PSE11 - alphabetical sort workarounds
Here are a few ideas for those who miss the alphabetical sort in the PSE11 organizer. In previous versions, the pictures were displayed in alphabetical order when in folder view.
Now, when you are either in 'Folders' or 'My folders' views, you can only sort by date or import batch.
When you are in an album, the choice is also date or 'custom'.
Understandably, that lacking sort order is mainly a problem for those working from scans and with a folder structure organization.
1 - When you are in 'Folders' or 'My folders' view, higlight the folder in the left panel and right click 'Reveal in explorer'. Two clicks and you can browse the thumbnails in the default alphabetical order in the Windows window. (I suppose it must be the same for Macs...)
2 - From the same right click you can choose : 'instant album'. Two clicks again and you have a new album. It's possible to sort the album manually in a sticky 'custom order'. If your photos have been just imported from a scanning session, I think the best workflow is not to name/rename your pictures before the import. It seems more logical to order the files manually in the album, then use the organizer rename function to give the pictures in your folder a common starting name + digits.
3 - In numerous cases, the 'date taken' is totally irrelevant for scanned pictures. Either you will change the date for a suitable estimate, or if date does not matter, you can try the following.
Select all files in the folder and use the organizer to give them the same date. That will use the secondary sort order of the Organizer : alphabetical. That's enough to display the pictures in a folder in alphanumerical order. Note that it will be the common ASCII sorting which is somewhat different from the Windows alphabetical order.
My guess is that this 'acknowledged' problem will only be solved in PSE12. So, in the meantime, it may good to have two click solutions to display alphabetically or to create an 'instant album'.
Also see the feedback page on this problem:
