Despite the many ways that Lightroom presents my images to me there is one particular view I miss from the Digital Asset Management (DAM) applications I used before Lightroom. That is the list view.
Sometimes (many times, in fact) it is necessary to review your catalog or some subset of images in the form of a list. This is especially true when your focus is on the many data elements associated with an image and not with the content of the image itself. Alas, Lightroom does not provide this functionality.
One thing Lightroom does provide, however, is an SDK (Software Development Kit) that allow developers to extend the capabilities of Lightroom. One such developer, John Beardsworth, has brought the List View to Lightroom! (John, by the way, is also an author and accomplished photographer!)
John’s ListView plugin is available from the Photographer’s Toolbox at a very reasonable price of £8.00 (which translated to a little over $13.00 when I purchased it). And, yes, there is a trial version available.
The plugin is very simple to install. If you have installed any other plugins for Lightroom the process is the same. Once installed you can invoke the list view from the File > Plugin Extras menu or the Library > Plugin Extras. There are three different list views to choose from: The Standard View
A Smaller Thumbnails View
And a Larger Thumbnails View
You can choose which view to use when you invoke the plugin.
What is especially great about how John has implemented this view is the ability to choose what data appears in the columns and save those configurations as presets! A very nice touch!
One other feature I particularly liked was the ability to edit some of the metadata in an edit dialog which gives you a very nice thumbnail, an indication of where you are in the list, and an obvious indication of which fields are in fact editable.
Not impressed yet? Well, the plugin also allows you to export your list to an HTML file or to a spreadsheet. Not only do the visible columns export but all the other metadata as well! You can set the location of your browser and spreadsheet application in the settings for the plugin.
If you miss having a list view (and even if you’ve never worked with one) I really hope you’ll give this plugin a try. John continues to improve on the interface (even adding several languages) and always responsive to user feedback. This is well worth the price!
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About the Author: Gene McCullagh
Contact Gene
Gene is an Adobe Community Professional and and Adobe Certified Expert in Photoshop Lightroom, Photoshop, and InDesign, and an avid Lightroom fan. He belongs to the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) and the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP). Gene also the Co-Founder, Manager and a frequent blogger for the Dallas Fort Worth Adobe User Group (DFWAUG).
In addition to running Lightroom Secrets, Gene also contributes to O'Reilly's media blog, moderates on the Adobe forums, and helps out on lightroomforums.net.
