Lightroom

How do I filter out my clients image selections in Lightroom, Capture One, Photo Mechanic, Finder and Explorer?

In many image editing programs, you can use the file search to display exactly the images of a selection of images from PicDrop. This saves you the trouble of searching for each individual file. Below we will show you how it works.

The steps in PicDrop

  1. Open in the gallery the selection that you want to filter out locally or mark the pictures with the selection function (blue plus sign in the picture overview)
  2. Click on the “Export Selection” icon in the selection, bottom right. There you will find the various possibilities to filter the selection in Lightroom or in your Finder/Explorer etc. – without a long search.
  3. Copy the corresponding file lists to the clipboard.

Please continue on your computer with your favourite tool:

The steps in Lightroom Classic

  1. Open the Shooting folder in Library mode
  2. Press the ESC key to display the filters at the top
  3. Select the category “Text”
  4. In the drop-down menu, select “File name” and “Contains”
  5. Copy the file names into the search field
  6. Only the images that were previously saved in the selection are seen

The steps in Capture One

  1. Open the folder with the images to be filtered
  2. Click on “Edit” in the upper C1 menu
  3. Click on “Select by”
  4. Click on “File Name List”
  5. Copy the filenames from the Capture One filter field into the search field, making sure the separators are selected correctly
  6. Click on “OK”
  7. The images are now selected. Before you click anything else, you can make a selection in Capture One.

The steps in Photo Mechanic

1. Open the corresponding project folder in Photo Mechanic
2. Paste the text from the clipboard into the white search field (via menu Edit > Find… or cmd-F on Mac or Ctrl-F on Windows) and set the following search options

  • Find: Any of the words
  • In: All items
  • Searching: ☑️ file names

After clicking “Find” in the lower right corner, Photo Mechanic will select all the photos in your selection from PicDrop and you can continue working with them.
Please note that the search in the upper left corner of Photo Mechanic (“Search my Mac”) cannot be used for these steps.

The steps in Mac Finder/Windows Explorer

  1. Open the folder where the pictures are located
  2. Click on the normal search
  3. Copy the file names into the search field
  4.  Images that were previously saved in the selection will only be seen

Please note that the filter text in the Explorer is limited to 259 characters. The filter text in the Finder is limited to 2048 characters or 99 files.

Should I use FTP or SFTP?

We clearly recommend SFTP. The access data remains exactly the same, only the port changes to port 22. The upload via SFTP serves your own security because otherwise you can transfer your access data unencrypted with every login and every upload and someone else can intercept and steal them if necessary.

The Lightroom upload does not work.

The following message appears

“Unable to upload because Lightroom cannot ascertain if the target destination exists.”

The reason for this in most cases with incorrectly entered FTP access data and similar. To eliminate the error to 100% we have here a checklist, which you should go through point by point, no matter how funny or nonsense some steps may seem to you.

  1. Make sure that you really entered ftp.picdrop.com as the server and not just picdrop.com.
  2. Make sure you have entered your username correctly. You can find the username here.
  3. When exporting files from Lightroom, make sure you selected “PicDrop” in the “Target Server” section (at the bottom). Please read our installation instructions very, very carefully, as such important details can be quickly overlooked.
  4. Please change your password in your PicDrop account settings and then adjust the FTP settings in Lightroom. (Do not forget to save!) This option prevents typing and copying errors.
  5. Check if you use unusual special characters like “&” or similar in the gallery name. If so, please try it without this sign.
  6. Try to switch your connection from FTP (port 21) to SFTP (port 22), or vice versa if you already use SFTP. Please do not forget to save the settings.
  7. Make sure you are not using any form of firewall or programs such as “Little Snitch” that block your connection. Disable these for testing purposes to see if it works without them.
  8. Please test if another network/WLAN or a hotspot through your mobile phone is solving the problem, so you can be sure that it is not your network that is blocking the upload.

Is nothing still helping?

In this case, it is very likely that your ISP has blocked the FTP Port. This is occasionally the case in public WLANs, in hotels and holiday homes, at airports etc… Or a bad Internet provider. Some providers want to prevent the misuse of “their” Internet connection, but unfortunately also block serious services such as your upload. Please try SFTP and port 22 (see point 6).

An alternative?

Have you already looked for another internet connection or just tested it with friends, colleagues or neighbors? We also recommend that you upload via your browser. This cannot be blocked and thanks to our convenient drag & drop upload this should be very easy for you. If none of this works, just write us at hello@picdrop.com and we’ll see how we can help you.

Filtering selections on my hard disk/Lightroom/Capture One does not work.

This can have several causes.

Spaces in the file name
Lightroom, Windows Explorer, Apples Finder, etc. cannot filter out files that contain spaces. Before uploading, you should make sure that your file names consist only of letters, numbers, and underscores or hyphens.

Files renamed to PicDrop when uploading
Basically, the files on your hard disk must have the same file name as the files in your PicDrop Gallery and the selection you want to filter out locally. So you should make sure that e.g. Lightroom does not rename the files when uploading.

Missing fill zeros
If additional images are filtered out instead of your selection, this is often due to missing “fill zeros” in your file names. From the beginning, for example, if you filter to “File-2,” Lightroom and Co will display all files that contain the “File-2” section in their names. Unfortunately, this section is also found in other file names such as “File-24”. The result, both files (or even much, much more…) are displayed.

To solve this problem permanently, we recommend naming files from the memory card to the hard disk so that the trigger number always has at least 4 digits at the end of the file. Shorter digits before should always be filled with zeros. So “File-2” would become “File-0002” and the number is always and everywhere completely unique, even when filtering in Lightroom. For example, using this method, the “File-0002” file can no longer be part of the “File-0024” file name, as it was before.

This procedure helps you in many other programs besides Lightroom, including PicDrop.

Capture One
You may be using the wrong search in Capture One. Please use the search described here.

Exceeding the number of characters in the Explorer or Finder
The filter text in the Explorer can contain a maximum of 259 characters. The filter text in the Finder is limited to 2048 characters or 99 files.

Photo Mechanic
Photo Mechanic offers two different search tools. Please use the search via “Edit > Find…” in the menu to filter your selection. Here you will find the required settings for Photo Mechanic’s search window.

How do I filter color-coded images in Lightroom, Capture One, Photo Mechanic, Finder and Explorer?

You’ve probably seen how to filter out your clients’ image selections in Lightroom, Capture One, Photo Mechanic, Finder, and Explorer. The whole thing is not only possible with image selections but also with all color-coded images. (Note: The “Image Selection” function must be active in the gallery settings) combination of Apple-A or Ctrl-A to select all currently displayed images. You have now created a selection from the color markers that you can filter out locally on your PC.

  1. Click on the “Export Selection” icon in the selection, bottom right. There you will find the various possibilities to filter the selection in Lightroom or in your Finder/Explorer etc. – without a long search.
  2. Optionally, you can save this selection permanently in PicDrop to make it easier to find it again later.

Please continue on your computer with your favourite tool:

The steps in Lightroom Classic

Open the Shooting folder in Library mode

  1. Press the ESC key to display the filters at the top
  2. Select the category “Text”
  3. In the drop-down menu, select “File name” and “Contains“
  4. Copy the file names into the search field
  5. You will now only see the images that were previously saved in the selection.

The steps in Capture One

  1. Open the folder with the images to be filtered
  2. Click on “Edit” in the upper C1 menu
  3. Click on “Select by”
  4. Click on “File Name List”
  5. Copy the filenames from the Capture One filter field into the search field, making sure the separators are selected correctly.
  6. Click on “OK”
  7. The images are now selected. Before you click anything else, you can make a selection in Capture One.

The steps in Photo Mechanic

1. Open the corresponding project folder in Photo Mechanic
2. Paste the text from the clipboard into the white search field (via menu Edit > Find… or cmd-F on Mac or Ctrl-F on Windows) and set the following search options

  • Find: Any of the words
  • In: All items
  • Searching: ☑️ file names

After clicking “Find” in the lower right corner, Photo Mechanic will select all the photos in your selection from PicDrop and you can continue working with them.
Please note that the search in the upper left corner of Photo Mechanic (“Search my Mac”) cannot be used for these steps.

The steps in Mac Finder or Windows Explorer

  1. Open the folder where the pictures are located
  2. Click on the normal search
  3. Copy the file names into the search field
  4. You will now only see the images that were previously saved in the selection.

Please note that the filter text in the Explorer is limited to 259 characters. The filter text in the Finder is limited to 2048 characters or 99 files.