Today’s Question: When I create a virtual copy in Lightroom Classic it gets called “Copy 1”, and a second virtual copy of the same source photo becomes “Copy 2”. Is there a way to use a more descriptive name for virtual copies?
Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes! You can rename a virtual copy by updating the Copy Name field in the Metadata section of the right panel in the Library module.
More Detail: A virtual copy enables you to create more than one interpretation of a single source image in Lightroom Classic. For example, you can optimize an image in color, and then create a virtual copy that you convert to black and white. You can create a new virtual copy by right-clicking on an image and choosing “Create Virtual Copy” from the popup menu.
When you create a virtual copy, it will be given a copy name of “Copy 1”, with the number updating based on how many virtual copies you’ve created for the same image. This name is shown after the filename for the virtual copy, but the text can be found in the Copy Name field in the Metadata section of the right panel in the Library module.
You can simply edit the text in the Copy Name field to rename the virtual copy. That updated text will then appear after the filename for the virtual copy.
Note that you can even add text to the Copy Name field for the original image, such as to designate it as “Original”. However, the text in the Copy Name field will only appear after the filename for virtual copies, not for the source image.
