Moving images from one collection to another, not copying

[dg9ngf]

I'd like to use collections for the following scenario:

I have picked a number of images that I want to publish on different web platforms. As I won't throw them all there at once, I need some kind of backlog to keep them selected. A normal collection seems the right thing to do here. When I have published an image, I want to note that so I won't publish the same image again anytime soon. Also, I don't want to simply remove the image from the collection so that I still know what I have published in the past so I can reuse the same collection for something else. So I'd use a second collection named "published". Then I need to move each published image from one to the other collection since both sets are logically mutually exclusive.

I could use two collections in another way, like "yet to be published" and "all selected" where the second never changes and images are simply removed from the first one. The second collection would then be a superset of the first. But when I refine my selection or add new images, I'll have to update two collections, not one. That's more work and error-prone.

So for now, I'm looking for a simple method to move an image from the currently selected collection into another collection. I can copy images, but then still need to press the Delete key to remove them from the source.

I haven't found such a method by pressing modifier keys while dragging, as it works in most other applications. If it's not possible, what would you recommend me how I could handle this scenario efficiently with Lightroom? I had thought about using flags or labels, but they'll affect the source image, not just the instance within the collection.

[dj_paige]

There is no such thing in Lightroom as moving photos from one collection to another in one step. The only choice is to COPY photos into another collection (and if you do the copy, then you could add a step and do the delete from the first collection, to turn things into a MOVE, but it sounds like you don't want to do that).

Insstead of moving photos into a "published" collection, you can assign a "published" keyword, or assign a color to the photo to indicate that the photo has been publsihed, or use any other metadata field you'd like, to indicate the photo has been published. Alternatively, you could use Smart Collections to filter out (or filter in) the photos that have already been published.

[dg9ngf]

Using keywords or colour labels would be an option. But it doesn't scale. I may well have more than one collection for different publishing targets, like Instagram and Google+. There can only be a single colour label on each image, and these metadata are really assigned to the source image, not individually for the collection. So when I set an image from one collection green, it will be green everywhere. And I can't make an image green and red at the same time. Working with keywords, I'd need to use the correct keyword for each collection. And keywords aren't the simplest thing for me, there's so many and I don't even use them properly (that takes sooo much time).

[dj_paige]

Alternatively, you could use Smart Collections to filter out (or filter in) the photos that have already been published.

And maybe I'm not understanding your goal properly, but publish services in Lightroom keep track of which photos have been published and which have been modified after publishing and which have not been published. Doesn't that meet your needs?

[dg9ngf]

No, because publish services are tightly connected with the external service which I don't like. It also can't work for Instagram because they absolutely require you to use their mobile phone app.

With smart collections, what would be the filter criteria? I mean, smart collections are just saved search queries for quicker access.

[dj_paige]

[dj_paige]

I use BlueStacks to upload exported photos from my PC to Instagram. While it wouldn't be as smooth and effortless as the Flickr publish service, you could create a BlueStacks publish service which exports the photo to some hard disk folder, this would help you keep track of what has been uploaded via BlueStacks to Instagram.

[dg9ngf]

I just took a closer look at publishing services again. I tried the hard disk service that just puts images into a folder on my local disk. That thing feels a lot more complicated than doing it manually. First, I have to put the image to be published into that publish collection, then go there and press "Publish". This publishes all unpublished images at once, I can't pick one. So I can't use that publish collection to keep track of what I still want to publish, or what I have really published after exporting from Lightroom.

I guess I'll just accept that Lightroom won't help me more than with normal collections and doesn't want me to help with moving image between collections. Actually, just pressing the Delete key after selecting(!) and then copying the image isn't that hard, compared to the alternatives.

[aidantfc@gmail.com]

Suggestion; export collection, save in collection folder

then from publish select / create a smart collection, press ok , no need to fill in details,

right click that new collection import collection......bingo resets nme and criteria from original folder.

currently im recreating  folders from flickr  ring them to Irista,

seeing as flickr are going to start charging.