Lightroom Library/Catalog

One master catalogue for all the images, then use collections for each subject/shoot is the way the system is designed to work.You could say:

One catalogue to rule them all, one catalogue to find them, one catalogue to bring them all and in the Lightroom bind them!

Sorry it's very late here and all the detail that's been going around in my head on sampling theory thanks to the Optical AA filter thread has me a little La La at the moment. Guess I should stop re-reading Lord of the Rings for the umpteenth time too.

Alan

narlus wrote in post #16835881
oops, too late for that.

can i just have the missing files point to the folders from LR to restore the links now?

Oh yes my precious, no problem at all. Actually if they are in some sort of hierarchy and you have at least one image in the top level then it should also be able to find files in all the subfolders too, just enable them when you do it.

Alan

narlus wrote in post #16835881
oops, too late for that.

can i just have the missing files point to the folders from LR to restore the links now?

In the Library module's Folders panel, folders and photos that you have moved outside of LR will be identified with a "?" mark. Go to a high level of a missing folder and right-click on it. There will be a "Find Missing File or Folder" option, choose it and "Browse" to go to the current location.

Lightroom is "Smart" in that if you do that with a folder that is "up the hierarchy" it does a real good job of scanning and finding other missing items.

Do this and LR will keep all your metadata for the folders and files and you'll be up-and-running! I would then take this as an "object lesson": give thought to your image management and act in an efficient way that actually provides a view of how you want your library to look and work, and Lightroom is great about enabling you to do this!