# Exporting photos in the correct order...?!?!?



## bendappa81 (Jun 15, 2012)

Friends, I use light room all the time and I know how to export images, either by capture time, edit time etc etc...

My problem is that I bought a new 5D mkii and forgot to set the time and date before a wedding last wknd.  Lightroom has imported the images in a totally jumbled order and will not let me reorder them, they just stay totally mixed up (first dance, then makeup shots, then the church shots then the speeches...!)

Can anyone tell me how to get these images back into chronological order?

Many thanks

Ben


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## clee01l (Jun 15, 2012)

Ben, welcome to the forum. Is it exporting that you are having a problem with or re ordering in LR?  Once exported, you are at the mercy of the application used to view the images. Most often these default to sorting by file name.
if it is sorting the grid before you export, then you need to change the sort order (on the toolbar) to "user sort"
Even with a camera that has not been set to the correct time and date, the camera still creates a time stamp.  Wrong though it is, the chrinological order for the images still should be intact (for that camera). Did you use multiple cameras? Also the camera is going to sequentially name image file as the photos are shot.  These will be consistant. Did you rename image files on import?


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## bendappa81 (Jun 17, 2012)

images still out of order... baffled... thanks for you time though


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## bendappa81 (Jun 17, 2012)

(images all off same camera and no renaming... !?)


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## erro (Jun 17, 2012)

We probably need some screen-shots here.....


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## clee01l (Jun 17, 2012)

bendappa81 said:


> (images all off same camera and no renaming... !?)


Robert has made a good point Some screen shots of the out of order image files with an explanation of what you want to see would be helpful.

And I still do not have answers to these questions:

Is it exporting that you are having a problem with or re ordering in LR? 
Did you use multiple cameras? The camera is going to sequentially name image files as the photos are shot. These will be consistant. Why can you not sort by camera created file name?


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## bendappa81 (Jun 18, 2012)

hi - 
one camera...
it doesnt matter which way I export them, they are always jumbled...


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## Hal P Anderson (Jun 18, 2012)

Like the other posters have requested, screen shots would help a lot. 

See:http: //www.lightroomqueen.com/community/showthread.php?14018-How-to-take-a-quot-screenshot-quot-on-Windows-or-Mac-computers

and also: http://www.lightroomqueen.com/commu...attach-a-quot-screenshot-quot-to-a-forum-post

A picture is worth a thousand words, and you seem very frugal with your words. 

Where are you seeing the jumble? In Lightroom or somewhere else? Show us.

Hal


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## clee01l (Jun 18, 2012)

Bendappa81, Until I see a direct answer to each question that I ask, I have to guess at what you really are having a problem with. We seem to really have a problem communicating. Is English your first language? If it is not,  I can understand and will work harder to make myself understood. 
 A forum is not like an SMS text message, you are allowed more than 140 characters per message. The more detail you are able to provide in describing your issue, the better and quicker anyone can respond to resolving your issue?  So far, we have exchanged 8 messages and are no further along that when you first opened the topic.


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## bendappa81 (Jun 19, 2012)

Hi - sorry for the short replies... is something being lost in translation? I really cannot explain in any more detail other than this - the images were take on 1 x 5d mkii, brand new out the box, on which i forgot to set the time and date. (3 memory cards.) When I imported the images into lightroom from 1 folder on my pc, the images came into lightroom in a completely jumbled state. like a deck of cards thrown into the wind. I edited the images I wanted and then have tried to export them (all 500) back into my pictures (as jpegs) in every possible format (sorted by edit time, file name, capture time etc etc) but none of the sorting options put them back into order.  The order seems to change sometimes but remains jumbled.

Im afraid Ive no idea how to do a screen shot but I dont see how it can help.  Im in 'library' in lightrrom 3, with the images in grid format.  Im selecting them all and exporting them.  They appear as a folder (Mels wedding) in my pictures in a jumbled format.  I then cannot reorder them as you will well know.

Hope this makes it clearer. many thanks

B


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## Jim Wilde (Jun 19, 2012)

For now, just ignore the exported files....concentrate on the original files in the grid view. What sort order do you have selected? If you choose "File Name" do the images then appear in the correct "as shot" order? If not, we need to see the screenshot so that we can try to understand why it isn't working as expected. Hal has already given you links to do that, have you tried? Once again, the instructions are found here.


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## erro (Jun 19, 2012)

It is also important to understand that files *as such* have no sorting order. They are just files. It is up to the program that displays the files (Lightroom, Windows Explorer, Mac Finder, or whatever) to apply a sort order based on filenames, date/time, size, or whatever.


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## bendappa81 (Jun 19, 2012)

hope this helps and thanks for you ongoing help.. like I said, none of the sorting options will untangle the order of the images... so an image that was taken at noon is next to an image at 7pm which in turn is next to an image taken at midnight...

ben


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## bendappa81 (Jun 19, 2012)

sorry, here is the full size image


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## Jim Wilde (Jun 19, 2012)

That particular screenshot doesn't really help, as it doesn't show the problem. 

So, start with clicking on the folder in the folders panel that contains the photos that you are having trouble with. We don't need to see "All Photographs".

Then change the view options for the Grid so that we can see the filenames.....go to View>View Options (or press Ctrl+J), then setup the options as per this screenshot, using Expanded Cells:



Then in the toolbar above the Filmstrip change the Sort criteria to "File Name". 

Then retake the screenshot.


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