Re-importing photos in LR 3.3

Hi Guys ,

I moved computers, but my LR files are on an external drive so I just need to import them again. They are in F:\Images\<Year>\<Month>\

How do I get them to import and preserve their monthly sorting? Ie., if I import them, will they all be in a <2011>\<March>\ setup in Library in LR? I don't want that, I want them sorted in when they were originally taken.

Thanks!

You would just use your catalog from the old computer, then open it on the new computer. The point of the catalog is that it stores all of the information about the photos (including location) so that you don't have to re-import every single photo all over again.

Ok - I can do that for this collection. But I also have images from 2009 and such where I don't have the catalog still.

Oh, then you just go to library - > folders -> plus sign / add folders. The add the root level folder you want, \2009\ for example, and it will open up the import window and let you choose what to import.

JonK wrote in post #12055466
Hi Guys ,

... if I import them, will they all be in a <2011>\<March>\ setup in Library in LR? I don't want that, I want them sorted in when they were originally taken.

...

I believe that if you set up Destination > By date they will be organized by the date taken (as recorded in the EXIF data), not by the date imported. Also, I'm assuming that you will want to do an Add, not a Copy or Move, if you intend to leave the files in their present location and just add them to the catalog. (If that's the case then just try it. If you don't get the results you want then just select all (Ctrl-A) and delete from catalog.)