Video 3 – Folder Organization (9:43)

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21 thoughts on “Video 3 – Folder Organization (9:43)

  1. I give up. Can’t get past creating a folder on my external hard disk without LR showing I have 0 photos available. Tried multiple times. Guess this is above my pay grade.

    1. Not sure what you’re doing – if you give me more detailed info I may be able to point you in the right direction. Are your photos already on the external drive and you’re trying to put in a new ,aster folder? Are you trying to move photos / folders to the external drive? If you could let me know exactly where you are and where you want to go with it, I may be able to help 🙂

  2. I know you mentioned that there are many ways to organize the folder structure. What I don’t understand is why you are saying one can’t mix those. I let LR create my folders by using the creation date of the photos. Then after import I rename, or rather add to the folder name. I use 2019–>2019-01-01 New Year in Botswana. That way all my folders stay in chronological order and I also see the occasion of the “photo shoot”.

    1. I’m just showing you the way I do it – there’s no right or wrong way. If your system works well for you, it would be a mistake to go with my suggestions. 🙂

    2. I do the same thing…. year-month-description using a 2 digit number for the folder name under a category to automatically sort by date. That’s the great thing about LR…. it’s extremely flexible once you understand the basics!

      My experience has been that most new users struggle with the concept that the “catalog” is really just a database that references the actual, physical folders and photos on the hard drive. I think Steve did as good of a job as I’ve ever seen anyone do of explaining the relationship between what’s on the hard drive vs. what’s seen in LR.

  3. Is there any reason to create multiple catalogs? For instance, does catalog size affect LR performance?

    1. I sometimes do. I have several for my test items, and one main catalog for my main photography work. Just depends on what you need. Supposedly, you don’t need multiple catalog for performance though. The catalog is supposed to be able to hold basically as many images as you want with no hit in performance. So far, I’ve not had a problem with large ones.

  4. I have been using a similar system in terms of File Structure, Year/Event, and location of Catalogue

  5. I have been using a similar system in terms of File Structure, Year/Event, and location of Catalogue.

  6. Just downloaded Lightroom off the App Store. Apparently, this is not the same as Lightroom Classic that you are using here. Might want to point that out for us newbies who’ve been outside the Adobe ecosystem up to now (Aperture, then DxO), particularly since when speaking you use the term “Lightroom” loosely. Otherwise, good and clear instruction so far Steve. Glad I signed up. Just not sure how to get the Classic version so that I can follow the rest of the video series as Adobe won’t let me “upgrade”…

    1. Honestly, I’m not sure what your next step is. I didn’t even know you could get it form the App Store, but when I looked I saw you can get Lightroom CC – the “cloud” / mobile version of Lightroom. As you know, you need Classic and you can get it directly from Adobe – however – I’m not sure how you cancel the other purchase. You’ll have to get with Apple for that I think.

      1. All sorted. Thanks Steve. Created a new Adobe account with a new email address and turned off auto-renew on the free trial that came with the App Store version on Mac, so no extra cost. Ironic that they both cost the same amount, but buying from Adobe it comes bundled with several other apps, incl Classic.

  7. Hi. My folder structure is a mess! I have photos by date, but most are in dates when they were imported..not taken. Also I have keywords like “ Christmas “ – from multiple years . Any suggestions?

    1. No Worries – The next video will start to show you how to rename / move things around 🙂

      However, the reality is there’s really no shortcuts here. It will take some time to get organized.

      1. I’ll have to face the music and grind away then !

  8. Will you be covering Keywording as well ? The folder organization is pretty clear but I was wondering how keyboarding works vs folder structure…

  9. New to Lightroom and just installed V4.2 in Windows 10. Under the File dropdown, there is no option to create a new Lightroom catalog. Any suggestions here would be greatly appreciated.

    1. Are you using Lightroom CC or Classic? The current version of classic is 10.2. I have a feeling you may have CC installed instead and this course doesn’t cover it. I’d recommend downloading and installing Classic.

  10. Thanks Steve, I did just as you suggested. All good now. I sincerely appreciate your prompt response and wish you nothing but the best in making a full recovery.

    1. Thanks so much and enjoy the course 🙂

  11. I had recently watched a video on YouTube that said all Raw files need to be on a separate hard drive. The Catalog stays on the Main computer. What do you think Steve ? I am about to reorganize my files and I Iike what you have said already about organizing the Lightroom catalog. Your instructions are concise and easy to follow. Previously I had used Aperture for years but Lightroom is a whole different animal!
    I have huge number of photos and I want to make a more efficient system that I am currently using. Do you think the raw files should be on a separate hard drive?

    Thanks
    Alex

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