process
Active Member
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2013
- Messages
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- Lightroom Experience
- Intermediate
- Lightroom Version
- 6.x
Throughout the years I been shooting RAW+JPG now and then for various reasons, and now I've finally started the painstaking cleanup process of removing the JPG where there's a RAW equivalent in order to save disk space.
I've asked around and read about the subject but there doesn't seem to be one set, simple and failsafe way to do this. So far I've deleted paired JPGs for a couple year's worth of photos, but I think I might have figured a better way... tell me what you think:
NOTE: the whole process will be done in the Library module.
In the following example we've decided to work on a year's worth of photos from a folder named "2015". This folder in turn contains a number of sub-folders.
Synchronizing (adding to the library) other (not JPG+RAW pair) photos
First, since we're going to use the "synchronize folder" feature, ensure that there aren't files in your photo folders which haven't yet been added to the library, so we'll add them to the library now:
1) in the "General" section of "Preferences" where it says:
[ ] Treat JPEG files next to Raw files as separate photos
Turn that option OFF (so that JPG+RAW files show up as a single file in LR)
2) decide on a folder you're going to work on (i.e. "2015" which would probably contain numerous sub-folders for that year with photos), then right-click on the folder and select "Synchronize folder...".
Any new photos should be added to the LR catalog.
Preparing Collections and colour-labeling
Now we need to prepare some Collections which will help us make the process quicker and easier. Also be prepared to colour-label photos so we can quickly, at a glance, determine which category a photo belongs to. This isn't essential, but will greatly ease the process as seeing the label is a lot quicker than reading what file type it is etc.
Naturally you need to ensure your photos aren't already colour-labeled (or you can remove them)! My colour-label scheme is as follows though you can decide on any colour you like (or have unused from before):
2015 "Previous import" (after synchronizing): red label
(these will be the JPG files belonging to their RAW counterparts for 2015 which we want to delete)
2015 JPG files: yellow label
(these are all the existing JPG files for 2015. You want to keep these as they have nothing to do with the RAW files)
2015 RAW files: purple label
(these are all the RAW files for 2015)
3) Now, create the following Collections:
2015 "Previous import" (after synchronizing)
2015 JPG
2015 RAW
2015 RAW+JPG
If you like you can also create a Collections-set (i.e. "2015 RAW+JPG cleanup") to put them in.
4) First we need to label all the JPG files from BEFORE adding the JPGs which belong to RAW files. As mentioned earlier I've chosen a yellow colour for this, so....
click on the "2015" folder to see all the photos for that year. Next, click on "Metadata" (in the "Library filter" section) and choose a preset for file-type. Click on "JPG" which will display just the JPG files for 2015.
5) Now select all of those JPGs (CMD-A on a Mac, I assume that'll be CTRL-A on a PC), then click on one of the photos' colour-label, select "Yellow" which will give all of those JPGs a yellow label
Synchronizing (adding to the library) JPGs from RAW+JPG pairs
Now we're going to add the JPGs belonging to the RAW files (and since we're already synchronized the folder prior to this, the upcoming sync should contain nothing else):
6) go to the "General" section of "Preferences" and turn ON the following option, like this:
[x] Treat JPEG files next to Raw files as separate photos
This will separate the JPGs from RAWs.
7) Now, right-click on the "2015" folder and select "Synchronize folder..."
All the JPGs from their RAW counterparts should be added to the library.
8) On the left pane (under "Catalog" at the very top, click on "Previous import" where you should see a number of files. Select them all (CMD-A on a Mac or CTRL-A on a PC), then drag them over to the "2015 "Previous import" (after synchronizing)" Collection.
9) It's also a good idea is to rename that Collection to include the number of images it contains, i.e.:
2015 "Previous import" (after synchronizing) (5983)
(this is useful for a variety of reasons such as knowing how many files have been deleted and comparing it to other folders etc. as an extra safety feature before deleting stuff).
10) Remember to colour-label "Red" all the photos in that Collection ("2015 "Previous import" (after synchronizing) (5983)").
11) Click on the "2015" folder again, then use the "Metadata" filter as before, only this time select "RAW" as the disoplayed file-type. Select them all Select them all (CMD-A on a Mac or CTRL-A on a PC), click on the colour-label of one of the photos, select "Purple" which will give all RAW files a purple label.
12) While still having all those RAW files selected, drag them over to the "2015 RAW" Collection. Rename the Collection to reflect the number of RAW files within (i.e. "2015 RAW (9389)").
13) Click on the "2015" folder again, click on the "Metadata" filter as before, now, as the file-type click on JPG, and while holding down CMD, click on "RAW" (Mac). This should select both JPG and RAW files.
(I assume on a PC you'd click on "JPG", then while holding down CTRL, click on "RAW")
14) Drag all those files over to the "2015 RAW+JPG" Collection. Rename the collection to reflect the total number of files within.
Marking JPGs (from RAW+JPG pairs) ready for deletion
The preparation process is finally over and we're ready to actually delete the JPG files which we already have RAW files of. If you're feeling brave you could just delete all the files within "Previous import" but you may want to reconsider and ensure you're not making a mistake, so here's the more time consuming but safer way.....
So now we've grouped our photos in Collections and by colour-labels. If everything's worked out the way it should all red photos should be the JPG counterparts of the RAW files while the yellow files are all the JPGs from before (i.e. stand-alone JPGs, which of course we want to keep).
15) Click on the "2015 RAW+JPG" Collection which should display all your RAW and JPG files from 2015 (note: the number of files may differ from what your 2015 folder says as the folder may also contain other file-types such as PNG, TIFF, PSD and videos).
This collection is sort of a non-destructive testing ground for deleting stuff. Remember, in a collection we're not actually deleting files from a hard drive but removing them from that specific collection. We can now browse throught our collection (colour-labeling makes it easier), then mark the JPGs we want deleted with a "Reject" (X), and (once double-checked) we can actually commit to deleting those files from the hard drive.
16) Browse through the images and look for identical pairs. If you find two identical photos you should have one which is labeled red (JPG) and one which is purple (RAW). You may have other identical photos which could be a copy of the JPG (possibly edited, which you don't want to delete). The JPGs which don't belong to a RAW file should be yellow -just leave those alone.
Depending on your "View options" you could have the file-type displayed and info about it being a virtual copy and so on. This will be of great help.
So, once you locate a JPG which has an identical RAW, click on that JPG and press the "X" key (reject).
A final safety measure, then deleting the JPG duplicates
17) When you're done, create a new Smart Collection as an extra safety measure before actually deleting the "reject" marked files with the following settings:
Match [any] of the following rules:
[Pick flag] [is] [rejected]
This Smart collection should then display all the rejected files. Here you can also ensure that you haven't rejected any RAW files (use the "Metadata" filter for "File-type" as before, selecting "RAW") which you definitely don't want to do! You can also use other filters if you feel the need, to ensure the files match the criteria of just being JPG counterparts of existing RAW files.
A couple of ideas would be to check for edited virtual copies, or yellow colour labels -both files you want to keep.
18) Finally, after double (or triple) checking you're ready to delete the JPG duplicates. You may want to compare the number of rejected files with the number of "Previous import..." files. Ideally they should be the same. If not, recheck what's in the "Rejected" Smart Collection.
So when you're ready to delete all those rejected files, click on the "2015" folder (it's not possible to physically delete files from a Collection/Smart Collection), then go to "Photo"-"Delete rejected photo". Depending on your collection you should have regained a fair bit of hard drive space, and not to mention cleaned up your photo library.
Phew! :laugh: I realize the above seems like an awful lot of work, but really it's not that bad.
Tell me what you think and let me know if I've made any mistakes or there are better ways around.
I've asked around and read about the subject but there doesn't seem to be one set, simple and failsafe way to do this. So far I've deleted paired JPGs for a couple year's worth of photos, but I think I might have figured a better way... tell me what you think:
NOTE: the whole process will be done in the Library module.
In the following example we've decided to work on a year's worth of photos from a folder named "2015". This folder in turn contains a number of sub-folders.
Synchronizing (adding to the library) other (not JPG+RAW pair) photos
First, since we're going to use the "synchronize folder" feature, ensure that there aren't files in your photo folders which haven't yet been added to the library, so we'll add them to the library now:
1) in the "General" section of "Preferences" where it says:
[ ] Treat JPEG files next to Raw files as separate photos
Turn that option OFF (so that JPG+RAW files show up as a single file in LR)
2) decide on a folder you're going to work on (i.e. "2015" which would probably contain numerous sub-folders for that year with photos), then right-click on the folder and select "Synchronize folder...".
Any new photos should be added to the LR catalog.
Preparing Collections and colour-labeling
Now we need to prepare some Collections which will help us make the process quicker and easier. Also be prepared to colour-label photos so we can quickly, at a glance, determine which category a photo belongs to. This isn't essential, but will greatly ease the process as seeing the label is a lot quicker than reading what file type it is etc.
Naturally you need to ensure your photos aren't already colour-labeled (or you can remove them)! My colour-label scheme is as follows though you can decide on any colour you like (or have unused from before):
2015 "Previous import" (after synchronizing): red label
(these will be the JPG files belonging to their RAW counterparts for 2015 which we want to delete)
2015 JPG files: yellow label
(these are all the existing JPG files for 2015. You want to keep these as they have nothing to do with the RAW files)
2015 RAW files: purple label
(these are all the RAW files for 2015)
3) Now, create the following Collections:
2015 "Previous import" (after synchronizing)
2015 JPG
2015 RAW
2015 RAW+JPG
If you like you can also create a Collections-set (i.e. "2015 RAW+JPG cleanup") to put them in.
4) First we need to label all the JPG files from BEFORE adding the JPGs which belong to RAW files. As mentioned earlier I've chosen a yellow colour for this, so....
click on the "2015" folder to see all the photos for that year. Next, click on "Metadata" (in the "Library filter" section) and choose a preset for file-type. Click on "JPG" which will display just the JPG files for 2015.
5) Now select all of those JPGs (CMD-A on a Mac, I assume that'll be CTRL-A on a PC), then click on one of the photos' colour-label, select "Yellow" which will give all of those JPGs a yellow label
Synchronizing (adding to the library) JPGs from RAW+JPG pairs
Now we're going to add the JPGs belonging to the RAW files (and since we're already synchronized the folder prior to this, the upcoming sync should contain nothing else):
6) go to the "General" section of "Preferences" and turn ON the following option, like this:
[x] Treat JPEG files next to Raw files as separate photos
This will separate the JPGs from RAWs.
7) Now, right-click on the "2015" folder and select "Synchronize folder..."
All the JPGs from their RAW counterparts should be added to the library.
8) On the left pane (under "Catalog" at the very top, click on "Previous import" where you should see a number of files. Select them all (CMD-A on a Mac or CTRL-A on a PC), then drag them over to the "2015 "Previous import" (after synchronizing)" Collection.
9) It's also a good idea is to rename that Collection to include the number of images it contains, i.e.:
2015 "Previous import" (after synchronizing) (5983)
(this is useful for a variety of reasons such as knowing how many files have been deleted and comparing it to other folders etc. as an extra safety feature before deleting stuff).
10) Remember to colour-label "Red" all the photos in that Collection ("2015 "Previous import" (after synchronizing) (5983)").
11) Click on the "2015" folder again, then use the "Metadata" filter as before, only this time select "RAW" as the disoplayed file-type. Select them all Select them all (CMD-A on a Mac or CTRL-A on a PC), click on the colour-label of one of the photos, select "Purple" which will give all RAW files a purple label.
12) While still having all those RAW files selected, drag them over to the "2015 RAW" Collection. Rename the Collection to reflect the number of RAW files within (i.e. "2015 RAW (9389)").
13) Click on the "2015" folder again, click on the "Metadata" filter as before, now, as the file-type click on JPG, and while holding down CMD, click on "RAW" (Mac). This should select both JPG and RAW files.
(I assume on a PC you'd click on "JPG", then while holding down CTRL, click on "RAW")
14) Drag all those files over to the "2015 RAW+JPG" Collection. Rename the collection to reflect the total number of files within.
Marking JPGs (from RAW+JPG pairs) ready for deletion
The preparation process is finally over and we're ready to actually delete the JPG files which we already have RAW files of. If you're feeling brave you could just delete all the files within "Previous import" but you may want to reconsider and ensure you're not making a mistake, so here's the more time consuming but safer way.....
So now we've grouped our photos in Collections and by colour-labels. If everything's worked out the way it should all red photos should be the JPG counterparts of the RAW files while the yellow files are all the JPGs from before (i.e. stand-alone JPGs, which of course we want to keep).
15) Click on the "2015 RAW+JPG" Collection which should display all your RAW and JPG files from 2015 (note: the number of files may differ from what your 2015 folder says as the folder may also contain other file-types such as PNG, TIFF, PSD and videos).
This collection is sort of a non-destructive testing ground for deleting stuff. Remember, in a collection we're not actually deleting files from a hard drive but removing them from that specific collection. We can now browse throught our collection (colour-labeling makes it easier), then mark the JPGs we want deleted with a "Reject" (X), and (once double-checked) we can actually commit to deleting those files from the hard drive.
16) Browse through the images and look for identical pairs. If you find two identical photos you should have one which is labeled red (JPG) and one which is purple (RAW). You may have other identical photos which could be a copy of the JPG (possibly edited, which you don't want to delete). The JPGs which don't belong to a RAW file should be yellow -just leave those alone.
Depending on your "View options" you could have the file-type displayed and info about it being a virtual copy and so on. This will be of great help.
So, once you locate a JPG which has an identical RAW, click on that JPG and press the "X" key (reject).
A final safety measure, then deleting the JPG duplicates
17) When you're done, create a new Smart Collection as an extra safety measure before actually deleting the "reject" marked files with the following settings:
Match [any] of the following rules:
[Pick flag] [is] [rejected]
This Smart collection should then display all the rejected files. Here you can also ensure that you haven't rejected any RAW files (use the "Metadata" filter for "File-type" as before, selecting "RAW") which you definitely don't want to do! You can also use other filters if you feel the need, to ensure the files match the criteria of just being JPG counterparts of existing RAW files.
A couple of ideas would be to check for edited virtual copies, or yellow colour labels -both files you want to keep.
18) Finally, after double (or triple) checking you're ready to delete the JPG duplicates. You may want to compare the number of rejected files with the number of "Previous import..." files. Ideally they should be the same. If not, recheck what's in the "Rejected" Smart Collection.
So when you're ready to delete all those rejected files, click on the "2015" folder (it's not possible to physically delete files from a Collection/Smart Collection), then go to "Photo"-"Delete rejected photo". Depending on your collection you should have regained a fair bit of hard drive space, and not to mention cleaned up your photo library.
Phew! :laugh: I realize the above seems like an awful lot of work, but really it's not that bad.
Tell me what you think and let me know if I've made any mistakes or there are better ways around.
.
