Deleting non-starred photos from Lightroom 5: I currently use the star system (1 thru 5) to rate my images in Lightroom 5. In order to clean up my hard drive I would like to know what...

streetshot Loc: Los Angeles, California

I currently use the star system (1 thru 5) to rate my images in Lightroom 5. In order to clean up my hard drive I would like to know what is the easiest way to delete all the non-starred photos from my hard drive (it's external)? I have shot 500 pictures and randomly starred 100 of them and now I want to delete the unwanted pictures from that group and then want to duplicate the process for thousands of photos. Currently the photos are in year and date folders and keyworded for searches. Thanks.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

streetshot wrote:

I currently use the star system (1 thru 5) to rate... (show quote)

It does not matter where your photos are located, as long as you delete them from within Lightroom.

In Lightroom, click on your top level folder so that ALL your images are shown in grid view, then set a filter of no stars, and click on the > icon and set the filter to equal or less than - that should then remove all the photos with any stars from the display (filter). If you delete all the remaining photos then you have deleted all the zero star photos - and by doing it IN Lightroom your catalog is still up to date with no issues.

To test or get used to using filters, instead of a top level folder, use a single year, or day until you are comfortable and trust it works as described.

Of course, once the non-starred photos are displayed in grid view, select them by clicking on one and hitting cmd-a to select all of them....

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

:thumbup:

JeffT Loc: Central NY

You should be able to filter by all starred photos and select them all (Ctrl A on PC). Then remove the filter and go to the Edit menu and select Invert Selection. At this point only non-starred photos are selected. There are a few other ways to do this as well, but this is the first that came to my mind.

OnDSnap Loc: NE New Jersey

Dngallagher wrote:

It does not matter where your photos are located, ... (show quote)

I agree with this method... but I think I would consider going one step further for safety sake, isolate the keepers and copy or back them up to a different temp folder. Once you are sure your 100 pics are safe and you haven deleted a rogue, remove the added folder /backup.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

Dngallagher wrote:

It does not matter where your photos are located, ... (show quote)

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

JeffT Loc: Central NY

JeffT wrote:

You should be able to filter by all starred photos and select them all (Ctrl A on PC). Then remove the filter and go to the Edit menu and select Invert Selection. At this point only non-starred photos are selected. There are a few other ways to do this as well, but this is the first that came to my mind.

Another thought ... Build a smart collection that only shows non-starred photos. You can select all of them with Ctrl A and then delete. You'll have to leave the collection to do the delete, but the selections will remain. This has the added advantage of a place to find all non-starred photos so that you can star ones that you might have missed in earlier passes through your photos.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

OnDSnap wrote:

I agree with this method... but I think I would consider going one step further for safety sake, isolate the keepers and copy or back them up to a different temp folder. Once you are sure your 100 pics are safe and you haven deleted a rogue, remove the added folder /backup.

Nothing wrong with being safe for sure! ;)

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

My workflow is a little different. I do a preliminary scan and assign rejects 1 star. I then select them and move them to a subfolder called rejects. I then develop the shots assigning them 3 (probably not a keeper), 4 ( a keeper) or 5 (standout). Otherwise, the shot gets a 1 and is destined to the rejects folder. This way, I can always see what is yet to be "touched" and can compare the good shots to each other.

I prefer numbers over flags because adding a number is faste than adding a flag.

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

You are making it too complicated. Library, grid, attributes, select no stars from drop down at top of screed. Select all then delete

John Howard Loc: SW Florida and Blue Ridge Mountains of NC.

OnDSnap wrote:

I agree with this method... but I think I would consider going one step further for safety sake, isolate the keepers and copy or back them up to a different temp folder. Once you are sure your 100 pics are safe and you haven deleted a rogue, remove the added folder /backup.

I Gree totally. I tried the filter route two years ago and with only the non-rated images displayed I hit select all, delete. Deleted everything in my catalog - 30,000 shots. I sat there watching what should have taken a few seconds erase everything over a few minutes.

Before delete, check the bar below grid view for number of photos and number selected.

I should add that thanks to this forum and a guy from England named Searcher, who we all miss very much, I was able to find the photos and re-import them. That is something you are not supposed to be able to do, but Searcher talked me they it.

OnDSnap Loc: NE New Jersey

Yet another way with all showing,(filters off) lower right...
> Edit, Select by rating> choose "None" Hit the "X" key, then Delete, Delete from Disk...

BTW, I'd still make a copy of the folder or back it up first regardless which method is used.

OnDSnap Loc: NE New Jersey

John Howard wrote:

I Gree totally. I tried the filter route two years... (show quote)

If stored in a proper file structure, it should never happen....
If you store all your photos in separate folders within the same catalog, that shouldn't happen if you know what to select prior to deleting. Every time I unload a card it goes in a new folder, Date, and a brief description. And if you keyword your photos be it a general keyword prior to import, should be easy to find, later I'll refine my ratings and keywords but never work outside one folder. Work in one folder and it's pretty difficult to screw up....Even doing an entire catalog clean up...if your careful...it can be done. I try to keep up with deleting none keepers ASAP. Folder by Folder.