Today’s Question: I rename all images on import into Lightroom Classic, including a sequence number at the end. I then sort by Capture Time, but the images are not in numerical order by the new image number in the filename. If I select view by File Name, they will be in numerical order by image number, but not in capture time order. How can I correct this other than by renaming after import?
Tim’s Quick Answer: You simply need to make sure the Sort popup in the Import dialog is set to “Capture Time”, so that renaming as part of the import process will assign the sequence number in order based on capture time.
More Detail: It is easy to overlook the Sort popup in the Import dialog when importing new photos into Lightroom Classic, because during that process it doesn’t generally seem important what order the images are displayed in. Instead, you may be focused on confirming the other settings related to the images being imported.
However, if you’re renaming photos with a sequence number during import, that sequence number will be assigned based on the sort order that was established in the Import dialog. That’s the same for renaming later in your workflow, where the sort order determines how the sequence number is assigned.
Therefore, in general, if you’re renaming photos in Lightroom Classic you’ll want to set the Sort popup (whether in the Import dialog or in the Library module) to “Capture Time”, so that the file renaming will be based on the order the photos were captured. That is particularly important when including a sequence number as part of the file renaming structure, since you would generally want that sequence number assigned based on the capture order of the images.
