The file structure in my finder window differs from the one in my LR Folder structure. So I must have done something stupid to start with.
LR tries to simplify the view of folders on disk by listing only the folders you have imported. If you want to see more of the directory tree those folder reside on, Control-click on one of them and select the command "
Add Parent Folder". If the parent folder of a folder contains several, it will display them all in a more familiar hierarchical view like you get with the Finder's List view (Mac OS X of course).
I wonder, what would be a way to sync this now, or is that too late?
Once you have all the folder trees exhibited in the Folder pane as above, drag individual folders into the place in the tree where they belong.
The way I want to continue working, is that I export from C1 into a specific TEMP folder, then start LR and say import photos from disc and point to the folder, then move the pictures to new location, so the TEMP folder is clean again for the next import.
Set up your base tree ... say it is
Photos/2009 ... and each time you import into LR, be sure that is listed in the topmost portion of the import dialog. Choose the option to move the files into one, new subfolder and name that whatever is appropriate, eg:
20090717-Silvano_Wedding. Now all the files from
TEMP will be moved into
Photos/2009/20090717-Silvano_Wedding.
Next time you import, name another new folder, say
20090722-Tree_Study-Sierras ...
Now your Photo folder looks like
Photos/2009
Photos/2009/20090717-Silvano_Wedding
Photos/2009/20090722-Tree_Study-Sierras
Can you change the folder structure in the Finder, and then sync lightroom to the new structure?
Yes, but it can often take quite a bit of work. For simple reshuffling of a few folders, it's easier to do it inside Lightroom.
... getting closer I think.... I guess my best bet is to re organise folder structure in Finder, start a new main catalag, and use the add folder function in LR.
If you haven't done much processing or metadata editing yet, this is an option. If, like me, you have thousands of files and directories to re-sort, it can be a bit of a pain.
Only one question remains, if I do that, the menu does not give me a backup option for my pictures anymore. Can this be done in another way from within LR or would I just manually copy the new structure to my LR Pictures backup drive?
I don't think you understand the basic premise in Lightroom yet. I wrote this up on another forum recently, it might give you insight
Consider the original file respository as one thing and the Lightroom catalog which it has been imported into as another thing. Where they are on your system and on external drives is independent of one another, you manage these two things independently but in a coordinated way.*
The Lightroom catalog file, .LRCAT, is enclosed by a folder.*Lightroom manages this folder and its contents, you only manage where the top level folder is on your system. It can be on any directly connected hard drive, internal or external, but not a networked volume. The .LRCAT file contains the information about where the original file repository is (the location of every file you've imported). Other files and subdirectories in this folder are previews, templates and presets if you've set the options to keep these things with individual catalogs, etc.
You're in control of the original file repository. Structure the original file repository as a tree with a common root ... for example, a folder named "Photo", inside that folders named for year (2009, 2008, 2007, etc), inside each of those folder named for day (090101, 090102, etc). There are other ways to name and organize this folder tree, that's just an example. That folder tree can be on any file system volume, and you can have multiple copies of it for backup.*
Your job in managing your Lightroom environment is to a) be sure that Lightroom is set to back up the Lightroom catalog folder tree on a regular basis to another volume, and b) have at least two copies of the original file repository on two different volumes and keep them synchronized with each other.*
For a), I set Lightroom to back up the catalog every day and I point that backup at an external drive.
For b), I consider one original file repository as the master, working copy: that's where I put the files as I move them from camera card to computer and import them into Lightroom. At the end of every import operation, I quit Lightroom and run synchronizing software (ChronoSync by Econ Technologies in my case) to copy the new files to the second copy of the original file repository. I do the same thing at the end of every working session to be sure that any other files created in that repository in the course of editing (like TIFF files created by doing an "Edit In Photoshop" operation) are also duplicated in the backup copy of the original file repository.*
If you move the Lightroom catalog to another location on your computer, it doesn't matter as the catalog simply knows where the master original file repository is. If you move the master original file repository, or wish to switch to using the backup original file repository, all you have to do is right-click on the root folder of the original file repository in the Library Module "Folders" panel and choose the command to locate or find that folder.*
That's the simple case of "all your originals in one original file repository". More complex organizations with multiple original file repositories ... say on multiple volumes, typically driven by available storage space constraints ... work similarly by considering each part of the repositories as just another independent folder tree to manage.*
I am teaching a workshop on LR, "Lightroom: Starting In The Middle", specifically targeted to photographers who are just starting with Lightroom and who might already have a large body of work they've been working on with Photoshop. Topics like this will be covered in depth. The workshop will be held at The Media Center in Palo Alto, CA, dates are September 15-17, 7-10pm. Information and registration about The Media Center is available at
http://www.midpenmedia.org. The LR workshop hasn't been listed on the website yet, but should be there next week. ... I'm also teaching a "Photoshop for Photographers" workshop there August 11-12-13. Feel free to contact me for more information. There are eight seats available for each of these workshops.