Who can explain stacking nuances in LR4?

[sailkelli]

Stacking seems to work if I actually do it within lightroom. The icon shows in the corner and it shows the little parallel vertical lines to click on to expand and contract. OK... but here is where I am confused.
I converted my PSE 10 catalog to Lr4 and at first I am pretty sure the stacks came in (originally version sets) Then I was testing the collapse and expand functions and suddenly... the stacks all seemed to unstack and disappear. hmmmm Well. I figured I would just deal with it as is, restack if I needed to.

Then I'm looking at my folders in library module and see the number showing in the folder list isn't what is showing in the library filmstrip or grid. So I'm curious about what is going on... where are those mystery files. I figured out by accident that if I go into a collection that is showing 30 of 50 photos if I go to photo drop down and unstack all, they would show all of the pics to match the number on the collection folder list. Now I read that you will not see the stacks in the collection view... only the one that is specifically in the collection, but if you UNSTACK all they DO show, but don't appear with any icons to say they are part of a stack at all! Confusing at best.
So that's not even the end of the mystery... I look at the unstacked view of the collection: I see which ones are "stacked" by looking at them (not by any icon or indication) Then I highlight one and go back to viewing All my photos in the main catalog, and the picture shows up in its spot as an individual unstacked image. I go to collapse all stacks in the photo drop down and NOTHING happens. ??? what the heck?
So in collection view it is knowing that those images are parts of stacks... even though it doesn't show the icon. But when in the regular catalog view or in the folder views it does not recognize those stacks as stacks... just individual images.
Can anyone give me a clue as to what is happening? Just a strange glitch or bug? I can seem to stack images fresh and it shows the correct icons etc. but none of my original version stacks are displaying as they are supposed to.

[sailkelli]

I guess nobody is really using stacks? I think they are a very handy tool! But I am skittish about using this function when it acts so strangely... or IS it strange, maybe I am not understanding how they should work?

[sailkelli]

Stacks and stacking appear to work as planned in Lightroom 4
A transferred PSE catalog is supposed to transfer version sets as stacks when converted to a Lightroom catalog.
This did seem to happen...but then I could be remembering incorrectly... NOW when viewing photos in Lr4 catalog, the stacks do NOT appear to be replacing the version sets from PSE organizer. All the versions are individually displaying.
A strange side effect is that when I view photos that were parts of version sets that are also in a collection (originally “albums” in Organizer). I get a label on the filmstrip header that shows number of photos in the collection that indicates that all the photos are not displaying. (ie> Collection : flowers 76 of 117 photos) In this example the number 117 is what shows as the number in the collection listing (on the right) in the collections panel.
Now, if I go back to Elements organizer, that particular album has 76 images in it.
Many of which are the top images of version sets.

If I go to the menu bar at top and click on Photo > stacking > expand all stacks, while viewing my collection, they will all expand! all 117 images now will show in my grid and filmstrip. Yet while they are collapsed, you have NO indication that they are parts of anything like a stack or group or version, just the difference in number to clue you in.

If I go to show all my photos in the catalog, these behaviors are not the same. I don't see any stacks indicated, and all the photos are individually displayed whether or not they were originally in version sets or stacks from Organizer catalog. It almost gives me hope that somehow I could rescue all my thousands of version sets from my Organizer days since it seems those associations are somehow picked up in my collections that were converted from albums.*

I hope this re-wording of my problem will help to clarify what I am dealing with. If I can't somehow fix it so my version sets appear as stacks again, at least it may help others who see the strange numbers in the collections lists will know what that means.

[dj_paige]

Originally Posted by sailkelli

A transferred PSE catalog is supposed to transfer version sets as stacks when converted to a Lightroom catalog.

As far as I know, this is not true. It certainly didn't happen when my PSE catalog was converted to LR.

Originally Posted by sailkelli

Yet while they are collapsed, you have NO indication that they are parts of anything like a stack or group or version, just the difference in number to clue you in.

You are implying that the usual stack indicator on the photos is not present. This is the opposite of what I see.

I don't think there's any way to recover your version sets as stacks, other than by manually stacking them.

[sailkelli]

Originally Posted by dj_paige

As far as I know, this is not true. It certainly didn't happen when my PSE catalog was converted to LR.



You are implying that the usual stack indicator on the photos is not present. This is the opposite of what I see.

I don't think there's any way to recover your version sets as stacks, other than by manually stacking them.

Oh, I thought that I might have been mistaken in my memory of that, I just remember being impressed that I did have stacks, and now I don't. I may have done something that caused them to unstack permanently. boo!
You are right that I don't have any indicator on the photos, yet when I globally unstack in a collection, all the photos from my original version sets will reveal themselves. So somehow it has some record that they are part of a stack!
It doesn't give me any option to individually unstack but will restack if I collapse all.
They will not stack even when I expand or collapse in the overall folder view - except that the ones I've stacked/grouped inside of Lightroom DO have the stack icon and look normal and act normal.
I don't like that I can't use the stacked status as a search - I could do that in PSE 10 Organizer.

[dj_paige]

Originally Posted by sailkelli

Oh, I thought that I might have been mistaken in my memory of that, I just remember being impressed that I did have stacks, and now I don't. I may have done something that caused them to unstack permanently. boo!

I doubt this very much. As far as I know, the upgrade to a LR4 catalog doesn't create stacks from PSE version sets; it only creates stacks from PSE stacks. Even though I am 100% sure you did NOT do something to unstack version sets (because they weren't stacked), if you don't believe me, or if I'm wrong, you can convert your PSE catalog to LR4 a second time, and see what the stacking situation is without any "accidental unstacking".

Originally Posted by sailkelli

You are right that I don't have any indicator on the photos, yet when I globally unstack in a collection, all the photos from my original version sets will reveal themselves. So somehow it has some record that they are part of a stack!
It doesn't give me any option to individually unstack but will restack if I collapse all.
They will not stack even when I expand or collapse in the overall folder view - except that the ones I've stacked/grouped inside of Lightroom DO have the stack icon and look normal and act normal.
I don't like that I can't use the stacked status as a search - I could do that in PSE 10 Organizer.

To tell you the truth, this is one of those situations where reading text on a screen doesn't seem to get the point across. I really don't understand what you mean. I'm sure if I was sitting at your computer and could see what shows in Lightroom, I would understand what you mean. Maybe you could give us a screen capture or two or three to illustrate.