Lightroom 3 Importing Question

cfusionpm · Oct 22, 2010

This has actually been bugging me for some time: In LR2, there was a quick and wasy option when importing to select only images from certain dates on your card. In LR3, there seems to be no such option; you're presented with all the images on the card. If older images were imported, but deleted, they will still be checkmarked to import. Meaning that I would have to either manually uncheck all those, or uncheck all and manually checkmark all the ones I want to import if I had not formatted the card before shooting that day. I'd like to think I'm pretty savvy with this software, but I'm completely baffled that A: I can't figure out how to import from a specific date or B: Adobe removed the feature from LR3.....

JG_Coleman · Oct 22, 2010

cfusionpm said:
This has actually been bugging me for some time: In LR2, there was a quick and wasy option when importing to select only images from certain dates on your card. In LR3, there seems to be no such option; you're presented with all the images on the card. If older images were imported, but deleted, they will still be checkmarked to import. Meaning that I would have to either manually uncheck all those, or uncheck all and manually checkmark all the ones I want to import if I had not formatted the card before shooting that day. I'd like to think I'm pretty savvy with this software, but I'm completely baffled that A: I can't figure out how to import from a specific date or B: Adobe removed the feature from LR3.....

I have occasionally run into the same problem. Even though I try to make it a habit to erase my card before every shoot, it never fails that I forget from time to time and wind up with two shoots on one card.

Here's how I handle it, for what it's worth...

When you open the Import dialog and see the listing of thumbnails, they are sorted by capture date/time. I scroll through them quickly until I see the last photograph from the older shoot (the first photograph from the more recent shoot will be right next to it, of course). I select it, then hold Ctrl+Shift, and click the very first photograph in the dialog. This selects every image from the old shoot. Now if you uncheck the checkbox for any one of those highlighted images, they will be unchecked automatically. Voila! Problem solved.

It would certainly be easier if you could extract them by date automatically. But, given that there doesn't seem to be functionality for that, the method I outlined here actually takes all of 10 seconds. Not a huge setback, at least... especially considering that it's only a real issue in those times when you accidentally forget to erase your card.

** EDIT **

Come to think of it, there may even be an "Import by Date" option buried in there somewhere. I've just never thought to look for it. The method above really is fast and easy, so I've just always done it that way.