Sorting "Icon View" Files in Descending Order on Mac?

Apple's Tech Support says there's no way to sort files in descending order when files are in viewed in "Icon View". I prefer to view my jpg photos (exported from Lightroom) in icon view AND view the most recent files first. That way, I can see 8 or 12 photos on the screen, depending on how large I make the icons, and I don't have to scroll through the hundreds of older photos. I'm completely befuddled that Apple's latest OS (or even it's oldest OS for that matter), doesn't provide for this basic command. So I'm searching for a "work around" for this where I don't have to make subdirectories for each years' photos. I have a dozen subdirectories containing similar content, e.g one directory for Waterfowl photos from various years, another for deer. My files are formatted, YYYY-MM-DD-photo#. (Sure, files can be sorted in descending order in "file name" view, but then you can't actually see the photo, so this is not a solution.)

Anyone find a workable solution?

Larry Johnson wrote in post #17869539
Apple's Tech Support says there's no way to sort files in descending order when files are in viewed in "Icon View". I prefer to view my jpg photos (exported from Lightroom) in icon view AND view the most recent files first. That way, I can see 8 or 12 photos on the screen, depending on how large I make the icons, and I don't have to scroll through the hundreds of older photos. I'm completely befuddled that Apple's latest OS (or even it's oldest OS for that matter), doesn't provide for this basic command. So I'm searching for a "work around" for this where I don't have to make subdirectories for each years' photos. I have a dozen subdirectories containing similar content, e.g one directory for Waterfowl photos from various years, another for deer. My files are formatted, YYYY-MM-DD-photo#. (Sure, files can be sorted in descending order in "file name" view, but then you can't actually see the photo, so this is not a solution.)

Anyone find a workable solution?

What's wrong with viewing them in Lightroom?

View in Icon view, then View>Arrange by>Date Modified or Date Added, whichever your prefer.

.

Larry Johnson wrote in post #17869539
I prefer to view my jpg photos (exported from Lightroom) in icon view AND view the most recent files first. That way, I can see 8 or 12 photos on the screen, depending on how large I make the icons, and I don't have to scroll through the hundreds of older photos. So I'm searching for a "work around" for this where I don't have to make subdirectories for each years' photos.

Anyone find a workable solution?

Yes. You say you prefer to view your photos exported from LightRoom. So, export them from LightRoom to either iPhoto or Photos, which your computer should already have loaded onto it.

Then, when in iPhoto or Photos, use the little zoom slider to adjust the size of the image icons to adjust the size of the icons so that you get 8 on the screen, or 12, or whatever works best for you at any given time. The slider is at the upper left corner in Photos, and at the bottom right corner in iPhoto.

The default order will be to sort the photos "by date", so it should already be set up to see the oldest first, or newest first (depending on whether you start scrolled down at the bottom or at the top).

I'm attaching a screenshot to show you what it will look like on your monitor. I opened the "View" tab so that you could see where it says, "keep sorted by date". The zoom slider, which you use to control the size of the thumbnails (icons) is the light blue thing just under the words "Edit" and "Image" at the top left corner of the window. It works pretty much the same way in either iPhoto or in Photos.

Since you have LR anyway you already have an Adobe account, so are entitled to download a free version of Bridge. Bridge is a fully fledged Filemanager program, but with an emphasis on working with graphics and web type files. Bridge can still see and move copy etc any other file type as well the graphics type files it is optimised for. This is probably the simplest way to work with your image files. I am currently considering a move from Windows to a iMac 27" 5K. having used finder in OSX on a friend's iMac I know that I shall be using Bridge as my file manager of choice for much of the time.

Alan

john crossley wrote in post #17869550
What's wrong with viewing them in Lightroom?

Most of my photos are on an external drive that is typically not connected to my computer. I generally just work with a few months worth of photos on my hard drive then move them to the external drive and out of LR. I make a jpg of my best keepers whose file name will reference back to the RAW file if needed. Although I don't typically need to see the older files, I like having them all in one place in case I do want to review them. It also makes it easy to upload to flickr and such. One day I might have a computer that can handle all my files and I can take advantage of LR's Smart Collections and other cool stuff.

ThreeHounds wrote in post #17869569
View in Icon view, then View>Arrange by>Date Modified or Date Added, whichever your prefer.

Yeah, I'm aware of this and it comes close, but still doesn't group all photos taken on one date together because I don't "create", "add", or "modify" them on the same day. And it doesn't sort in descending order with oldest first.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #17870052
.

Yes. You say you prefer to view your photos exported from LightRoom. So, export them from LightRoom to either iPhoto or Photos, which your computer should already have loaded onto it.

Funny you should menton this. I upgraded my OS to El Capitan the other day so that I could make global changes to files names. However, after doing so, I wasn't able to open iPhotos, which only had a few personal iphone photos. I spent most of this morning on the phone with Apple Support resolving an issue that wouldn't allow me to import my old iPhotos into the new Photos program that has replaced iPhotos. Spent some time with it, but sorting is limited to ascending order from what I could figure.

BigAl007 wrote in post #17870882
Since you have LR anyway you already have an Adobe account, so are entitled to download a free version of Bridge. Bridge is a fully fledged Filemanager program, but with an emphasis on working with graphics and web type files. Bridge can still see and move copy etc any other file type as well the graphics type files it is optimised for. This is probably the simplest way to work with your image files. I am currently considering a move from Windows to a iMac 27" 5K. having used finder in OSX on a friend's iMac I know that I shall be using Bridge as my file manager of choice for much of the time.

Alan

I'll look into Bridge. I purchased LR outright without buying a monthly subscription. Wonder if I'm still entitled to it for free. Will check.

Thanks for all the different suggestions guys. Will reply when and if I find a solution.

Larry Johnson wrote in post #17870987
Most of my photos are on an external drive that is typically not connected to my computer. I generally just work with a few months worth of photos on my hard drive then move them to the external drive and out of LR. I make a jpg of my best keepers whose file name will reference back to the RAW file if needed. Although I don't typically need to see the older files, I like having them all in one place in case I do want to review them. It also makes it easy to upload to flickr and such. One day I might have a computer that can handle all my files and I can take advantage of LR's Smart Collections and other cool stuff.

I think Lightroom is the perfect solution for the above comment.

As far as Bridge is concerned it is just a cut down version of Lightroom.

I'll add to John's post, I really think that you should be doing all of this in LR. I'm quite sure that LR will do all that you need and more. The smart collections are brilliant, it's pretty much how I view my images all the time. You wouldn't even need to have the local JPEG, just use LR as you total image management system. it doesn't matter that the images are spread across several external files, all mine are. Although I am running LR4.4 at the moment, I have run the CC trial and know that any version of LR runs adequately on my PC, from the library point of view at least. I have an old dell laptop, with dead screen that has a Core 2 Duo processor, 3GB of RAM a 250GB SSD and win 7 pro 64. The catalogue is on the SSD everything else is on a selection of external drives connected by USB 2.

My files are imported in folders by the date the image was taken, as subfolders by year. I keyword all images, and also make use of IPTC new codes to create smart collections. They are great because it matters not which disk the images are on. All you need to do is ensure that if you need to move images about, you do it in LR. that way you don't break the links to the files. Also for keeping Flickr updated simply use the Flickr Publish Service which has been available as standard in LR since V4. It automatically keeps track if you make changes to files, or add extra images. it will then create the JPEGs for you and upload them automatically to the correct Flickr collection. It then cleans up behind itself and leaves no JPEGs floating around on the local system.

Alan

john crossley wrote in post #17871053
I think Lightroom is the perfect solution for the above comment.

As far as Bridge is concerned it is just a cut down version of Lightroom.

BigAl007 wrote in post #17871393
I'll add to John's post, I really think that you should be doing all of this in LR. ..... it doesn't matter that the images are spread across several external files...

.... Also for keeping Flickr updated simply use the Flickr Publish Service which has been available as standard in LR since V4. It automatically keeps track if you make changes to files, or add extra images.

Alan

I'd be more than happy to use LR for this. Maybe you could explain how to view files that are Moved off the hard drive in order to make room for newer files. Are you building Smart Previews for the keepers? Is your external drive always connected to your computer? Am I doing things wrong when I Move files off LR to make room for newer files. My hard drive is 250GB.

Flickr Publisher - Cool.

I am still only using LR4.4 for day to day use, although the CC2014 version ran fine when I tested it, so I do not have smart previews. Most of the time if the drive is disconnected it isn't a problem as all that happens is that the image appears with a small checkmark to tell you the file is offline/missing. It's offline or missing, as the system cannot tell why it can't find the file. LR keeps it's preview files with the catalogue file so you can still see the preview. You can't edit or export the image while the drive with the file is offline.

With versions after LR5 you can generate smart previews which allow you to do editing or to even do a low res export while the file is offline. The thing to remember is that smart previews are not full size. So you have to have the drive connected in order to export a fullsize image.

Even within the limits of having the drive connected I still think that with smart previews you would be better off just leaving everything in LR, and not bothering with local JPEG copies.

Alan

Yeah, I did a quick test with a file on my external drive. I'll be creating smart previews and Smart Collections. Seems to be the smart thing to do. Wondering what's the typical file size for a Standard Preview. I suspect they're small enough that would allow me to store thousands on my hard drive in lieu of the jpgs, but wanted to confirm.

unless i missed something, this works:

control click to get the menu, it shows my pics from newest to oldest.

Sorting by date modified isn't the same as sorting by Name...and there's no way to sort by Name in descending order. No matter. I decided to use Lightroom 5's Smart Collections as my "preview" program. I made smart previews for all of my photos and moved all the RAW images to an external drive. This allows me access to all images (i.e. smart previews) for editting and exporting low res. The only times I need to connect the external drive is to create a high res image, or when uploading new images, and during backup, of course.