Today’s Question: Is there a way to browse all the photos in more than one folder in Lightroom Classic, such as when I want to review photos from multiple trips to the same location?
Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can select multiple folders (or collections) in Lightroom Classic to browse all photos within all selected sources.
More Detail: Lightroom Classic enables you to select multiple folders (or collections) so you can browse the contents of all the selected sources at the same time. This functions the same way as selecting multiple files or folders within the operating system.
If you want to select a sequence of folders all in a row you can click on the first folder you want to select within the Folders list on the left panel in the Library module, and then hold the Shift key on the keyboard while clicking on the last folder in the range. This will cause all folders in between to also be selected.
If you want to select folders that are not all in a row you can toggle the selection of folders on or off as needed. Hold the Ctrl key on Windows or the Command key on Macintosh while clicking on a folder to toggle the folder as being selected or not selected.
These commands work the same for both folders and collections, and in fact you can even select folders and collections at the same time. For example, if you select a folder on the Folders list and then hold the Ctrl/Command key while clicking on a collection in the Collections list, both the folder and the collection will be selected so that you’re browsing all photos from both.
These options give you considerable flexibility in terms of which photos are currently being browsed. While you’re browsing multiple folders or collections you can of course use the Library Filter bar to apply filter criteria so you’re only seeing photos that match specific settings, such as those with a particular star rating.
Also keep in mind that you can perform a very broad search within Lightroom Classic by selecting the “All Photographs” collection in the Catalog section of the left panel in the Library module. This will cause you to browse your entire catalog of photos, which you can of course then apply filters to so you can track down specific photos.
