Move files, keywords and collections to a new catalogue
I have a huge catalogue (over 48000 images) and at times CO is slow. I want to divide this monster into smaller catalogues which I hope will be quicker to work with.
Of course, I could import all the images again, but (presumably) I'd lose my keywords and smart collections.
Is there a correct way to do this without losing data please?
If so, what is the maximum number of images a CO catalogue can easily cope with (or is that like asking how long is a piece of string?).
Thanks in anticipation.
Andy
Of course, I could import all the images again, but (presumably) I'd lose my keywords and smart collections.
Is there a correct way to do this without losing data please?
If so, what is the maximum number of images a CO catalogue can easily cope with (or is that like asking how long is a piece of string?).
Thanks in anticipation.
Andy
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In the Library tool if you right click on a collection 'Export As Catalog...' is one of the options. -1 -
Oh! That's brilliant! Thanks! 0 -
Erm...
I just tried this, and it didn't move the files to a new catalogue, it copied them. I have been reading the online user guide for about an hour, and quite honestly, I can't make much sense of it. It seems to suggest that you can't just delete pictures from a catalogue without deleting the originals - surely that's not the case?
Please enlighten me!0 -
AndyN wrote:
Erm...
It seems to suggest that you can't just delete pictures from a catalogue without deleting the originals - surely that's not the case?
Please enlighten me!
I'm assuming your original raw images are referenced (stored outside the catalog).
If Catalog (1) contains images from say Folder A and Folder B, and you create a new catalog Catalog (2) with just the images from Folder B by using Export as Catalog, it does indeed copy rather than move the images. However, all you have to do is then remove Folder B from Catalog (1). Go to the Folders section in the Library tool, navigate to Folder B, and select it, then click the minus button to remove it from the catalog. That just removes the folder from the catalog - it doesn't touch the actual images on the hard disk.
Ian0 -
Thanks Ian. Yes, the images are all referenced.
Your suggestion is helpful, but what if the images are from many different folders - and what if I need to transfer more images from my original catalogue to that new one later? Is this possible?0 -
Andy, I think this will accomplish what you want to do...
Select the images in the source catalog, create a user album from the selected images, export the album as a (transient) catalog, then import the transient catalog into the target catalog. Delete the transient catalog when it is no longer needed.0 -
NN635915521004387723UL wrote:
Andy, I think this will accomplish what you want to do...
Select the images in the source catalog, create a user album from the selected images, export the album as a (transient) catalog, then import the transient catalog into the target catalog. Delete the transient catalog when it is no longer needed.
Thanks. Again, that's a help, but (I'm not trying to be difficult) there are two problems with that.
First, if the images are spread over many folders, how can I delete them from the original catalogue (to reduce its size)?
Second, how do I delete a catalogue?
I've searched here (and the online user guide) without success
Presumably I use Finder to delete a catalogue, but why it's not documented is a mystery.0 -
Yes you can delete catalog using Finder.
Ian0 -
File/Empty Catalog... presents a dialog that allows removing files from the catalog without deleting them from the disk. If your files are referenced this should do what you want.
Edited to clarify:
For referenced files
Move the unwanted images to Catalog Trash.
Select File/Empty Catalog Trash. Dialog will prompt to remove files from catalog or delete files from disk.0 -
AndyN wrote:
I have a huge catalogue (over 48000 images) and at times CO is slow.
Glad to see you are getting help on your original question but what about an alternative? I have 62 000 images in my catalogue. Yes, selecting all an doing any kind of filtering is slow. Yes, I would like to see that improve. But I crated smart albums that cover the major things that I want to search in. That makes things much more palatable. I am just wondering if you might be happy enough without going through the multi-step process that seems like you are heading for.
How are your images organized? What kind of searching is taking too long to tolerate?
Ian0 -
IanL wrote:
I crated smart albums that cover the major things that I want to search in. That makes things much more palatable.
Ian
That's interesting. Thanks Ian.
I've created smart albums over the past few days and they seem to work very well. I really need to be able to search the whole collection, so obviously one catalogue would make that easier. I'm going to try to slim the main catalogue down and make new catalogues where I can from images I'm less likely to need to search.
Thanks to everyone for all your helpful suggestions.
Andy0 -
Just in case anyone's looking at the post because they want to move files, and their keywords to a new catalogue, this is the workflow that I've landed on.
1) Within the origin catalogue (the one you want to move files FROM) select the files that you want to move.
2) Right click (Mac) on one of the selected files and choose: Create Albums From > Selection
This creates what I call a "transfer album. You will delete it later.
3) Right click the new Album and select: Export as catalogue (be sure to put the catalogue in a different folder to your regular Capture One catalogues).
4) Open your destination Catalogue and choose File > Import catalogue > Capture one catalogue.
5) Check that the images appear as expected.
6) Return to the origin catalogue and select the collection where the files you no longer need reside.
7) The selection should still be live, right click on it and choose: Delete (from album "the album you created in 2 above").
The files will be deleted from that (old) catalogue, but remain in their new catalogue.
Remember to delete the "transfer" album (from the old catalogue) to tidy things up.
A bit long-winded, but it works a treat for me!0 -
Just tried what Andy Nickless explained and it worked.
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