authorizeduser Loc: Monroe, Michigan

I use Abobe Bridge and Camera RAW to edit my photos.


I have tried Lightroom and do not really like it, I find it a pain in the butt to use as a catalog.

I was using a program called Extensis Portfolio but it is an old program with minimal features.

So far I have not found any software designed to simply catalog photos and nothing else.

I use a standard set of keywords so I can find photos easily.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I now have over 13000 photos.



Thank you for any assistance

GeorgeK Loc: NNJ

Adobe Bridge?

authorizeduser Loc: Monroe, Michigan

I have bridge and camera raw to edit photos and while it can find images it is certainly not designed as a photo cataloger. I want software which will do to my 13000+ photos what my music cataloger does to my CD's. I have over 400 CD's which results in thousands of songs. I can find any CD, Song, Artist, year ect ..... Does not edit music just catalogs. I want software to catalog images only, not an editor. Maybe such software does not exist.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I would suggest looking into document management applications. There are a number of them that are free to download and use. I realize that a lot of folks here are interested in photography. Thus, they are drawn to using management apps within the photo editing software. I prefer to separate the two and keep data/document management as a stand-alone. Look for document management software free and you'll find quite a few possibilities.
--Bob

authorizeduser Loc: Monroe, Michigan

Thanks Bob, will check into it .............

BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

I use ACDSee which I've used since before the turn of the century. It initially was a shareware photo catalogue program, and that's all it did. It now also includes photo editing, and the editing is really easy to use, and includes layers. The cataloging however, is as good as it gets, unfortunately, this means it is not all that easy to set up. Yes, easy as pie to use, but it is very flexible, which makes it less than easy to set things up to your best advantage. Once you learn all the features though, it is nothing less than awesome.

I know you don't want editing capability, but ACDSee's editing is not in your way at all, and if you ever want to edit something, it is super easy to use, but only if you want to use it, otherwise, editing is just a menu item you need never click on.

authorizeduser Loc: Monroe, Michigan

Thanks for the info

srt101fan

I think it's probably overkill for what you want, but take a look at IMatch.
https://www.photools.com/imatch/

authorizeduser Loc: Monroe, Michigan

Thanks

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Lightroom is the premier digital asset management software. As you discover the limits of other alternatives, consider returning to Lightroom and spending the effort needed to learn how to use this market leading tool.

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

I agree with CHG_CANON. Just what is it about Lightroom (and, I assume you are referring to Lightroom Classic) that you find a "pain in the butt?"

bleirer

Photoshop elements has a pretty good organizer, and camera raw is built in. Only downside is acr doesn't have every feature of full strength acr, and the editor is 8 bit rather than 16, if that matters to you.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

I think you and Lightroom got off on the wrong foot. It happened to me when I first tried it (Lr v2). I locked myself in my room on a Saturday morning and did not emerge until I wrapped my head around it. Been using it ever since, and it does EVERYTHING I need it to do as far as cataloging and managing my images. The other alternatives may be more robust, and offer multi-user capability, etc, but for a single user, Lr is hard to beat.

I suggest you find someone to give you a hand getting reacquainted with LR - you'll be glad you did.

authorizeduser Loc: Monroe, Michigan

Reinstalled Lioghtroom .... Will give it a go over .................

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

I can sympathize with your aversion to the approach used by Lightroom and other software programs to catalog your images. They all take time to get used to and when something goes wrong you can go nuts trying to set things right.

There is a much simpler answer, your computer's native file system. I have used it for decades to keep track of over 70,000 scanned and digital images plus another 50,000 files in a total of over 8,000 folders.

I store my images in folders and sub-folders separated by year, date and subject matter. Over the years I have used different patterns but it's always easy to find an old image. I can locate an image file in seconds and have never felt the need to cross-reference them. If the folder names are descriptive your file manager can locate a folder by name in seconds.

There are plenty of options for backing up your files. It doesn't matter whether they are images or other types of files.

There is never an issue with upgrading software because the computer's native file system is independent of the operating system. I can still find files that I last saved under Windows 3.0 three decades ago.