Merging Folders of Photos

Facebooktwitterlinkedin

Today’s Question: I have two file folders in my Lightroom Classic catalog that contain photos from the same event, and I want to put them all into one folder. How do I merge the folders or how do I move the photos from one folder to the other?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can easily merge folders of photos in Lightroom Classic by selecting all photos in one folder, and then dragging-and-dropping them to the destination folder. Once the source folder is empty, you can right-click on the folder and choose “Remove” from the popup menu.

More Detail: When it comes to using Lightroom Classic to manage your photos, one of the most important things is to make sure that all tasks are initiated within Lightroom, rather than out through your operating system or using other software.

When you have photos you want to move from one folder to another, the process is rather simple. You can select the photos you want to move, and then drag-and-drop them to the desired destination folder within the Folders list on the left panel in the Library module. In the confirmation dialog that appears, click the Move button, and the photos will be moved. That means the photos will move within the context of your Lightroom catalog, as well as on your hard drive.

If you move all of the photos from a given folder, obviously that folder will be empty. To remove the empty folder from Lightroom (and your hard drive), you can right-click on the folder in the Folders list on the left panel in the Library module, and choose Remove from the popup menu that appears.

Note that this process of merging folders, along with the process of splitting one folder into two or more folders, are topics covered in my “Cleaning Up Your Mess in Lightroom” course that you can find in the GreyLearning library by following this link:

https://timgrey.me/mess29