e, u, g" to unflag an image. (e= loupe view, p=pick or flag, u=unflag, g=return to grid view.
I should have explained in my initial post, I am already working thru the photos in Loupe view, not Grid. When I hit P, U, or X while in loupe view, the flag gets applied to all of the photos that are selected in the filmstrip, not just to the active photo shown in the loupe. Is there some setting that changes this behavior?
 
I should have explained in my initial post, I am already working thru the photos in Loupe view, not Grid. When I hit P, U, or X while in loupe view, the flag gets applied to all of the photos that are selected in the filmstrip, not just to the active photo shown in the loupe. Is there some setting that changes this behavior?
I can't reproduce that and that should not happen. Perhaps you need to reset your preferences: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-do-i-reset-lightrooms-preferences/
 
I can't reproduce that and that should not happen. Perhaps you need to reset your preferences: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-do-i-reset-lightrooms-preferences/
Thank you, you were correct in your first response. It turns out that the "Enable auto-sync changes to all selected images" was in fact turned on in my metadata/keyword panel. I turned it off, and now when I hit P, U, or X in loupe view only the flags for the active photo gets changed. Thank you so much, you solved my problem!
 
It doesn't appear to apply to flags....they get applied to all selected images (in Grid view) no matter which of those two options are selected. I don't know if that's a bug or a design "feature".

But in terms of the initial problem, surely the simple solution is to work through the selected images while in Loupe view (no need to go to full-screen mode). In Loupe mode the flag is only set on the most selected image (i.e. the Loupe image) and is not applied to all the other selected images, as @Califdan suggests.

If you absolutely require to be working in the Grid view, then I'd suggest using the Quick Collection for this purpose, i.e. select the images, hit B to add them to the Quick Collection, switch to the Quick Collection, then deselect the images, then start moving through them to apply the flags. With no multiple images selected, only the active image would get the flag.
Turns out my "Enable auto-sync changes to all selected images" was turned on in my metadata/keyword panel, causing flag changes to affect all selected photos in loupe view. Turned that off, and now I get the behavior I want. Thanks.
 
one easy way is to click the letters "e. p, g" (one at a time, not all at once) on the keyboard to flag an image or "e, u, g" to unflag an image. (e= loupe view, p=pick or flag, u=unflag, g=return to grid view.
Turns out my "Enable auto-sync changes to all selected images" was turned on in my metadata/keyword panel, causing flag changes to affect all selected photos in loupe view. Turned that off, and now I get the behavior I want. Thanks.
 
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