Today’s Question: Is there a way to browse the photos in only two subfolders, not all subfolders within a parent folder in Lightroom Classic? I know I can browse all photos by enabling the “Show Photos in Subfolders” option. But what if I just want to browse some (but not all) the subfolders at the same time?
Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can browse only the contents of specific folders in Lightroom Classic by selecting those folders and making sure the “Show Photos in Subfolders” option is turned off.
More Detail: I find that many photographers don’t realize you can browse the contents of more than one folder in Lightroom Classic by simply selecting the folders you want to browse from the Folders list on the left panel in the Library module. In most cases you would want to make sure the “Show Photos in Subfolders” setting (found on the Library menu) is turned off, unless you also want to see photos in subfolders of the selected folders.
To get started, click on the first folder you want to browse on the Folders list. If you want to select a range of folders, you can hold the Shift key on the keyboard while clicking on the last folder you want to select. This will cause the first folder you clicked, the folder you Shift-clicked, and all folders in between to be selected.
You can also toggle the selection of any folder in the Folders list on or off by holding the Ctrl key on Windows or the Command key on Macintosh while clicking the folder. This enables you to select among any folders without having to select a range of folders.
When you select multiple folders, you’ll be browsing all the photos contained within all selected folders. That, in turn, means that the indication of the number of photos you’re currently browsing (shown toward the left side of the top of the bottom panel) will update based on which folders are currently selected, and whether you have the “Show Photos in Subfolders” option turned on or off.
Note, by the way, that the same selection options are also available for collections in the Collections section of the left panel. You can even mix and match, selecting any combination of folders and collections from each of the sections on the left panel.
