Directory naming within Lightroom

[soboyle]

At work (an architectural firm) we keep photographs in sub directories below a main project directory. The problem with that is I end up with a whole bunch of directories named "Image Files" in Lightroom, and have no way of distinguishing between projects when I am looking for images within Lightroom. Any thoughts on a solution to this problem with the current version of Lightroom?
It would be a good feature to be able to give a directory an alias name within Lightroom to overcome this issue.

[soboyle]

My first thought is to use Collections and give the collection a unique name, but that solution is a bit clunky.

[john beardsworth]

I wonder if what you need is to show the parent folder. Right click a folder, and choose Show Parent.

Does that help?

I'd also recommend you use the iptc field Job as an extra way to record projects. This allows you, for example,  to find all your pictures with Skylight in the keywords and then use the filter panel to filter by job(s). That's essentially your alias.

[kaelaria]

Use a better file naming convention, include project naming in the filenames.

[soboyle]

Use a better file naming convention, include project naming in the filenames.

Not always possible, many diff people doing field work, most not disciplined or knowledgeable enough to rename files after downloading (remember, we're talking about architects here).

Show Parent Folder does work. And it appears to stick. Thanks for that tip.
Would be good to have Always Show Parent Folder as a preference setting.

[john beardsworth]

Show Parent Folder does work. And it appears to stick. Thanks for that tip.
Would be good to have Always Show Parent Folder as a preference setting.

It sounded like that was the problem.

You can Show Parent Folder another level or more upwards. Assuming these projects are all in the same area, you'll eventually get a view of your folder system that's more helpful.

One little tip is to use the Alt/Option key when you click to open a folder. This opens / closes it and all its children.

[soboyle]

You can Show Parent Folder another level or more upwards.

Yes, that is what I needed to do to find the project directories, some of the image directories are buried deep.

[PeterAit]

I hope I am not missing something, but this seems so obvious. Create new folders and give them appropriate names before importing. Problem solved.