Lightroom Probem When Using Elements - Can You Help?

sonicbuffalo_RIP

Senior Member
Yesterday I spent all day organizing my almost 5000 photos into new Collections instead of new files. I am also running Photoshop Elements and have created files from that program. The trouble is that I like my Collections naming attributes MORE than the file naming conventions that I used in Elements. The problem I created is that my computer ONLY uses the Elements files when I search through my pictures. It's ok when I am only using Lightroom, but I want the same names to apply in my computer that I use in Lightroom.

How can I get my computer to recognize the names that I have used in Lightroom instead of Elements without going through all the files and changing the names in Elements? It would save me a lot of time? Thanks....if you have any questions for me, feel free to ask....I will check back here for answers.

Thanks,

Chris
 

Dave_W

The Dude
I suspect the "names" you're seeing will also exist in the metadata. However, the only direct way I can think of to fully accomplish this would be to add these names using searchable keywords, You can do them individually or by large batches, depending upon how you want them to appear.
 

nickt

Senior Member
I am not sure I am understanding, but I am thinking you are saying that you can't see the Lightroom collections in windows?
You won't see collections in windows, but you can also make real folders in Lightroom which you can see outside of windows.

What is it that you want to do with images outside of Lightroom that is causing difficulty? Maybe there is a way in Lightroom to meet your goal. I know you said you want to search, but what is the final goal after searching?
 

sonicbuffalo_RIP

Senior Member
Can you give some examples of the naming differences? Are you using Windoze or a Mac?

Windows....when I downloaded pictures in the beginning....I let Elements default by using the dates or I named them....like "On Way To El Paso, etc.", when now, in my collections section of Lightroom, I used 2013 - El Paso......minor adjustments, but I like my naming conventions with the dates of my photos more in Lightroom.
 

sonicbuffalo_RIP

Senior Member
I am not sure I am understanding, but I am thinking you are saying that you can't see the Lightroom collections in windows?
You won't see collections in windows, but you can also make real folders in Lightroom which you can see outside of windows.

What is it that you want to do with images outside of Lightroom that is causing difficulty? Maybe there is a way in Lightroom to meet your goal. I know you said you want to search, but what is the final goal after searching?

Well....for one thing, when I used Elements I had "touched up" quite a few files, and now I might have 4 files duplicated of the same thing. I want to get rid of the 3 I am not using in Lightroom, and just organize better to keep things neater.
 

nickt

Senior Member
Well....for one thing, when I used Elements I had "touched up" quite a few files, and now I might have 4 files duplicated of the same thing. I want to get rid of the 3 I am not using in Lightroom, and just organize better to keep things neater.
If you imported the whole My Pictures and all subfolders, the duplicates will be in Lightroom. Just delete them in Lightroom.
 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
I would use folder names for consistency... and manually copy the files to the applicable folders before dinging them with either LR or Elements...

It's nice to use LR/Element's tagging/naming features...but I've moved/changed HDrives so many times over the years... I gave up using their naming/tagging features... I simply create separate folders, and file names that are descriptive... and relegate all of that to a designated, separate drive just for photos... Makes backups to various drives, and clouds much easier...I use a Mac with 7 active drives... Different drives designated for different stuff...
 

Dave_W

The Dude
My other issue is that if I delete a folder from Elements now, or rename the folder, will it delete the Collections items from Lightroom?

No, Lightroom will still remember them and you'll have to "show" LR where their new location is or tell LR that the images are now gone.
 

nickt

Senior Member
My other issue is that if I delete a folder from Elements now, or rename the folder, will it delete the Collections items from Lightroom?
You really should do all your deleting from Lightroom now. Or if you do it from windows, you need to resync the folders in Lightroom. So you can delete from Elements, it will remove from Lightroom, but not in a nice way. It might leave you with a thumbnail only. Remember, pictures are not in Lightroom or Elements, they are on your hard drive. Lightroom will show you folder structure and its real. Collections are basically tagging pictures from here and there and displaying them as a 'collection' in Lightroom. They don't move from where they are. I prefer named folders for special occasions. I use collections more for temporary stuff. You can also open up the folder where a picture is located by rt clicking and 'show in Explorer'. I do all my windows type moving of pictures from in Lightroom now. Deleting too. Its just easier to keep Lightroom in the loop.
Another point on collections, a picture can be in multiple collections. Still only one picture, it is just noted in lightroom as a being part of a collection. You could have a picture of your kid and your dog at the lake. You can link that one picture to a 'kid' collection, a 'pet' collection and a 'lake' collection. For me, if it was a special occasion, I would put it in a named folder rather than a collection. I would also key word it as kid,dog,pet,lake. Then in the future you can quickly call up kid pictures or lake pictures or dog pictures or pet pictures. The tagging goes very quickly once you get used to it. Its very useful for finding things later on. You can tag in bulk. Most pictures, I just leave in the dated folder and key word them. Birthdays, vacations, etc might get a special folder.
 

sonicbuffalo_RIP

Senior Member
I was looking for a way to move my LR collections to the hard drive in the same naming scheme used in LR. Can I export the files from my collections to the hard drive and then delete the duplicate files that have the same pictures on them? Hopefully that makes sense. It's the only way I can think of to recreate my naming of collections to my hard drive and elements if it is possible. I might try a "trial" collection folder and see what happens?
 

nickt

Senior Member
Your collections did not actually move any pictures. Rather than exporting, I would get away from the collections by creating a real folder (in lightroom) by the same name and drag the contents of the collection to the real folder. Then lightroom will keep track and you will have real folders that other programs will recognize.
 

sonicbuffalo_RIP

Senior Member
Your collections did not actually move any pictures. Rather than exporting, I would get away from the collections by creating a real folder (in lightroom) by the same name and drag the contents of the collection to the real folder. Then lightroom will keep track and you will have real folders that other programs will recognize.

Sounds like it might be the only way to do it...if it will let me....I tried something similar this morning although not the exact way you described and it wouldn't work. I tried to drag and drop the whole thing, name and contents and the all too familiar 0 with a diagonal line popped up not letting me. I'll try to write the name of the collections and then drag & drop and see what happens....thanks!
 

nickt

Senior Member
In Lightroom make a new folder by rt clicking your main picture folder and 'create folder inside'. Then get your collection on screen, select everything and drag the contents to the new folder on the left pane. The collection will still exist, but the real files will move. Then you can delete the collection, its only a list.
 

nickt

Senior Member
More thoughts.... keep in mind I am learning.... but this is my current thinking....
I use collections only to help me sort. Like last year I took a bunch of pictures of my daughter and friends before prom. Later, I renamed the main folder Jr Prom 2013. Then I made several collections that were to go to various people. My daughter picked what friends wanted what, my wife picked which photos for grandparents, facebook, etc. Then after all the excitement died down, I deleted the collections and just kept the main real folder.
 

sonicbuffalo_RIP

Senior Member
Thanks Nick.....your idea worked great.....now my files are finally organized the way I wanted.....wished I would have had LR BEFORE Elements.....but I learned a lot about LR doing it this way.....only had one stubburn file with 300 pictures in it that tried to hide from me, but I found it and added it by importing it....thanks for your time!
 
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