"Smart Collection" criteria shortfalls

Hello,
While Bridge CC is almost a benefit to our studio, we're finding the "smart collection" criteria entirely crippling.   It's frustrating as there really are just a couple of tiny additions that would make Bridge a life saver to us.
What we're finding severely lacking in the criteria options:
"Path name"    - would be ideal for excluding any files with a specified folder name in the path.
"Newer than"    - x amount of days
"Media type"    - dropdown list of "Video" "Image" "Audio" etc.
"Extensions"     - space delimited list, rather than single file type (".PSD .PNG .JPG") etc
With just one or two of these options the smart collections could actually be useful.
Perhaps I'm just too new to Bridge, and there are workarounds, but certainly nothing obvious. (Filters keep getting reset, labels are binary etc)

What we're finding severely lacking in the criteria options:
"Path name"    - would be ideal for excluding any files with a specified folder name in the path.
"Newer than"    - x amount of days
"Media type"    - dropdown list of "Video" "Image" "Audio" etc.
"Extensions"     - space delimited list, rather than single file type (".PSD .PNG .JPG") etc
With just one or two of these options the smart collections could actually be useful.
This is a user to user to Forum and while these are very good suggestions you might also want to try and post it on the Photoshop family forum which is recommended for feature Requests:
http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/
But be warned, don't hold your breath waiting for it to get realized. There have been tons of ideas for improvement and with Bridge already at version 6 the most changed result for the past 3 versions is that they removed functionality (AOM, Export panel and Sync windows) instead of adding improvement…

Similar Messages

What would the Smart Collection criteria be to isolate files in a folder but NOT in a collection?

What would the Smart Collection criteria be to isolate files in a folder but NOT in a collection?

or else FAR more simply,
though in practice, the difficulty may lie with how fuzzily or precisely the search text used, applies.
QUESTION
I'd be very curious to know, does anyone know how to search on a section of a full folder path rather than on the individual parts of that?
My folders are structured by LR at import, as (e.g.) 2014 / 01 / 27 for 27th Jan 2014.
So if I wanted to use a Smart Collection to search for (among other things) images in July 2013, I can search multiply on includes all of "2013" and "07" but that also throws up in my case, images which were taken on the 7th day of other months during 2013. I could search on a date range, though that's a little more laborious, or else do what I otherwise prefer, which is by keywords and other attributes plus (possibly) just year.
If I could search on folder path includes the string "2013/07" this would work fine. But I haven't found a syntax that does that (yet, assuming it is possible at all).
RP

Smart Collection Criteria (keywords)

I'm just starting to create some Smart Collections, which is a nice feature that I'm trying to understand. I've read some of the tips and tricks, but I'm trying to figure out something:
I want to create a smart collection that has a particular keyword, but no other keywords. For example, I may have a bunch of photos with several different keywords, but I want to single out one keyword for the smart collection. I don't just want photos with that keyword, but photos with ONLY that keyword. I see you can specify "contains", "contains all", "contains words", "doesn't contain" - but nothing that specifies "contains ONLY".
So let's say I tag my photos with the names of my kids (we have three of them). I want to single out photos of just my son, Brandon. If I do the "contains" criteria, it's going to give me all of the Brandon photos, but also the photos with my other kids in the pictures as well. I don't see a way to specify that I ONLY want photos with the keyword "Brandon" and no other keywords in the photos.
Is there a way to do this? Or am I just not thinking clearly? ;-)

You can specify "Brandon", "but not Jason" "but not Susie."- that'd be all right for your kids, but I have almost no photos with just one keyword. I'd usually have setting or holiday or vacation or something else besides my kid's names in any event.

Smart Collection criteria problem

In a smart collection I set the parameters to:
The problem is that it now adds all images with "Cascade" and "Valleys" and "Byway" to the collection. I need for it to only add the images with the exact phrased keyword: "Cascade Valleys Byway"
The other images have keywords like Cascade range, central valleys or scenic byway and I don't want those images in the collection.
Are there certain keys to add to the smart collection to get it to do this? It seems like one of the choices when setting up should by to contain exactly.
Thanks for any clues.
Patrick

Thanks, I figured I'd have to dance around it to get it to work but you gave me the clues. Now I set it up like this:
But changed my keyword adding underscores and ticking the Export Synonyms, adding the correct keywords for export there. It seems to work.

How do I specify time of day as a smart collection criteria?

This seems like an unlikely omission but I cannot find it in the criteria list. "Date" only appears to deal with date, and that is where I would expect to find a capture time criteria. I have a need to separate two events in one day by their time of ocurrance (E.g. before/after 2pm).

There's a reason you can't find it.
It's not a feature of Lightroom.
If this is a one-time only thing where you need to separate two events before/after 2pm, just give each event its own keyword. Problem solved.

Can you edit a Smart Collection's criteria?

i have a Smart Collection which captures images within a specified date range. I need to extend the date range but can't see a way of editing the Smart Collection criteria. Can this be done?
Thxs
Colin

Duh!!!! I was right clicking on the ordinary collection (similar name) below the one I really wanted to modify.
Thxs
Colin

Smart Collections and History "criteria"

Hi!
I'm working on a workflow. I often go out to PS. Is there a way to create a Smart collection that stores files that have been EXPORTED to PS?
My next step, can the files HISTORY be accessed with the Search or Smart Collection criteria? Example, A particular image may have 5-6 virtual copies. I want to find the copy that I printed. I can see in the history that it PRINTED. I'd like a smart collection that stores only files that have been printed.
If the History can't be acceseed. Is there anyway to write the history to the meta data orsomething in the file?
I also export to Nik plug ins. Can that be used as a criteria? When the file comes back from NIK or any filter, Is that tagged someway I can find it via search or Smart collection?
I rely too much on memory and guessing and would prefer, keeping a record in my Smart collections of my workflow.
Thanks
Alex

I don't think that using the Lightroom command Edit In ... leaves any indication in the History panel of the original photograph.
If you want to find the photos that have been edited via an external program ... since Lightroom appends "-Edit" to the file name, you could search for those, via smart collection or otherwise. Alternatively, since Lightroom keeps the base name the same (e.g. DSC_0001), you could search for all photos with DSC_0001 in the file name to see if there is a version named DSC_0001-edit
History cannot be written to the XMP metadata.
I don't know about searching for photos that have been printed, as I don't print locally.

Smart Collections

I installed version 4 upgrade. The colletion name is visable and the film strip is there but no actual photos. Help.
Herb Cover

I see capture date and edit date in the smart collection criteria.

Smart Collection gymnastics

Who finds Smart Collections to behave in a most peculiar fashion? They certainly do when dealing with collections.
If I create a Smart Collection with attributes: "Match all; Collection contains all Jewellery brochure; Rating is 5 stars", then I find the smart collection contains all 5 star images from the "Jewellery brochure" collection. This is expected behaviour.
Now I edit the smart collection: "Match all; Collection contains all Jewellery brochure; Pick Flag is flagged" and expect all flagged images in the "Jewellery brochure" collection to be in the smart collection. Instead, no images appear in the smart collection. This is unexpected behaviour.
It gets weirder. I edit the smart collection: "Match all; Collection contains all Jewellery brochure; Pick Flag is unflagged" and expect only unflagged images in the "Jewellery brochure" collection to be in the smart collection. Instead, all images appear in the smart collection, even those flagged or rejected in the "Jewellery brochure" collection. Again, this is unexpected behaviour.
Now for the truly bizarre. I reject one of the images in the smart collection. Then I edit the smart collection: "Match all; Collection contains all Jewellery brochure; Pick Flag is rejected". I expect all rejected images in the "Jewellery brochure" collection to be in the smart collection but instead get the image previously rejected in the smart collection appearing the smart collection!
It appears that the smart collection is operating on itself and not on the "Jewellery brochure" collection. It is all truly weird and makes smart collections difficult to use. If smart collections are behaving in Adobe's intended fashion then I must be far dumber than any smart collection. If it's related to fact that flags are local then I'd like some insight on the "smarts" within a Smart Collection.

>Pick and Reject flags are local, not global.
Indeed, but I still maintain (using my examples above) that Smart Collections do not work in an expected manner. The smart collection criteria should translate to an SQL query that, for example, finds all rejects in the Jewellery brochure collection. However, I cannot seem to compose a smart collection to do that.

Smart collections not reading correct number of images inside

I have an issue with smart collections for the first time. I have just set up a new workflow with 4 stages and the number counter next to the collection is counting wrong despite the images being represented in the collection. For example if I click on the smart colection I can see 10 images inside but the counter reads 3. Does anybody have this experience?
I have optimised my cataloge, however I do have some 20,000 images inside... will this reduce the ability of LR to keep up to running speed with such smart collection operations, giving incorrect readings.
What are best practices for image numbers and the arguement for running multiple cats. I've just tried in a fresh catalogue and the results were perfect. Is this an inherent limitation of Lightroom? I was under the impression that I could manage my whole archive and current projects under one roof, as it were.
Thanks,
Graeme

I suppose it would be worth optimising the catalog, if you haven't already done so.
Another idea, may be to make a fresh catalog and "import from another catalog" your current one, into that. This transfers pictures and keywords, collections, smart collections etc. But if there is something "structural" or "infrastructural" wrong with your live catalog, I'd expect that to get left behind by this process - since everyting should AFAIK get re-indexed after being brought in.
Then you'd go forward with the new catalog, if successful. Doing this makes no change to your present catalog so can do no harm to try - the various pictures' source files are simply shared across both catalogs - single file referenced by both, IOW.
One thing in your post (which I did not fully understand) suggested to me that your workflow relies at some point, on external metadata being written. If your workflow and smart collections criteria rely on the LR tracking of the status of external metadata, such as "is up to date", I believe this specific aspect has been found quite buggy and unreliable by many people: the metadata status badges etc, being sometimes rather approximate in their correspondence to reality . So if some other criterion could be found on which to base your workflow, that would probably go more smoothly .
However, if you do have more than one catalog pointing to just one set of photo source files, that aspect of writing metadata out, will of course be a little problematic - since the latest catalog to have written to the file will "overwrite", and the other catalog(s) will regard that same image as having been externally modified meanwhile.
regards, RP

Smart Collections Limitation?

I assume this is a known limitation of Smart Collections but I could not find any documention to verify so I am asking the community.
I would ideally like a Smart Collection to build on another exisitng Smart Collection using the "Collection Contains" construct.
I don't get an error message when I try this but I also do not get the right results.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Robert

Not a bad feature, though. A smart collection criteria that is "use criteria from this other smart collection." This allows you to build on a main query (so to speak) and generate a bunch of different views.

Criteria in smart collection relevant for non-photo formats?

How does one set criteria when creating smart collection that are relevant for non-photo files (or, better yet, extend it to the full range of metadata in the file info panels).

A collection is just an address of the image. So if the item has a file location would think you can use it. Of course metadata has no address.

Is it possible to add more criteria when configuring smart collections?

Looking to build a smart collection with the following criteria:
Average number of colours greater than 1000 (to filter out B/W & grayscale images)
Minimum # pixels in image (to filter out small images)
Aspect ratio is within 20% of 16:9 (to filter out images that won't look good on HD dispaly)
Less than 35% similar to any other image (to filter out duplicates)
Possible?

It's possible to add more criteria by clicking the plus symbol to the right but not to the extent of the complexity you require. The nearest you could get (click image below) would perhaps provide a starting point but you would need some manual intervention, at least for duplicates.

When developing an image from a smart collection "has no adjustments" it gets immediately deselected

I am wondering if this could really be the intended LR behaviour?
I start from a smart collection, one of the criteria is "has no adjustments".
Ok, as soon as I move the first slider in develop module, it no longer matches that criterion.
But that should be no reason for LR to force me to immediately stop the develop edits on the selected image.
It immediately unselects, and I stay in Develop module with a grey window and the message "no image selected". (It does not move on to the next image, which still matches the criterion.)
I would expect that when I return to Library module, it would return to the same smart collection where I started, but I would not find my last developed images there, as they no longer match the criterion.
But that LR grabs it immediately out of my develop selection?
Strange enough it stays the same, when I first explicitely selected all images while in Library/smart collection.
My expectation would be that I have this selection fixed to work on in Develop module. Similar to when I select any images from survey view and go to Develop module.
But no, the only workaround I found is:
Start from the smart collection, ctrl a to select all, then arbitrarily click on another collection withput this criterion - selection stays fixed - then move over to Develop module.
This is LR4.1 on Win7.
Definitely my functional specification would be: never take off an image from Develop unless the user moves on to another image.
So ignore from where an image was picked.
Would you consider this a bug? Or a "feature"?
Do you see the same in LR4.2 or 4.3RC? Behaviour on a Mac?
Cornelia

There is a feature request that has been around for a long time to be able to "lock" the contents of a smart collection so you can work on the photos in it, before "releasing" it for recomputed contents.
My workaround is to copy from smart collection to dumb (I encountered this so often that I created a 1-keystroke plugin mini-feature to help). Before that I actually used a private keyword whose presence was enough to hold a photo in a smart collection (set the keyword to work on photos, clear the keyword to release them). Then as long as you add that keyword as criteria to every smart collection you may edit in, and add the keyword to every photo in the collection that you may work on... - yuck.

When editing an image in ps from a lr 4.2 smart collections image not shown back in smart collection

Hi all,
I have noticed at LR 4.2, that if you edit an image of a smart collection using PS (edit in PS function threw LR) and then save, the image is not appearing in the specific smart collection. Instead image appears in the parent folder from where the smart collections retrieves images.
Has anyone notice that as well??
Forgot to mention that my parent folder with files is a collection created with virtual copies of seleveted files. If i edit in Photoshop directly threw this virtual copies collection then the files appears in smart collections as well. but if i edit in PS directly from smart collections then files dont appear into smart collections neither at the virtual copies collection!!

"obviously you use virtual copies when creating those collections" - why? It seems to me that this just increases the number of images in your Library for no benefit, unless you want to independently edit the two image versions, one inside the Event collection and one outside the collection. If you ever wanted to see an unedited version of a particular image, LR retains the history (and before/after view) needed to show that, within the single thumbnail.
It is not necessary to make a Smart Collection in order to show only picked images from a particular event. You can use a Filter to show just the picked images and hide the rest. That means you can work inside the collection, and that means that when you edit an image to PS, the new LR version WILL inherit the collection membership as well as the Pick status, and therefore will immediately show next to the image it is based on.
I think this is going to be simpler and easier - BTW you don't have to go back to Library Grid view in order to apply filters, only in order to configure them in the first place. By saving Filter presets with a name, you can then select between these directly [from the menu at the right end of the Filmstrip] while you work, even in Develop- for example, "no filter", "picked", "unpicked", "rated two or more", whatever you want. Also you can switch between the recently-viewed collections and folders [from a menu when you click on the image details text toward the left end of the Filmstrip], to change the underlying content of the Filmstrip, to which you are applying these filters.
By "using selection criteria other than membership in a manual collection", I just meant: a special keyword, or a particular folder, or some combination of such things. But if you prefer to put images into a Collection, you can just use that directly and IMO you don't need the SC.
I personally like to have some kind of sufficiently identifying keywords on the image anyway, so that Exported copies will also show this information automatically... since an exported image will not reveal what collection its master image belonged to, that classification alone is not enough IMO.

"Smart Collection" criteria shortfalls

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