Export Disable parallel jpeg export?

[kenwood]

Lightroom Version Number

11.4.1

Operating System

1. Windows 10

Using the latest version of LR on windows 10, when I export say 100 files to jpeg, I notice that the exported file timestamp is not in sequence. That is, file 1 may have a timestamp later than file 10. I believe lightroom is exporting files in parallel hence the timestamps are all over the place. Is there a way to ensure the timestamp follow the same sequence as the export order, that is, file 1 has the earliest time stamp, follow by file 2, as seen in the 'library' module? I assume disabling paraelle export will do the trick but I could not find this option to turn it off.

 

[Jim Wilde]

I don't think there's any way to turn off the parallel exporting.

If the source images are still sorted in LrC in either File Name or Capture Time order, then obviously you can simply use that sort order when viewing the exported images in File Explorer, however if you have manually arranged the source images into a specific Custom sort order, or are using one of the other sort orders (such as Rating, Edit Time, Pick Flag, Label Colour) then in order to maintain that order when viewing the exported files in the File Explorer the easiest way to do that is by prepending a Sequence Number to the File Name during the export. You would do that in the File Naming section of the Export Dialog where you can create a Custom export order....something like the attached filename template would work, as the sequence number is added in accordance with how the source images are sorted, not in relation to the order in which they are exported. Then when viewing the exported files in File Explorer you would use the default File Name sort order, thereby retaining the same sort order as the original source images.

 

[kenwood]

Thats exactly what I am doing, the file name are in order, but the final destination of these photos are to be displayed on google photo which only support sorting by timestamp. I suppose I can look for another free gallery tool to display photos privately (suggestions?) or a lightroom plugin that will change timestamp after export based on filename (not sure if one exist?)

 

[Jim Wilde]

I don't know of any plug-in that would do that, but I'm not particularly knowledgeable about the plug-in market. There are a few Gurus here that may know if one exists.

Personally, I now only display/share albums via the Adobe Cloud....that allows me to set the display order and the major benefit is that I don't have to export the images for uploading to wherever. Once synced to the cloud they can be shared directly from there, and any subsequent changes I might make are immediately reflected in the shared album without any work on my part.

 

[Linwood Ferguson]

There is a EXIFTOOL that is very widely used. I have seen writeups on using it to do what you want, though have not tried it. A quick google shows this: https://exiftool.org/forum/index.php?topic=8879.0 but have not tried anything in there, however google has a few hits on the general subject.

It might be simplest to do this outside of Lightroom.

It may be necessary to also number/sequence your photos in some fashion as you export, so that they are already in order by file name, so the above can work, which just shifts the problem a bit, but at least shifts it to you where you can change it.

Finally, you might try the export option to put them back into the catalog, see if that comes out in the right order inside Lightroom. This would give you the jpg's inside lightroom where you do have more options with file changes, there are plugins which will change dates on files in the catalogs.

 

[GregJ]

A lot of this seems to be basic file handling skill when it comes to organizing your work for storage or display. It really isn't any different than any other file organization task when it comes to sorting, ordering, naming, storing and/or displaying your files. In LR there are many ways to organize and display your files into any order you can possibly imagine and sort them however you want. Play with it and practice. Display a hundred files in the Library grid and start moving them around and sorting them with a variety of tools.

Then if you want to, you could quickly rename the files in that order, say 1-100 in LR. If you don't want to change the file names of your raws you can export the jpegs to a folder and then rename them outside of LR in that folder in whatever order you want. You can do that with any file app or within the Windows or Mac OS.

So, LR aside, once you have exported the jpegs to a folder in any random order, you could use any number of programs (like Bridge, which comes with LR) to reorder the jpegs in that folder however you want and then rename them however you want just for that display job.

Play around with it. If you are doing a presentation or just displaying your work in a Flickr Album, you can get the images in whatever order you want from within LR, or you can reorder them outside of LR once they are exported and ready for display. You can do that from within the OS on your rig or you can do it within the display medium (at least all the ones I know of). But if you can't reorder in your display medium or app, then get a new app. Or just do it in LR or in an export folder before sending them to the display medium.

In other words, there are countless ways to get the files in the order you want for any type of presentation or display. For me, jpegs are always 100% expendable and can be immediately re-exported from the raw in LR at any size and quality I want, with any file name or order I want and tweaked for whatever purpose you exported them for.

For me, LR is 100% about providing order to the workflow and organizing (naming, sorting, organizing, etc...) my raw files while editing them for whatever purpose they will be exported for. Then, when those exported jpegs have served their purpose and been posted to whatever cloud media desired (or emailed or whatever), I delete them off my storage system and just keep the raws. +

 

[clee01l]

Thats exactly what I am doing, the file name are in order, but the final destination of these photos are to be displayed on google photo which only support sorting by timestamp. I suppose I can look for another free gallery tool to display photos privately (suggestions?) or a lightroom plugin that will change timestamp after export based on filename (not sure if one exist?)

The correct default image sort order should be capture date. Often but not necessarily, this is coincides with timestamp. If Google Photos does not permit different sort orders, you should first point out the need for allowing different sort orders and if sorting at Google is not possible, investigate alternates online image sites that do.

 

[GregJ]

I think Google photos does allow that but you need to go to the web version and not try it on your phone.

 

[johnrellis]

the final destination of these photos are to be displayed on google photo which only support sorting by timestamp.

Your issue needs a lot more detail to understand what's going on. Google Photos sorts by the capture date stored in the photo's metadata, not the time when the photo's file was created (e.g. by exporting from LR).

There are many "timestamps" associated with a photo and discussing metadata requires precision or else our heads will explode. The relevant ones for this discussion are:

- Capture Date -- when the shutter was pressed. Stored in several industry-standard metadata fields.
- Date Created -- when the operating system or camera firmware created the file containing the photo.
- Date Modified -- when the operating system or camera firmware last modified the file containing the photo.

For a photo file created in the camera, the latter two could be the same or very close to Capture Date embedded in the metadata. But as various apps modify the photo's file and after export from LR (which creates new files), they'll be much newer. Since LR exports files concurrently, there's no relationship between Capture Date and Date Created/Modified of the exported files.

I just retested Google Photos, and it sorts uploaded photos by Capture Date, not the Date Created or Date Modified. However, if a photo is missing Capture Date in its metadata, it will use the Date Modified as its notion of capture date.

So it sounds like your exported photos are missing Capture Date in their metadata. Most likely this is because you've chosen an option in LR's Export window that excludes it. Try exporting with the Export option Metadata > Include: All Metadata and retest the sorting in Google Photos.

If the photos are still misordered in Google Photos, that indicates that the photos in your LR catalog are missing capture dates (e.g. because they're scans or they come from very old digital cameras). If you get this far, I can give precise troubleshooting steps to diagnose and correct that.