Feature request: Better tool for organizing image files

Question

Hi all,
I'm considering rearranging the directory structure of my photo library completely (for a number of reasons: new cameras, a new variety of tools on new PCs).
I would like to reorganize my photos into a year\month directory structure and that will basically spread all my image files into new locations.
I have searched quite a bit and the advices I have seen don't seem to work:
(1) Moving the files outside LR is fairly easy (using exiftool) but I cannot make LR link to the files automatically in their new locations. And doing it manually with "Locate file" or "Find missing folder" is not practical due to the large number of files and large number of new locations.
(2) Moving the files with LR tools is also not practical: Manually dragging the photos into the new directory structure will take forever, and the only automatic rename feature I know of is "Rename Files ..." cannot move the photos into new directories (it can, however, assign names from the file dates and other metadata).
Now my feature suggestion: Either make it possible for LR to automatically relink files that have been scattered into a new directory structure or - better yet - make it possible for LR to perform such auto-organize operations.
My mp3 manager (MediaMonkey) is a good example to follow: It can organize (move or copy) any number of music files into any directory structure built from the audio file's metadata (such as my standard audio directory structure: Music\<Artist>\<Album>\<Track#:2> - <Title>).
Interestingly, the LR "Rename file" function can almost do it already; it just cannot move the file into a new directory.
Or can this be done in a way I haven't discovered?

Answer 1

Sorry if I might be stating the obvious (but at least I was such a *dummy* once that I needed this explicitely):
In order to move the sequence of images per drag&drop in grid view you need to
Put the sort order in the bottom toolbar to "user order" (toggle visibility with letter T if not displayed)
Grab an image from within its thumbnail, not from its border-cell.
When you move around you see a vertical black thick line wandering in between images where you would be able to drop it
Put the images first into a collection in case they should be spread across multiple folders.
This is the reason why most often from a filter result you cannot re-arrange.
Still sometimes it does not work as I want, but can *be persuaded*, i.e. I repeat the same trial after first moving to another collection, then return back. I can't nail it down sufficiently to file a bug.
For an automated sorting according to filename (chosse that setting finally in toolbar) you could rename the photos in place, without exporting & re-importing. Just select them and hit <F2> to bring up the renaming dialog like possible during import.
+1 vote from me, as I am neither satisfied with the responsiveness of moving folders within LR e.g. from laptop hard disk to NAS.
Apart from that I try not to build much on my folder structure, just break them into manageable quantities and have a quick "diary-overview" by using naming convention "YYYY-MM-DD description of event" (pictures of up to 4 cameras go inside, unique filenames for Canons achieved by renaming during import). For all the rest I prefer to build (smart) collections.