Today’s Question: I’ve been using the Quick Collection [in Lightroom] when I want to work with certain images. Sometimes I want to then put those same images into a new collection. Is there an easier way to do that? I’ve been making a new collection and then dragging and dropping the images to that new collection, which is a little cumbersome.
Tim’s Quick Answer: You can actually save the images in the Quick Collection into a new collection by simply right-clicking on the Quick Collection and choosing Save Quick Collection from the popup menu.
More Detail: As the name implies, the Quick Collection in Lightroom is really intended for quickly grouping images together, generally for a temporary purpose. If you want to retain a grouping of images for a longer period of time, a “normal” collection is often preferred.
Fortunately, in those situations it is very easy to “convert” the Quick Collection to a normal collection. Simply right-click on the Quick Collection in the Catalog section of the left panel in the Library module, and then choose “Save Quick Collection” from the popup menu. You’ll then be able to specify the name for the new collection and choose whether you want to remove the images from the Quick Collection as part of this process.
Obviously you can choose a name that is most meaningful to you based on the images you’ve included in the Quick Collection. I do recommend clearing the Quick Collection as part of this process, so the Quick Collection will then be ready to use for a future project.
The new collection you created as part of this process can then be found in the Collections section of the left panel, with the name you used when you saved the Quick Collection as a “normal” collection.
If you already have access to the “Lightroom Quick Tips” course on GreyLearning, (such as via the GreyLearning Ultimate Bundle) you can see today’s answer in action by watching episode 10 of the course here: