# How to Export all edited photos



## grdnangl313 (Feb 4, 2017)

I am working on a lot of photos from a trip and want to know if there is an easy way to go through and edit all the photos but then ONLY export the ones I have edited and worked on and export them all at the same time. Is there an easy way to Select all the edited photos in this group?  I don't want to have to go through and click on each individual photo to export them.

I'm not using the rest of them, but not deleting them either in case I ever want to do something with them in the future.


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## clee01l (Feb 4, 2017)

As you finish a post process on an image, you can assign finished images to a collection.  At the end, you can publish or export all of the images in the collection.


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## grdnangl313 (Feb 4, 2017)

clee01l said:


> As you finish a post process on an image, you can assign finished images to a collection.  At the end, you can publish or export all of the images in the collection.


Ok but do you have to do each photo at a time - I have hundreds of them and want to export them all at the same time.  (Ok so how to you assign an image to a collection?  Just drag it over or is there another way?)


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## Tony Jay (Feb 4, 2017)

If it is correct that the images that you do not want to export have absolutely NO edits applied to them a simple Smart collection using a single criterion: "has adjustments" "is true" will discriminate between the ones you want to export versus those not to be exported.
(If there are other images in your collection besides the group mentioned then additional criteria such as date intervals can be used as well.)

On balance, I would go for the publish option rather than merely exporting images because the publish option knows which images are exported and keeps a record.

Tony Jay

Edit: I saw your response - once the images are grouped in a collection use CTRL-A or CMD-A to select them all and then export or publish.


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## grdnangl313 (Feb 4, 2017)

Tony Jay said:


> If it is correct that the images that you do not want to export have absolutely NO edits applied to them a simple Smart collection using a single criterion: "has adjustments" "is true" will discriminate between the ones you want to export versus those not to be exported.
> (If there are other images in your collection besides the group mentioned then additional criteria such as date intervals can be used as well.)
> 
> On balance, I would go for the publish option rather than merely exporting images because the publish option knows which images are exported and keeps a record.
> ...



I'm really lost in what you said (i'm a beginner with LR) and don't know how to do most things (has adjustment?) with exporting and saving to collections, etc.  So I'm not sure exactly how to distinguish my edited photos so only they are exported.  (I save them on my computer in .jpg files and use them to make my digital scrapbooks of my trips.)  Are there any simple step to these process you could share with me?


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## Tony Jay (Feb 4, 2017)

grdnangl313 said:


> I'm really lost in what you said (i'm a beginner with LR) and don't know how to do most things (has adjustment?) with exporting and saving to collections, etc.  So I'm not sure exactly how to distinguish my edited photos so only they are exported.  (I save them on my computer in .jpg files and use them to make my digital scrapbooks of my trips.)  Are there any simple step to these process you could share with me?


No problem!

Are you familiar at all with collections?


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## clee01l (Feb 4, 2017)

grdnangl313 said:


> Ok but do you have to do each photo at a time - I have hundreds of them and want to export them all at the same time.  (Ok so how to you assign an image to a collection?  Just drag it over or is there another way?)


Yes, just drag an image to the collection.  Once you have got all of the images ready to export, go to the collection and select all of the images. Then use your Export process and ALL of the selected images will be exported with that one export operation. 
I would not worry about trying to create a smart collection.  Lets just keep it simple.  
If you were going to include this as a standard part off your workflow, you might want to establish certain criteria to be met that would automatically determine that an image is complete.  Then a Smart Collection would be appropriate.


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## Tony Jay (Feb 4, 2017)

Cletus I get the impression that she is partway through the process she is describing.
In other words there are already lots of edited images (the ones she wants to export) scattered amongst unedited images.
You are suggesting to her that she needs to go through all of them and manually assign already edited images yet part of her question is how to do this in an automated fashion so that she does not have to go through the process manually.
A smart collection solution allows her to do this.


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## clee01l (Feb 4, 2017)

Tony Jay said:


> ...
> A smart collection solution allows her to do this.


I agree that a smart collection is the penultimate way to do this.  
However, I see the problem as needing to understand that you can export "45" finished images with one export process instead of having to export one image at a time.   I'm trying to not over complicate the issue at hand.  I don't think she has a problem recognizing which images are finished.


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## Tony Jay (Feb 4, 2017)

I didn't get the impression that recognising the edited images would be difficult, the problem is that there are a "lot of images" - her words.
It would be great for her to clarify her situation.


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## grdnangl313 (Feb 4, 2017)

Tony Jay said:


> I didn't get the impression that recognising the edited images would be difficult, the problem is that there are a "lot of images" - her words.
> It would be great for her to clarify her situation.



I do know that you can select and export many images at once. "In other words there are already lots of edited images (the ones she wants to export) scattered amongst unedited images.' - yes this is what is happening.  It takes too long to edit each photo, then have to export each one individually over after editing, then go on to the next photo.  I just want to edit a bunch of photos and go back and hase an easy way to find or identify them as being edited and then select and export all of them at once to my folders. Do you have to go thru and 'select' each photo separately or is there an easier way to do this?


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## clee01l (Feb 4, 2017)

> Do you have to go thru and 'select' each photo separately or is there an easier way to do this?


As Tony has pointed out,  A smart collection can "collect" the photos that meet the criteria for being finished. You can do that by setting a pick flag, or a color label or a rating (stars) or a combination. The single criterion: "has adjustments" "is true" will not work because as soon as you make the first adjustment, the condition is met AND you have more adjustments to make to that image.  I still think the easiest option is to drag the image into a static collection as soon as *you determine* that it is finished.  Or you can set a pick flag, or a color label or a rating and create a smart collection that will self populate.   So. which do you want to do?  Tony or I can help you implement your decision.


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## Tony Jay (Feb 4, 2017)

grdnangl313 said:


> ... Do you have to go thru and 'select' each photo separately or is there an easier way to do this?


No, that is what a smart collection offers.

They are easy enough to set up:
In the Library module go to the collection sub-panel (it is part of the larger left-panel) and click on the plus(+) sign.
In the resulting dialog box that comes up select "Create smart collection"
Another dialog box opens that allows one to create the smart collection.
Name it something useful like "edited images" so that you know what it contains.
For now do not check the option to place this collection inside a collection set.
Leave the match rules set at "all."
The default criterion will be ratings - this can be altered easily!
Click on the little arrows just to the left of the word ratings - a whole list of possibilities now appears.
Scroll down to Develop and place the mouse cursor over the black arrow/triangle to get further options.
The option you need is "Has adjustments" - select it.
Once you have done this criterion has now changed to "Has adjustments" and it defaults to "is true."
This is what you want.

Now click "create" in the lower right hand corner of the dialog - this creates the smart collection.
Every image in your collection that has been edited (even a single small alteration to any slider) will now populate this smart collection AND when you go and edit previously unedited images they will be automatically added to the smart collection.

It is possible to edit this collection at any time by R-clicking on it and altering, adding or subtracting criteria.

Smart collection work because the catalog is able to add references to images belonging to a collection without the need to replicate the image. A single image can also belong to many collections and smart collections simultaneously without any duplication of the image file itself.

Let us know how you go!

Tony Jay


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## grdnangl313 (Feb 4, 2017)

Tony, I tried with your instructions - thanks - however I was in the not sure what view you would call it but I was in the folder I have named Italy Day 3, and wanted just those photos to be put into this Smart Collection.  Well it took all 7600 photos and put them in this smart collection.  Not sure if that's what it's supposed to do, but I kind of want to keep my smart collections or collections separated by the same folders so I know where to find my photos.  (I took over 3,000 photos on this trip and by separating my folders I know exactly where to find them both in LR and on my computer.  

So maybe I will just be stuck with pulling each edited photo from LR into a Collection folder and then exporting them to my computer folder into jpgs.  

If there are any other easier ways to do this, please let me know.  And thanks so much to both of you for helping this beginner with your great ideas!


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## clee01l (Feb 4, 2017)

grdnangl313 said:


> Well it took all 7600 photos and put them in this smart collection. Not sure if that's what it's supposed to do,


If you used these instructions:


Tony Jay said:


> The option you need is "Has adjustments" - select it.
> Once you have done this criterion has now changed to "Has adjustments" and it defaults to "is true."
> This is what you want.


 Then, as I predicted this is not sufficient to distinguish the images that you want from those that you don't want since either through an import develop preset or partial adjustments, every image meets the criteria.   You need another characteristic to create your Smart Collection.  These can be Pick flag, Ratings (stars) or a color label.  If you choose one of these, then the Smart Collection Criteria can be as simple as any one of the following:
{Pick Flag}{is}{flagged}
{Label Color}{is}{red}
{Rating}{is}{✭✭✭✭✭}



grdnangl313 said:


> If there are any other easier ways to do this, please let me know....


Folders are not sufficient to organize images.  Each (important) image should be assigned one or more key words.  Then it is simply a click on that keyword in the keyword list to produce a grid view of all of the images that contain that keyword
Or a Smart Collection with at least the criteria like:
{Keyword}{Contains}{_myKeyword_}
I suspect that all of the folders that you created have names that should really be keywords instead of folder names.  Consider that every time you are doing an eyeball scan of images in a folder, that you have taken the time to select the right folder "hoping" that the image is indeed in that folder and then visually scanning thumbnail after thumbnail looking for just the right image.  Instead you could probably just as quickly create a Smart Collection with criteria like the following:
Match{all}
{Capture Date}{is in the Range}{2016-11-15} to {2016-11-15} (the dates of my last adventure)
{Pick Flag}{is}{flagged}
{Label Color}{is}{purple} (the label color that I use for completed images)
{Rating}{is greater than}{✭✭✭}

For the most part, I keep my Folder panel hidden.  My workflow is exclusively through Smart Collections and Publish Services.  Based upon certain characteristics a Smart Collection tells me when I have finished processing an image.  For me a completely processed image will have keywords, a Title, a Caption, Adjustments and a Crop (or a keyword indicating that it was intentional to leave this image uncropped).
I have several Publish Services that collect finished images automatically. Some go to Facebook, others go to a folder where I have images to submit for my local camera club monthly competition.  All that I do is work my images through my adaptation of John Beardsworth's Workflow smart collections  and periodically go to the Publish Services and press the {Publish} button
My reasoning about the closed Folder panel is that if at anytime I need to open a folder to find an image, I am not using LR at its most efficient.  I have Smart Collections that tell me which images need titles, Captions, Keywords or crops.  I use a color coded label system so that I can tell a glance which images are "to be worked" (red - assigned on import), "a work in progress" (yellow), "needs a further review" - (green), "Complete but not in a published collection" - (blue), and "Complete and in a Published collection" (purple).
I begin my workflow by examining the red label images assigning a yellow label for the ones I want to work, assigning a reject flag to the culls, assigning a Pick flag for the exceptional images.  The I have Smart collections that identify which images need keywords. (I try to assign at least two — "what" and "where.)  Every image that is a keeper gets a title and a caption. Smart Collections identify those.  When I do develop adjustments , I work each image thoroughly until all adjustments are complete. Some of theses edited images are failures and during develop I may reject (X) those.  Once I "think" my post precessing is complete, I assign a green label and review each green labeled image of completeness before changing the label to blue or purple.
Much of this is probably beyond the scope of what you are trying to do now with your 7600 photos of your trip to Italy, but certainly something to consider to already have in place before your next big adventure


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## Tony Jay (Feb 4, 2017)

As I pointed out - the smart collection using "Has adjustments" will only work if unedited images are truly unedited.
Also, other criteria such as date intervals can be easily added to limit the scope of the smart collection.


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## grdnangl313 (Feb 5, 2017)

clee01l said:


> If you used these instructions:
> Then, as I predicted this is not sufficient to distinguish the images that you want from those that you don't want since either through an import develop preset or partial adjustments, every image meets the criteria.   You need another characteristic to create your Smart Collection.  These can be Pick flag, Ratings (stars) or a color label.  If you choose one of these, then the Smart Collection Criteria can be as simple as any one of the following:
> {Pick Flag}{is}{flagged}
> {Label Color}{is}{red}
> ...



Wow! Sounds like a lot of work just to get to the point to edit my photos.  But maybe this would help with my organization of them too!!  I will certainly look into doing something more for my photos along this line.  Thanks for your answers!


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## grdnangl313 (Feb 5, 2017)

Tony Jay said:


> As I pointed out - the smart collection using "Has adjustments" will only work if unedited images are truly unedited.
> Also, other criteria such as date intervals can be easily added to limit the scope of the smart collection.



Thanks for your help in this!!


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