mikegreenwald Loc: Illinois

I have imported a large number of RAW files from multiple sources into a single Collection in LR. I'm at a loss for a way to sort the batch by date shot, within the collection. Do you have a solution?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Go to the Library Grid View, press 'g' to get there.

From the command menu select View / Show Tool Bar, or press 't' to toggle the tool bar.

The Tool Bar appears below the grid of images and you can select the sort order there.

Bookmark and / or download the list of short cuts: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/keyboard-shortcuts/lrcc6/

mikegreenwald Loc: Illinois

I tried that earlier and again now. It doesn’t change the order of images within the Library grid view. I have no trouble doing it manually, one image at a time, but that’s time consuming. Sort by “capture time” doesn’t help.
Might it relate to the images having been modified, mostly in LR and a few in PS as well?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

The steps earlier give you the ability to sort the images by one of several attributes. But, you have to select and apply the desired sort order. Select capture time and A>Z (or Z>A to reverse).

If still unclear, make a screen capture of your LR desktop and attach so we can see the situation you're trying to describe.

mikegreenwald Loc: Illinois

Thanks for your quick replies. I'll have to get back to you later. Right now I have a massive cleanup related to flooding.

Gitchigumi Loc: Wake Forest, NC

I'm not at my computer, otherwise, I'd check for myself... But, in grid view, do you have to select all the images you want to sort before you issue the sort command? I've had similar issues with LR, so suggest looking at that possibility.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

I have been shooting with two cameras lately. After downloading both cards I go to the folder in LR and sort by time taken without any problems

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

When you drag the images around, the LR sort order should display 'custom'. When your emergency is addressed and you have a chance to return to this question, let us know what happens when you select and force LR to re-sort based on the capture time. Best wishes and good luck.

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

Or, from the pull-down menu, select View/Sort/Edit Time.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

1. Go to the Library module and select the Collection or Folder you want to sort.

2. Either in Grid View, or using the Film Strip (doesn't matter which), click on and select any single image within the folder.

3. Press "Ctrl A" (Windows PC... or whatever is the same in Mac)... this will select all the images in the folder.

4. Under the "View" pull down menu you'll find "Sort"... and under that you can choose from a variety of ways to sort the images in the folder. "Capture Time (and date)" will probably do what you want. ("Edit Time" won't necessarily be the same.)

5. At the bottom of the View > Sort menu you also have choice of Ascending or Descending, depending upon whether you want to see the oldest or the newest images first.

It takes a lot longer to write or read this, than it does to actually do it! I do this all the time to put my images in exact sequence, usually combining shots from two or three cameras used in the course of a day's shoot (I use a separate folder for each day... but it shouldn't matter if you don't).

After sorting them this way, I rename them sequentially. Doing this keeps the image files strictly in sequence even when viewed outside LR, such as in my computer's browser.

I also use LR to do the renaming... it's done from the Library module too, but using the "Library" pull down menu, where you'll find "Rename"... and under that a bunch of options for how LR will handle the renaming.)

Like many things in LR, there are multiple ways to do most of this stuff: Keyboard shortcuts, a menu bar with pull-downs, even a right-click menu in many situations.

NOTE: When shooting with multiple cameras, especially in situations where you rapidly switch between them, if you want a precise sequence it's important to sync the cameras' clocks. To do this, the day before a shoot I hook up my Canon DSLRs to my desktop computer using the USB cable and use Canon EOS Utility to set the time in each camera to "match the computer". I find that after a few days the cameras' clocks begin to gain or lose time and they soon are out of sync with each other. After a couple weeks it can be 5 or 10 seconds difference, which makes a real mess of things when trying to sequence images! (DSLRs other than Canon can be similarly synced using applets or s'ware provided by their manufacturers. I've even synced Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Olympus camera at some large shoots where a group of photogs were using different brands.)

mikegreenwald Loc: Illinois

It appears I've finally solved the problem.
I checked the EXIF data on shots from other people. Several who contributed photos to the collection had not set the date and time correctly or not at all. That seems to confuse the computer as well as confusing me.
No shortcuts this time!

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

If it's important, you might look at a tool like EXIF date Change from RELLIK software. I use this to update my scanned film images so they reflect the shooting date and approximate time rather than the scanning date of the JPEG. You can update the underlying files and then tell LR to re-read the metadata from the file, if already imported.

You can edit the date / time in LR and write that update into the image file, via the metadata, assuming they're not RAW. But, it's an image by image process, not multi-select batch. After a few images, this could become quite tedious. The Rellik tool, and probably others, runs in batch to do groups of images or all the files in a folder.

mikegreenwald Loc: Illinois

Thank you. All my own images are RAW, but others are a mixed batch.
The real solution is to quit volunteering to put together a slide show for a big group - or accept RAW files only, including modified shots.
Lesson learned!