# Hierachical Export Plugin : treeExport



## Jos (Feb 13, 2009)

Hi All,

I'd like to share a nifty plugin i'm currently working on. It's not finished yet but pretty stable for some further testing.

Similar to the plugin discusses in this thread ... http://www.lightroomqueen.com/community/showthread.php?t=281' (Preserving Folder Tree Hierarchy using Export Plugins in 2.' )... i developed a plugin to create a hierarchical directory structure. Besides this it also has some 'intelligence' built-in such that only 'edited/changed' photos are exported.
This is ideal for exporting a complete catalog and keepin the export up te date when added/changing only a few file.

Here's the download link :  http://lightroom.6op6.nl/treeExport.zip 

Contents of README.TXT :

Usage Instructions
------------------
Hierarchical Export :
This plugin allows you to export photo's from lightroom whilst preserving the directory 
structure of your original (i.e. catalog) photos. This is implemented by means of a
so-called export plugin. 
The plugin can be selected by clicking on the right upper bar in the Export windows. This
bar normally shows the text 'Export to disk' including a logo of a harddrive (+ little
green arrow). Click on this and select 'Tree Export' from the pop-up.
The layout of the export dialog slightly changes : a tree Export section is added whilst
the default 'Export Location' section disappears
In this section you choose where the directory structure (hence tree) will be generated
Furthermore two options are available
- No directory structure (i.e. flat export, basically the default lightroom behaviour)
- Structure from source  (the directory structure from the source files is used)
There are some limitations that currently apply :
- All photos in the selection MUST have a common base-directory. Example :
    c:\pictures\raw\2''8\2''8'1'1\2''8'1'1_'''1.cr2
    c:\pictures\raw\2''8\2''8'1'2\2''8'1'1_'''2.cr2
    c:\pictures\raw\2''9\2''9'1'2\2''9'1'2_'''1.cr2
    c:\pictures\raw\unknown_'''1.cr2
    c:\pictures\raw\unknown_'''2.cr2
  In this example the base-directory is  c:\pictures\raw
  If the following photo would also be part of the selection
   d:\import\jpeg\party_'''1.jpg
  the plugin will find NO common base-directory and the export will be aborted
Smart Export :
The plugin also provides an export filter. This filter offers so-called
'SMART' export functionality. It makes sure that ONLY photos that have been edited
or changed in Lightroom will be (re)exported. In other words :
- If you have a catalog of 1'.''' photos and do an export...then this
  take a considerate time...(hours and hours)
- When you change only a few photos or add some photos, then when going again
  through the same export process (with those 1'.''' selected) then only these 
  photos that are changed or newly added will be exported. This saves precious
  export time...  

Also here some limitations apply 
- When running a second export secsion make sure that you have at least the
  same base-directory selected. The plugin expects previously exported 
  photos (i.e. jpegs) to be in the same directory (& filename).
  If not then some side-effects can occur, or even a complete export of all
  selected photos may happen.

--------------------------------------------------------

Have fun !


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## Kiwigeoff (Feb 13, 2009)

Very cool Jos.
Welcome aboard and ain't it a great Lightroom community.


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## schussman (Feb 13, 2009)

Nice work, Jos!


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## ensnare (Feb 14, 2009)

Had some time to play around with the plugin today ... great work !  Thanks for sharing.  For some reason with my mac, it doesn't properly detect if there hasn't been a change, and it still re-exports all files.  Wonder if anyone else is having a similar problem.


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## Jos (Feb 15, 2009)

Hi ensnare,

I'll come back to this shortly...have not much time to spend on this plugin right now..


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## mixx (Feb 19, 2009)

*Please read this message*

This is a wonderful idea and I went ahead and installed the plug-in. First export of a large tree went OK.

HOWEVER: on second export with the "smart" option activated (I wanted to export only what changed) it WIPED my whole tree in LR without warning! (I mean not only in LR, it actually **deleted all the images** from my hard drive in the exported tree and its subdirectories, but not the directories themselves).

Jos, you may want to look at this problem (which I can reproduce).

I am on Vista Home Premium and LR 2.2.

Cheers, Mixx


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