Move collections between catalogs without moving photos

[joachims25232702]

I have many catalogs and like to be able to make a new collection in one catalog and move that collection into another catalog that already contains the same photos but not the said catalog. I know that I can save a collection as catalog and restore that in another catalog. But that seems to work only if the photos are not already present in the other catalog, otherwise nothing is loaded.

So, is there a way that allows me to just move a collection as a new way to sort already existing photos from catalog to catalog?

(And please, I want many catalogs and I like to keep it that way)

[dj_paige]

For anyone else reading, you would make your life a whole lot simpler if you used one catalog, not just for this reason but for dozens of other reasons as well.

If the method of saving as a catalog isn't working for you (I have never tried it), then I'm afraid it probably can't be done easily. The only method I can think of is to manually re-create the collection in the 2nd catalog.

[joachims25232702]

I see your determination to advice everybody who slightly tends towards multiple catalogs not to do that. I am then just not very gifted in handling software. I have >20 catalogs, one for each year. Each has 20-50 collections and nested sets and and and. If I throw all that in one catalog I have a tree of 20*50 collections and more. This may be a good thing for archiving data (and that is what I do). But not for working with it. Simply collapsing and expanding such a tree takes ages. Simply manipulation that tree takes ages. Imagine adding 2018 to that tree now with all the needed DAM manipulation: Pulling in iPhone photos and sequencing them with the others, re-date WhatsApp photos, include clips and battle with their date, export photos to DXO and get them back in the PL catalog that sits somewhere in that 21*50 tree and pulling then these photos from there into a collection that feels like sitting 3 meter lower... This would be an option if LR would hide non-needed collections.

[johnrellis]

But that seems to work only if the photos are not already present in the other catalog, otherwise nothing is loaded.

I just verified that this method worked for me in LR 7.1 when the destination catalog already contained the photos in the collection. My steps:

1. In the source catalog, I right-clicked the desired collection and did Export This Collection As A Catalog. I unchecked the option Export Negative Files.

2. In the destination catalog, I did File > Import From Another Catalog and selected the catalog exported in step 1.  I set the option Replace: Metadata And Develop Settings Only.

[joachims25232702]

John,

thanks for trying. I try the same in LR CLassic and before in CC and I have no success. I do write sidecars and there may be another Setting in preferences that let me not allow to do that.