Collections and Edits

[bronw47730230]

My Collections contain a subject album with full shoot and subfolder with edited selects. i.e. abstract full shoot. abstract selects.

I did a stupid thing and selected my selects in each subject album and moved them into the folders panel basically creating the same structure as my collections.

Now i am totally messed up and confused.  My selects are still all in the collections panel but they are also now in the folder panel. I realised to late my mistake in doing this and now if i remove them from the folder panel it seems i will lose my edits.

how do i go about reversing my mistake??

thank you. bron.

[Rob_Cullen · Accepted solution]

The Folder  Panel shows you your photos in the folders where they exist on your hard-drive, just the same as you would see in a file browser (Finder/File Explorer).  The one big difference with the folder panel is that Lightroom only shows photos and folders you have imported.

Collections OTOH, are only virtual lists of photos that you make to group selected files for easier reference. I only make collections if I want photos gathered for a Book or Slideshow. You can make "Collection Sets" that look like folders but they bear no relationship whatsoever to the physical folders on the hard-drive. Collections are like 'Play Lists' in iTunes- only a quick way to find favorite items.

So if you move photos and folders in the Folders Panel, the collections will still look as they were but the Lr (collections) will still be referencing the photos in their 'new' folder location.

There is really no need to 'reverse your mistake' . Just leave the photos in their current folders in the Folder Panel.

You can delete Collections without losing your edits (like deleting a Playlist- the music is not deleted). You can create new collections (such as a 'new' Selects collection) and add the photos into them from any folder (such as a 'new' Selects FOLDER).