I made a mess of my Lightroom catalog
Jun 29, 2020 18:00:31 #
JKaye
Loc: Chicago
I put a variety of parts together in my LR left side and have over 2000 images scrambled all around there. How do I start over without making it worse please? All guidance will be appreciated.
Jun 29, 2020 18:06:47 #
Not sure just what the problem is.
Take what you have, make some smart collections based on some organizing criterion (and one smart collection containing all the images that are not in a collection) and export them all as catalogs. Then you can work one catalog at a time to organize them better, since there will be fewer images to deal with at any one time. 2000 is not a lot of images. When I finally got around to organizing my catalog it had 65,000 images in it. I got it down to something like 15,000.
Make sure all your images are thoroughly keyworded.
When you get the new catalogs organized you can merge them into a master catalog.
LR does not care where your image files are, as long as you don't move them outside of LR. The organization is better done by keywording than by folders.
Take what you have, make some smart collections based on some organizing criterion (and one smart collection containing all the images that are not in a collection) and export them all as catalogs. Then you can work one catalog at a time to organize them better, since there will be fewer images to deal with at any one time. 2000 is not a lot of images. When I finally got around to organizing my catalog it had 65,000 images in it. I got it down to something like 15,000.
Make sure all your images are thoroughly keyworded.
When you get the new catalogs organized you can merge them into a master catalog.
LR does not care where your image files are, as long as you don't move them outside of LR. The organization is better done by keywording than by folders.
Jun 29, 2020 18:16:17 #
JKaye wrote:
I put a variety of parts together in my LR left side and have over 2000 images scrambled all around there. How do I start over without making it worse please? All guidance will be appreciated.
Do each of your files have xmp sidecar files associated with them?
Do the files in your catalog view represent all the files you have, just in a disorganized fashion?
The more I know about what you have the easier and more effective I can be at helping your out. The last thing you should do is start over. It's not hard to use LR to move files around, you just have to figure out where you want them and how you want to organize your folders in the operating system file viewer/manager (Windows Explorer or Mac Finder).
Jun 29, 2020 18:17:18 #
As noted above 2000 images is hardly nothing. Can you be more specific of your concerns with your LR catalog? My catalog crossed over 90,000 images with recent work in the past few weeks.
You can throw out the bathwater of 2000 images, if desired. Just create a new empty catalog from the File menu. Put the file in the same location as the existing LRCAT, inside the Pictures/Lightroom folder. You can name the file anything you want, like New-Lightroom.LRCAT (LR will with the LRCAT extension).
In explaining your issue, can you capture a screen print when you describe the 'left side' so we can better understand your issue?
You can throw out the bathwater of 2000 images, if desired. Just create a new empty catalog from the File menu. Put the file in the same location as the existing LRCAT, inside the Pictures/Lightroom folder. You can name the file anything you want, like New-Lightroom.LRCAT (LR will with the LRCAT extension).
In explaining your issue, can you capture a screen print when you describe the 'left side' so we can better understand your issue?
Jun 29, 2020 18:53:17 #
JKaye wrote:
I put a variety of parts together in my LR left side and have over 2000 images scrambled all around there. How do I start over without making it worse please? All guidance will be appreciated.
If you truly want to start over just right click the folder and then click remove and then click remove from Lightroom. This will remove them from Lightroom only. Then you can re import.
When you re in Port make sure you have your plan setup as to how you want to do that
Jun 29, 2020 19:27:38 #
Jun 29, 2020 21:26:47 #
JKaye wrote:
I put a variety of parts together in my LR left side and have over 2000 images scrambled all around there. How do I start over without making it worse please? All guidance will be appreciated.
The information you have provided is sketchy and not very helpful. Are all 2000 images processed? Did you move folders around? Or just images around? Do you have any kind of system set up to follow as you import? How did you do whatever it is you did? We don't have crystal balls when we read these posts. Be specific and exact and you might get some real help.
Jun 30, 2020 06:10:04 #
The confusing LR Classic catalogue system can be eliminated entirely and a much simpler user friendly system of organization of Your photos can be had by just moving over to LR CC. Overall, I like CC alot better than Classic. You just got to be willing to make the leap to the cloud. Has made organizing my 65,000 images much simpler.
Jun 30, 2020 09:23:49 #
BJW wrote:
The confusing LR Classic catalogue system can be eliminated entirely and a much simpler user friendly system of organization of Your photos can be had by just moving over to LR CC. Overall, I like CC alot better than Classic. You just got to be willing to make the leap to the cloud. Has made organizing my 65,000 images much simpler.
Lightroom classic catalog can be very easy. To make it easy let It Go placate your hard drive directory structure. to do that just click import select the folder and photos to import and then select import don't tell it what to do and it will create a duplicate of your hard drive structural wise.
then as you learn more and learn how to use folders and so forth you can minimize that structure and use folders etc within Lightroom.
Jun 30, 2020 11:41:41 #
JKaye
Loc: Chicago
Thanks much to everyone who responded...these suggestions are already pushing me well ahead of where I began.
Jun 30, 2020 13:09:45 #
You might consider reading the online help manual on the Adobe website. Adobe is the expert on all things Adobe. Then consider any advice you've received.
Jun 30, 2020 23:05:43 #
Adobe's Terry White: "How to Avoid a Lightroom Classic CC Catalog Disaster"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GOS9x0Er9c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GOS9x0Er9c
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