# Quick ways to manually sort new photos into a collection



## Rob M. (Oct 24, 2018)

When I import new photos or graphics and add them to a collection, Lr adds them at the end of the collection. Then I drag/drop them into position, which can itself be a drag in a large collection, especially if the new photo should be at the beginning of the collection. While dragging, if I hold the photo near the top of the grid view, the grid may scroll, but usually slowly, if at all. Is there a trick to making it scroll quickly?

Ideally, I'd like to  drag/drop the photo from elsewhere, say, my Desktop, to the correct place in a collection and have Lr open an import dialog for it. Lr doesn't seem to support that.

Alternatively, if there were a dialog where you could specify, Move the selected photos before/after photo number 123 in a collection, that'd solve the problem. Lr doesn't seem to support that either.

Any recommendations for a way to move photos long distances within collections? Or to get Lr to import them in/near the desired location to start with?

Thx,

Rob


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## Dan Marchant (Oct 24, 2018)

Rob M. said:


> While dragging, if I hold the photo near the top of the grid view, the grid may scroll, but usually slowly, if at all. Is there a trick to making it scroll quickly?


Mine scrolls slowly when the image is _near_ the top but as soon as I reach the top/overlap the filter bar it speeds up dramatically.



> Ideally, I'd like to  drag/drop the photo from elsewhere, say, my Desktop, to the correct place in a collection and have Lr open an import dialog for it. Lr doesn't seem to support that.
> 
> Alternatively, if there were a dialog where you could specify, Move the selected photos before/after photo number 123 in a collection, that'd solve the problem. Lr doesn't seem to support that either.


LR doesn't do what you want and I doubt it ever will because your requirements are so unique and specific.

Having said that LR does launch an Import dialogue when you drag a file onto it and that dialogue includes a tick box/functionality to add the image to a collection automatically during import. However you can't import just to a collection because they are virtual - there is no folder on your HD that the collection images files sit in. The files all sit in their actual folder and LR just stores a virtual pointer to say that those files are in that collection.

As for sorting, there are a number of different options that a collection view can by sorted by (selected from the toolbar) including a custom option. Unfortunately there is no way to specify the exact location of a specific image within a custom sort view other than by dragging it.

You could do a work around such as choosing _sort by file name_ and then renaming files to alphanumeric files names that result in them appearing in the right order but it would require you to know where you wanted a file to appear and what file name you needed to use to get it to appear in the right position prior to importing.


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## Rob M. (Oct 24, 2018)

Hi, Dan --

Re scrolling, thanks! If I'm _very_ careful about where I drag, I can scroll quickly enough, say, 10-15s to scroll up through 500 photos with medium-sized thumbnails, faster with minimal-sized ones. That's livable.

Re drag/drop, Lr already does most everything. When you drag an image over the grid view of a collection, it brings up the import dialog so that you can pick a destination on disk for it. The thing it apparently can't do is to take the hint that you'd like to add the image to the active collection and let you to pick the position (the way you normally would if when using drag/drop to sort photos within a collection). Even lowly iPhoto supports drag/drop into a chosen location in an album (its version of a collection), but admittedly it doesn't let you control where the master is stored.

BTW, my use case is that I'm making maps or other graphic images as title slides in a slideshow. That's why I miss being able to drag/drop them at selected spots in a collection.

Thanks for your help,

Rob


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## Kirby Krieger (Oct 24, 2018)

Hi Rob.  This seems to be one of those cases where — since Lightroom does not provide the functionality you want from it — it would benefit you to specify you exact use case so that others might offer solutions that provide the _results_ of the functionality you seek via an alternate workflow.  By what criteria are you manually sorting the Photos?  How are you using them such that having so many, sorted this way, in a single container, is beneficial?

Adding simple things to Dad's fine answer:  you can modify the UI to better suit your task:  minimize thumbnail size, hide all the panels so the Grid View is all you see, run Lightroom full-screen, and use a larger monitor.


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## Rob M. (Oct 24, 2018)

Hi, Kirby --

Re the use case, yes, I should have included it in my original post. I just included it in my reply to Dan's post, but your and my posts crossed in the ether, so you didn't see it.

Re your additional suggestions, minimizing thumbnails is quick and easy. I'll do that, as long as they aren't so small I can't navigate to the correct spot.

Thanks,

Rob


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## Kirby Krieger (Oct 24, 2018)

Rob M. said:


> my use case is that I'm making maps or other graphic images as title slides in a slideshow. That's why I miss being able to drag/drop them at selected spots in a collection.


Interesting quandary.  Here's one way that works.  I don't  know whether it is worth it to you.   Make nested Collections such as:
- Slideshow Name {_this is a Collection Set_}
- - Section One Cover Slide
- - Section One Slides
- - Section Two Cover Slide
- - Section Two Slides
{etc.}

That would give a target for dropping the cover slide Photos — and potentially add some useful functionality to your grouping, as you could easily review and select Photos by section, and even query whether you have dupes — or use dupes, which might not be possible the way you are working

Lightroom, unfortunately, does not provide a "sort by Library" option.  John R. Ellis' quite useful "Any Filter" plug-in, does, and deftly.  Once sorted this way, you'll have a _new_ Collection, with all your "Slideshow Name" Photos, in the sort you want.  That sort is set as the "Custom Sort"  for the Collection, so you can re-sort using any of the built-in sorting options, and return to the custom sort by selecting it in the sort drop-down.  You can duplicate this Catalog, rename it, and move it into the "Slideshow Name" Collection Set.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯


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## Rob M. (Oct 25, 2018)

Hi, Kirby --

I already have two-level nested collections, and I don't think deeper nesting is worth it. Sometimes I need to move material between the sections. Also, I use stacks, and stacks become unstacked if you move them to a new collection.

Thanks for taking the time to ponder my problem and offer some ideas. I'll continue using separate import and drag/drop steps, but I'll drag/drop more efficiently now.

Thx,

Rob


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## Dan Marchant (Oct 25, 2018)

Rob M. said:


> The thing it apparently can't do is to take the hint that you'd like to add the image to the active collection and let you to pick the position


As I said above you CAN add it to the collection. You just can't specify the exact location.


> Even lowly iPhoto supports drag/drop into a chosen location in an album (its version of a collection), but admittedly it doesn't let you control where the master is stored.


Whereas LR lets you control where the master is stored (and add to a collection during import) but not specify _exactly_ where in the collection. 

As I said above you have unique and specific requirements. The likelihood that all of them will be met by a generic user interface is slim to none.


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## Rob M. (Oct 25, 2018)

My use case doesn't seem that unique and specific. But it doesn't matter. As I replied to Kirby, fast drag/drop gives a good enough solution.

R


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## davidedric (Oct 25, 2018)

Sorry, can't help with your question, but for interest, what do you do with your sorted collections that make the image position important?
Dave


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## Kirby Krieger (Oct 25, 2018)

davidedric said:


> Sorry, can't help with your question, but for interest, what do you do with your sorted collections that make the image position important?
> Dave


See Rob's post up-thread.


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## davidedric (Oct 26, 2018)

Sorry, and thanks - I though I'd read them all.
It doesn't help Rob, but there are certainly much better slideshow products out there, albeit with the additional step of an Export.

Dave


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## johnbeardy (Oct 26, 2018)

Rob M. said:


> Any recommendations for a way to move photos long distances within collections?



Maybe use stacking in the collection? This is mostly-separate from whatever stacking may be in the folders which contain the images, though if you drag a stack from a folder into a collection, the stacking is copied into the collection.

When preparing a book, for example, the stacks correspond to sections of the book. It's then easy to drag a photo from the open stack and drop it in another. Other sections would be closed.


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