How to Merge and sort 2 folders with pictures by time

[rollsman44]

  I took pictures with 2 different cameras and I adjusted them in LR 6 . They are in 2 separate folders and I need to combine the 2 folders and have them sorted by time so they will be in order by the time I took them.  Thank you

[Lustrous]

Two methods-  Both rely on the cameras being set to record the correct time of day!
1. Merge folders- select and drag images from one folder to the other.
2. Create a Collection- select all images from both folders and add into the collection.
In both methods set "Sort Order" to 'Capture Time'

If cameras were not set to same TOD, you will need to select all images in one folder and change their capture time (Menu > Metadata > Change Capture Time) to match the images in the other folder.

[rollsman44]

   Can you better explain what I need to do:  These are 2 images from 2 separate folders That I already made adjustments to in LR.
Wedding-1.jpg    (created 4/2/16, 7:23 PMl)
Weddinglr1-1.jpg (created 4/4/16 11:26pm)

  What is the best way to merge these file names. 1 file has 58 images and the 2nd file has 457 images. They both have different names assigned but still not sure what to do.  Just want to say thank you for your help and your time

[fdisilvestro]

Hi,

As Lustrous said, there are two mehtods, merge folder or create a collection.

Because one of your folders contains almost 10 times as many images as the other, I would say go with the merge folder:

In the Library module:
- Go to the folder that contains the 58 images and select all of them
- Drag them to the folder that contains the 457 images. You might need to scroll the folder list on the left panel to have it visible before dragging the images
- Go now to the folder that contains all the images
- In the menu select: View -> Sort -> Capture time

The images are now sorted by the capture time

To rename the images:
- With the images in the desired order, select all of them and go to the menu Library -> Rename Photos (or click F2). In the dialogue that appears you can customize the names to your liking as in the attached image.

Now the images are in the order you wanted, and the names are also in the order if you include a sequence number to them

If you're a suscriber, I recommend this tutorial Where the *#! are my picures
Also google for Adobe.tv videos with Julianne Kost

[rollsman44]

  Thank you. I will try it out. My concern is if I do something wrong I will have to undo so many pictures that I tried to merge.  Is there a way to UNDO if I did it incorrectly ?   Thank you and all those who contributed to this topic

[fdisilvestro]

Moving and renaming images cannot be readily undone so it is a good idea to backup the catalog and images first.

One option is to do first an "Export as Catalog" of each folder including the original images, for which you need to select the option "Export negative files" as shown in the attached image. This will create a new catalog and a copy of the images (the catalog will have all the adjustments you made in LR).

Note about renaming: Ligthroom keeps the original filename in the catalog but there is no direct function in LR to retrieve it. I don't know if there is a plugin to restore the original name.

[Lustrous]

As Francisco states-

In the Library module:
- Go to the folder that contains the 58 images and select all of them
- Drag them to the folder that contains the 457 images. You might need to scroll the folder list on the left panel to have it visible before dragging the images
- Go now to the folder that contains all the images

That is the easy part- getting all images into one folder-

- In the menu select: View -> Sort -> Capture time

This could be the hard part- IF THE CAMERAS were set to different times! The images will not sort correctly by Capture Time. (as one camera is wrong!)
If this is the case then you will have to identify the 'wrong' camera images (by a filter) and reset their capture time, by Menu > Metadata > Edit Capture Time.  But first You will need to determine the exact time difference between the cameras to apply that as the correction.
When ALL images have a correct time, then they will sort your shoot project in the correct order by Capture Time.
And only then should you rename them if you want to keep the sequence.

Alternatively you could just drag each image into its correct sort place in the grid view, then immediately rename as a sequence. But that would drive you silly trying to position the 58 images within the other 457.

[rollsman44]

  DONE IT !!!  Thank you everyone for your help.  Greatly appreciate it