Today’s Question: You’ve referred to the items listed under Catalog on the left panel as being collections, but there is also a Collections section down below. Why aren’t these Catalog collections included in the real Collections section?
Tim’s Quick Answer: I suppose the answer here is, “Because that’s the way Adobe designed it”. But I would add that the collections in the Catalog section sort of fall into a “system” category for Lightroom Classic, while those in the Collections section are created by the user.
More Detail: I think of the collections that appear in the Catalog section of the left panel in the Library module of Lightroom Classic to be collections that are created by Lightroom Classic, even though in some cases they might be created when a photographer uses a particular command. In other words, these collections are sort of system-wide for Lightroom Classic. The collections in the Collections section are created by the user, even though there are some sample smart collections included by default.
For example, the Catalog section includes an All Photographs collection, which you can click on to browse all photos in your entire catalog. It also includes the Quick Collection, which is designed for temporarily grouping together photos. There will also be other collections based on specific actions. For example, if you’ve selected the Find All Missing Photographs command on the Library menu, the Catalog section will include the “Missing Photographs” collection that shows you all photos that can’t currently be found where they’re expected.
The Collections section includes any collections or smart collections that were created by the user, along with a few smart collections that are included by default and provide some samples to get you started with that feature. So, you can think of the Collections section as being where you create your own collections for grouping photos together for projects or based on other criteria. The Catalog section is for broader workflow tasks within Lightroom Classic, and provide a way to access photos that meet specific criteria, based on the features you’ve taken advantage of in your workflow.
Obviously, Adobe could have also put the Catalog collections as a category within the Collections section, but they chose not to. But based on the distinction between these different collections and how they’re used, I think it makes sense that they are separated within the interface.
