Syncing collections

[tom manley]

Hi... I have Lightroom in use on desktop and laptop, both with similar versions of the same catalogue of images - the catalogues are not identical though. Generally i export and import images as catalogues between the 2 libraries. I would like some help with syncing collections.

If i have a collection of images from within my primary library on the desktop, is there a way to sync this with the catalogue on the laptop that would save me finding all the images in individual folders and manually duplicating the collection.

Thanks

 

[clee01l]

Membership in a collection is determined manually for Static collections There is no means that I know of to import images and have them assigned to a collection. However, membership in a Smart Collection is determined by criteria. If a newly imported image meets the criteria, then it is assigned to the Smart collection automatically.

For example there is a default Smart Collection for images with a Red Label. Assign an image a red label and it shows up in the collection. Import images from another catalog that already have a red label assigned and it will be automatically given membership in this collection on import.

Extending that concept, assign keywords that define the images in your static collection and create a smart Collection with the criteria {Keywords}{contains}{[yourKeywordGoesHere]} and your Smart collection will contain all of the images in the static collection that have been assigned that keyword.

FWIW, I manage my workflow almost entirely in Collections and Publish Services I have 1 Static Collection. All of the other collections are smart collections to smart Publish service collections. I also import my laptop catalog to my master catalog on my desktop.

 

[tom manley]

Thanks for your reply, Smart Collections certainly would be useful and would do what i want in this instance had the images got a common keyword or attribute. Ive not used them much before but probably will do now. The images are already in both catalogues, i was just hoping there may be away of copying the collection between catalogues....

 

[clee01l]

Thanks for your reply, Smart Collections certainly would be useful...in this instance had the images got a common keyword or attribute. Ive not used them much before but probably will do now...

Do keep in mind that Smart Collections can have very very complex queries. Describe for me the what is in the collection and why you want these images in the collection and you (or me) could probably write a query to collect these images in a Smart Collection.
You can use things like date shot, special trip vacation (KW), something in the title or description, many other metadata characteristics.