[quote author=TNG link=topic=9'91.msg61319#msg61319 date=1265'63''4]
[quote author=dj_paige link=topic=9'91.msg61266#msg61266 date=1264984853]
This usually happens why you move or rename your photos or folders using Windows, so stop doing that! It would be helpful for you to read about how Lightroom works, see The Lightroom Starter Kit at
http://www.lightroomqueen.com/community/index.php?topic=6393.'
[/quote]
Hi,
Can I just take issue (a little
) with the 'stop doing that!' remark? In a small way it's a bit like saying 'crossing the street can be dangerous, so stop doing that!'.....simplistic I know, but the point is that - if one is careful, and understands the risks, implications, and related processes - renaming/reorganising ones picture folders within Windows CAN be done safely, quickly, and successfully.
Being an amateur photographer from an IT background, using Windows to manage files/folders is second-nature to me, so I am much more comfortable using File Manager/Windows Explorer to manage by file/folder organisation than Lightroom.....so that's what I have done and continue to do, without a problem (yet!).
I can imagine the frustration, however, if you incredibly helpful people keep coming up against the same problems over and over again.
But am definitely with you on renaming.....I do ALL of that within Lightroom - before I take the next backup of both LR catalog AND Pictures folders!!!
[/quote]
My comment about "stop doing that" isn't because its dangerous if you are experienced enough to know what you are doing. It's because the person is a beginner at Lightroom and needs to understand how things work, so he won't get into these situations where his data disappears. Furthermore, if you read these forums, you will see that this is a very very common problem, and very much unlike "crossing the street".
Further, I honestly think that in the case of Lightroom, your IT background is leading down the wrong path. Moving files and folders, renaming files and folders, as I have written many times, is not an efficient way to manage your photos. Using keywords, and not file names and folders to organize things is much more powerful, in my opinion. Lightroom gives you more powerful tools than folders and file names, so why use inefficient tools (files/folders) when you can use more powerful tools (Lightroom keywords and metadata and collections)? I never move my photos, I never rename my photos (even in Lightroom), and I recommend you never do this either. I can find my photos very quickly, and I might add, more quickly than I could do had I used folders and file names to keep things organized. I believe the same is true for anyone, that Lightroom will give you a better and more powerful organization than anything you can do with operating system tools.
Imagine, using your IT background, that now you have this powerful database, with powerful search capabilities, and now you can organize things in ways that are not limited to having a document (photo) in a single folder, but it can be described in many different ways in the database, and that further this database could search extremely quickly on multiple criteria that you specify. Imagine that! That's what Lightroom is, and you can use its power, or not.
