Locks on Panels - cross posted to Adobe

[PatrickC]

Cross posted to Adobe feature request forum:

There are several places in Lightroom where it is too easy to inadvertently move or change things. Sometimes it is just a minor irritation, but one which in aggregate slows down the workflow. Other times there can be more serious knock-on effects. It is perhaps especially a problem when using a tablet (as I do).

A system of applying locks to particular elements would help to speed up the workflow. Places where this would be useful:

The hide/show panel strips.
Parent and child keyword tags (it's too easy to inadvertently move keywords in the hierarchy)
Folder hierarchy
Collections

Rather than have locks on each individual folder/keyword/whatever, it would be OK to lock the pane to prevent unintentional changes. The user could specifically unlock the pane he wants to work on.

I appreciate that it may not be desirable to further clutter the GUI with extra icons, so what about a simple key combination toggle for the element?

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What do you think?

Patrick Cunningham

 

[Brad Snyder]

Patrick, I tend to agree somewhat, but at a low level of priority.

Are you aware of the different modes of panel operation, which can be chosen by right-clicking on the panel operating triangles? I prefer to leave all of mine set to 'manual'.

 

[Mark Sirota]

I thought the same thing, but then decided he's probably talking about accidentally opening or collapsing the individual sub-panels.

 

[PatrickC]

Mark got it right! It's just too easy to inadvertently click on the open/close strip when trying for the scroll bar next door.

There are alternatives for this specific problem, such as reducing the open/close trigger target to just the arrowhead (an Adobe fix) - or as Brad says, setting the strips to Manual (a user fix). I find the auto hide quite useful, so I keep it on despite the occasional irritation of panels popping open when I don't want them.

The other thing that happens occasionally is I accidentally drag a keyword within the hierarchy in the Keyword List pane. When I look for the keyword it's gone! I panic - then I find it nested below something entirely unrelated. To be frank, the pane is usually closed unless I am working on the hierarchy, so it's only occasionally a problem.

Same thing has happened once or twice with folders getting dragged into other folders, though I think this has been improved since the warning popups about moving folders, which pretty much stops this. With Collections, the situation has also improved because you can't drag a collection folder into another collection, only into a collection set.

So I probably shouldn't have bothered. It's definitely a low priority anyway. Just looking for a few ways to fine-tune the app.

Patrick Cunningham

 

[Brad Snyder]

Mark got it right!

I thought the same, but figured I'd point out the obviouse just in case.


The other thing that happens occasionally is I accidentally drag a keyword within the hierarchy in the Keyword List pane. When I look for the keyword it's gone! I panic - then I find it nested below something entirely unrelated. To be frank, the pane is usually closed unless I am working on the hierarchy, so it's only occasionally a problem.

[COLOR=#''''ff]Yes, this is a relatively common 'error' for me as well. Athough, I have to say I encounter similar phenomena in other software as well, particularly, a multi-paned Windows Explorer replacement I use.[/COLOR]

So I probably shouldn't have bothered. It's definitely a low priority anyway. Just looking for a few ways to fine-tune the app.

[COLOR=#''''ff]Nothing ventured, nothing gained ..... [/COLOR]

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