Moving folders / deleting empty folders

[richarddd]

1) I have image files in folders of the form c:\users\name\pictures\yyyy-mm-dd and d:\photos\yyyy-mm-dd.  I want to move all of the folders that are on c: to d:, so that all the images are under on d: in the appropriate d:\photos\yyyy-mm-dd folders.  Do I just go to LR4, right click on the pictures folder under c:, choose Update Folder Location and type c:\photos?

I could go through the folders one by one, but that would be tedious.

Will there be a problem if some of the yyyy-mm-dd are in both c: and d: or some image files are duplicates?

One of the folders in c:\users\name\pictures is Lightroom, which contains the LR catalog, previews and backups.  Will this move when I use LR to move c:\users\name\pictures? If so, how do I move it back to c:?

2) There are a number of folders in d: with no files.  I can right click on each one and choose Remove, but is there a less tedious way to have LR4 remove all empty folders?

I'm running LR4.3 under windows 7. All image files are in one catalog.

[Jeremy Roussak]

1) I have image files in folders of the form c:\users\name\pictures\yyyy-mm-dd and d:\photos\yyyy-mm-dd.  I want to move all of the folders that are on c: to d:, so that all the images are under on d: in the appropriate d:\photos\yyyy-mm-dd folders.

Richard,

LR is a decent tool for simple folder movement and copying, and it's generally a good idea to do such things from within LR, as it won't then get confused about folder structure. However, automating a task of this complexity is, I think, way beyond it.

Do I just go to LR4, right click on the pictures folder under c:, choose Update Folder Location and type c:\photos?

No. That would be to tell LR that the photos were in fact in c:\photos, which isn't true. "Update folder location" merely updates LR's idea of where the folder is: it doesn't move or copy anything.

Will there be a problem if some of the yyyy-mm-dd are in both c: and d: or some image files are duplicates?

Possibly; it depends what you use to do the copy.

One of the folders in c:\users\name\pictures is Lightroom, which contains the LR catalog, previews and backups.  Will this move when I use LR to move c:\users\name\pictures? If so, how do I move it back to c:?

No. Using LR to copy folders won't affect the catalogue location.

I could go through the folders one by one, but that would be tedious.

I don't think you've any option. On a Mac (sorry), you could use Applescript or a shell script, either of which would be fairly simple and could ask you to address any problems with duplication. There may be something similar on Windows. One caveat: if you copy the files outside LR, you'll lose any edits you have applied to them within LR, unless you save them in sidecar files and copy those as well (I think: I'm open to correction on that one).

I suspect all you can do is to set aside some time and copy all the files manually within LR.

2) There are a number of folders in d: with no files.  I can right click on each one and choose Remove, but is there a less tedious way to have LR4 remove all empty folders?

I don't think so, no. Again, you need a Windows equivalent of the Mac/Unix shell command "find", followed by telling LR to Synchronize folder.

Jeremy

[Costas]

One of the folders in c:\users\name\pictures is Lightroom, which contains the LR catalog, previews and backups.  Will this move when I use LR to move c:\users\name\pictures? If so, how do I move it back to c:?

I would start by moving the Lightroom folder out of pictures to "c:\users\name\"
Once done, you then "double click" the ".lrcat" file to start Lightroom from the new location

In Lightroom Library module, (Library/New folder) I would create a new folder on D: say call it, Images (or whatever you want)
Now Highlight all the folders in c:\users\name\pictures (click on the first - hold down shift and click on the last)
Drag the highlighted folders to your new d:/Images folder.

You can then decide what are the duplicates on D: and delete them by the folder or individual image before moving them into the new Images folder.

You should be able to highlight all the empty folders or unwanted folders by "CNTRL click" on each, then delete them all at once by hitting the delete key - although I have never tried that (never had the need)

hope that works for you

[richarddd]

I tried a test:

1) import a photo to c:\temp\test, creating c:\temp\test\2013-01-27\xyz.jpg.
2) right click on 2013-01-27 on the list, selecting show parent folder. The list now has test\2013-01-27
3) right click on test, choose Update Folder Location, type d:\photos
4) LR then said folder exists, do I want to merge or cancel?  The folder does not in fact exist. Choosing merge resulted in LR losing the photo (it can no longer find it) and the file is not moved.

I then tried:

1) highlighting a few folders in c:\users\pictures (e.g., 2012-01-02, 2012-01-07, etc)
2) right click and choose Update Folder Location, choose d:\photos, or drag and drop to d:\photos

This worked to move folders in bulk

The best I've figured for removing empty folders is to highlight them, then right click and choose Remove. This is easier than repeatedly right-clicking.

[Rhossydd]

I could go through the folders one by one, but that would be tedious.
..... is there a less tedious way to have LR4 remove all empty folders?

I'm afraid that if you've allowed your file system to become unwieldy, there's no easy answer that will automate it's recovery.

Before you start, think very carefully how you want your file structure to look after you've finished, consider how you'll import images in the future and how you'll back them up.
Get it right now and you'll benefit for years to come, so it's worth not rushing things.

Once you're convinced you've worked out the best strategy, carefully move the folders to their new destinations from within LR and manually delete any you no longer need. Yes, it's time consuming and tedious, but you're less likely to make mistakes. Also don't try to do too much in one go. Moving files from drive to drive takes time, trying to do too many at once might leave you exposed to problems if there are any issues whilst moving the files or you need to shut down the system unexpectedly.

[Les Sparks]

You might find the LR4 Library tutorials by George Jardine at http://mulita.com/blog/ helpful.
If you order the new Catalog Management Tutorial http://mulita.com/blog/?page_id=4130 you also get the Library Tutorial. He gives some good advise on how to organize things in Lightroom. Wish I had had this when I first set up my Lightroom Library.  Because I'm moving to a new computer, I'll have a chance to use some of his advise.The price is very reasonable.

Les

[richarddd]

To move folders from c: to d:, I highlighted all of the folders on c: (2001-01-01, 2001-01-02) and dragged them to d:\photos.  Worked nicely.

To delete empty folders, I highlighted each empty folder, right clicked and clicked on Remove.

Metadata and collections seem more important than physical location, at least for me.  So long as the images are located on the right drive, I'm not particularly fussed about folder names.

[Costas]

Hope there were no problems with the duplicates

[richarddd]

LR would have detected a duplicate on original import.