One Huge Mess -- how to clean up?

[wsolum]

I have been very bad at organizing my image and psd files over the past several years.  They are scattered across catalogs, user accounts, computers, folders and usb drives.

I'm sure I'm not the only one (right?).  Is there a resource to help me get a handle of this using LR?  I keep starting out to organize and getting stuck which creates an even bigger mess because no I have two copies of mostly the same data.

Wayne

[berbig]

I have not tried this myself, so I do not know if it will solve the problem. But here is what I would try. I would import all files into one huge folder in LR. Make sure the "Don't import suspected duplicates" is marked.
When all photos is in this folder, make sure you have the "show date/time" visible on each photo -> Then sort by date -> choose all from i.e 2005 -> Go to create folder 2005, and answer Yes to include selected photos. -> Sort by year all of your photos this way -> Last is to go into each years folder, and sort by months the same way.

[jjj]

I tidied up a friend's mess of images, that were full of duplicates and in a serious state because he used iPhoto [urgh!] and that is anything but tidy when it comes to
filing.
So I imported all the images and got LR to copy files by [capture] date into an single Images folder using the format '2007-01-25' for the individual folder names.  This sorts into separate date folders for you. You can then label them more specifically in a more friendly way like '2007-12-25 Xmas day lunch'
The only problem is LR does not recognize all still image types including some PSDs like Dutones and CMYK files.
So you may be better off using Bridge instead as it does copy more fully. I do not use LR to copy from memory cards for that reason, as it leaves stuff behind, so sadly a bit useless.

[larryg]

I have not tried this myself, so I do not know if it will solve the problem. But here is what I would try. I would import all files into one huge folder in LR. Make sure the "Don't import suspected duplicates" is marked.
When all photos is in this folder, make sure you have the "show date/time" visible on each photo -> Then sort by date -> choose all from i.e 2005 -> Go to create folder 2005, and answer Yes to include selected photos. -> Sort by year all of your photos this way -> Last is to go into each years folder, and sort by months the same way.
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Great advice, as in my case most of my trips would have similar date ranges so it should be simpler to organize by date order.

[john beardsworth]

My advice is similar to before, and I've not run through it on a large scale, but here goes:

1. Backup EVERYTHING first, and write down exact notes so you can get back to where you were before. Make sure you have a drive big enough for everything to be copied into.

2. Now import all the locations, using your notes to check them off, ticking so Lightroom won't create duplicates, choosing the option to MOVE to a new location, and choosing one of the By Date options under Organize.

3. Your files will be in good date-based folders. Whatever remains in the original locations will be duplicates, or potential duplicates. In Explorer or Finder, consolidate all these into one area, and either go through them individually or assume they are duplicates, and archive them, just in case.

4. Learn your lesson and don't let it drift into a mess again. Get into good folder organization and adopt a solid filenaming convention.

Good luck.

John

[wsolum]

Okay, I've backed everything up and am starting the move.

One wrinkle is the two dozen or so LR catalogs I've created that have their own master folder with images as well as other files in subfolders.  I want to preserve the LR edits I've done so I'll have to import from these catalogs, then move the entire structure and re-link, or so I plan.

Wayne

My advice is similar to before, and I've not run through it on a large scale, but here goes:

1. Backup EVERYTHING first, and write down exact notes so you can get back to where you were before. Make sure you have a drive big enough for everything to be copied into.

2. Now import all the locations, using your notes to check them off, ticking so Lightroom won't create duplicates, choosing the option to MOVE to a new location, and choosing one of the By Date options under Organize.

3. Your files will be in good date-based folders. Whatever remains in the original locations will be duplicates, or potential duplicates. In Explorer or Finder, consolidate all these into one area, and either go through them individually or assume they are duplicates, and archive them, just in case.

4. Learn your lesson and don't let it drift into a mess again. Get into good folder organization and adopt a solid filenaming convention.

Good luck.

John
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[BernardLanguillier]

If you are on Mac, especially Leopard, there is no need to create by hand a temporary folder for the images files on your Mac.

You can simply use the spotlight search capability within the LR import window.

Just type "kind:images" in the spotlight search box and it will locate dynamically all the image files on your Mac within seconds and show them in a dynamic folder. Multi-select them and click on Choose...

I just tried on my familly iMac and it took 2 seconds to locate 14.300 image files, including jpg, .nef (Nikon RAW), tiffs,... I didn't launch the import after that for obvious reasons, but it should work.

What this won't do for you though is to tag these image files with relevant LR keywords...

Cheers,
Bernard

[Deep]

All the above is great advice!  If, however, you want to tidy up your photos within a catalogue and clump them by subject, rather than date, the following is fairly easy:

1) Make sure your "quick collection" is empty.
2) Plan a subject hierarchy, which would have overall topics like "clients", "events", "nature", "landscape" and so on.  It becomes logical to have subfolders under the main topic (different clients, events, places, whatever).  Use the plus sign on the folders pane to make new folders with these main names.  It is probably easier to worry about subfolders later.
3) Decide on your first topic.  Work through your photo collection from the beginning (or in areas where associated images lurk).  When you find an image that will go in that group, hit the "b" key.  You will save a lot of time by using the command or control key or shift key to select multiple images.  Doing this puts your images in the quick collection.  To make the process easier, you can first sort your library by date, which will make initial selection of images very quick, as they will have been taken at the same time.
4) When you have put all the images from a particular topic in the quick collection, open the quick collection.  Hit "command key plus A" (control key plus A in Windows)
to select all the photos.
5) Right click on the destination folder.  Use the option to "move selected images to this folder", or something similar.
6) While all photos in the quick collection are still selected, hit b again.  This will clear the quick collection and allow you to start again using a different topic.
7) When you have done this on a crude level, you can open any folder and make new subfolders, either dragging images straight in or following this process again.

It might sound long-winded but is safe and easy and actually quite quick.  I have used something similar to move photos around various hard drives and it's great.  It's also a very good technique for discovering surplus copies of images.  If you do this over several catalogues, you may discover your topics are the same in different catalogues; that you have used one catalogue to shift images that now appear as "missing" in another catalogue or that you have lots of duplicates.  Either way, it will tidy your collection.

Finally, whether or not you do this, lightroom metatdata browser lets you call up photos under different dates anyway.  Maybe that's all you really need?

Don.

[john beardsworth]

Hm, a subject-based folder hierarchy is probably why he got into a mess in the first place!

John

[wsolum]

I would like to go forward placing files in folders by year, then month, but Lightroom doesn't have an option for that -- it wants to go further and place images in subfolders by day which means I have to manually move them once they're in place.

Hm, a subject-based folder hierarchy is probably why he got into a mess in the first place!

John
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[travelenfree]

I had a similar problem.  I called Adobe and spoke with tech support. He spoke with me for over an hour and guided me step by step into organizing all of my fises into their proper folders.  I have the highest regard for these Adobe tech wizards.  They are the best.

[john beardsworth]

I would like to go forward placing files in folders by year, then month, but Lightroom doesn't have an option for that -- it wants to go further and place images in subfolders by day which means I have to manually move them once they're in place.
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Might be easier to go with the flow? After all, the Metadata Browser shows monthly views, and you can shoot a lot of pictures in a month.

John

[wsolum]

I never noticed this.  I'll have to check it out.  I'm duplicating my USB drive where I copied all my images.  I have 113gb free on a 500gb drive.

Might be easier to go with the flow? After all, the Metadata Browser shows monthly views, and you can shoot a lot of pictures in a month.

John
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