Oraganizing Videos

Hello,

I currently have my photos organised by folder hierarchy system Year\yyyymmdd\files. Up until now, all my home videos go in the same folders as well based on the dates.

I am now thinking about creating a separate tree for the videos and need a way to pull all videos from other locations and put them into a new structure. New structure will mimic the old one as Year\yyyymmdd.

Could you please recommend some utility that will do this for me? I also have Lightroom 5 but I think it imports all photos and videos rather than just videos.

Thank you.

So what you're wanting to accomplish is to add the videos to your catalog so you can organize them better? LR is capable of this. You can choose what you want to add (import) to the catalog, be it photos or videos, or both.

You need to know where the videos are currently stored on your system. In the Import module, navigate to where they currently reside and select that folder. You should see thumbnails in the preview pane, along with checkboxes. If both photos and videos, just select the videos. Since the videos are already on your computer, you will ADD them, so LR will not be moving them at this point. However, you can choose the MOVE option.

If you choose the MOVE option, on the right side navigate to the DESTINATION panel, choose where you want to move them. You can create a folder, using your naming structure, ie; date. LR will move those videos into that folder. Doing this does relocate the videos on your system. It's using the OS, just like Explorer or Finder would. LR will create the folder on your system.

IF you use the ADD option for importing, LR does not move them, just adds them to the database. After they have been added, you can use the Library module, Folders to create new folders, and to move them. If you're wanting LR to keep track of them, remember to do all moving from within LR.

I hope that helps with what you're wanting to accomplish. With videos, LR is limited to managing, no editing.

i organize virtually everything like this

Folder:
2015_11_09_Project Description

Movies have their own folder with projects inside
Photos have their own folder with projects inside
etc

i make the folders myself, and move the files from the card to the folder before importing into any program.

Thank you Ron.

My problem is that currently Videos are stored along with the photos. In order to separate the video into their own hierarchy, I was thinking about creating a new LR catalog and then use LR to Move the videos. However, in the import process, I do not see a way to simply filter videos. Import process shows both images and videos. I really don't want to go through 50K+ images and select the videos only. Any way to filter them during import?

Thanks.

Thanks for the reply. I can have a process going forward that I can follow, however, I need a way to separate my videos from my existing archive (since 2001) which consists of 50K+ images and videos into folder.

Baadil wrote in post #17782223
Thanks for the reply. I can have a process going forward that I can follow, however, I need a way to separate my videos from my existing archive (since 2001) which consists of 50K+ images and videos into folder.

if they aren't in LR already, just sort them by file type.

On the Mac you simply open the folder, click to view the folder in List mode, the click the "Kind" tab. All JPGs will be listed in alpha, all RAWs in alpha, all movies in alpha.

It's been a long time since I worked close enough with Windows to give you exact directions, but I know you can do it there too.

Sorry if i'm missing something, but if nothing is imported yet, just sort them into folders first, then import individually. For me the thought of having the program do the sorting is not appealing … sort first, import later.


edit: okay i did miss something, so you have video and photos mixed in the same folder?

My problem is the my combined structure is going back 15 years and have a ton of folders. I have folders like:

2001
2001\20010110
2001\20010221
2001\20010223
2002
2002\20020101

I want to create a new parent folder for videos but have similar structure. In Windows, I can find all the videos and then move them to a new location but they will then be lumped into one folder rather than in a structure like the one above. I rather not create all those folders manually for each that that has any videos.

Thanks.

Baadil wrote in post #17782257
My problem is the my combined structure is going back 15 years and have a ton of folders. I have folders like:

2001
2001\20010110
2001\20010221
2001\20010223
2002
2002\20020101

I want to create a new parent folder for videos but have similar structure. In Windows, I can find all the videos and then move them to a new location but they will then be lumped into one folder rather than in a structure like the one above. I rather not create all those folders manually for each that that has any videos.

Thanks.

got it..

i would be looking for a command line process that can search the entire parent folder for videos, move them to a new location and create a folder with the name of the original location. I have no idea if something like this exists in a "packaged" form but i know that it is possible for someone who understands command line tasks.

To be perfectly honest, unless someone can suggest something here that does that, you will probably spend hours looking for something that does it automatically, and still have to compromise on something along the way.

sometimes just setting up a couple of windows and starting to move stuff around is the best option.

but good luck finding an automated routine.


edit: mighth even start a thread here in the computers section asking for a command line routine that can move files

Are the videos already in LR? If they are not in the catalogue yet then it will be simple to do what you want. You will need to import them into the main catalogue though. Simply open the import dialogue and select the top folder in the structure, with show subfolders enabled. As LR will not show images that are already in the catalogue so you should only see the video files.

In the destination pannel you should select folders by date, with a new top folder for the tree that will contain just the videos. You also need to select move to have LR allow you to move the files to the new location.

Peronally I would leave the videos in the main catalogue. LR's sorting ablity will make accessing the videos quite simple. I would use smart collections to do this myeslf, but they will be in different folders anyway. If you want a different catalogue then simply select all of the videos and export them as a catalogue. This will create a new catalogue with all of those video files. Then delete them from the original catalogue, but ensure that you only delete from the catalogue, not the disk!!!

If the videos are already in the main LR catalogue then search the whole catalogue for video type files. Unfortunatly you will need to build the new file structure by hand. Saying that given that you can build smart collections to give you simple easy access to the video files without having to move them.

Alan