How Can I Customize Adobe Photoshop Lightroom?

Lightroom is a pretty advanced piece of software. It packs awesome organizational tools with tremendous raw/batch editing capabilities.

So if you wanted to customize the way Lightroom organizes imports by date, you can do that... right?

Well, you can. But it's not a very well publicized or well-known feature of the software. It doesn't appear in any of the menus. Nor does it appear in the standard help offerings/manuals. It's incredibly simple, but it's also well-hidden.

The answer? TranslatedStrings.txt.

What's That?

The TranslatedStrings.txt file is a method for localizing Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. It's intended to contain non-English translations of things like menu options, dialog boxes, and program text. If you want Lightroom to be French, for example, Lightroom will look for the French TranslatedStrings.txt file to replace all of the standard English text.

It can also be used to accomplish some nifty customization tricks, including creating custom date formats for importing photos and sorting them by date.

I'll Bite. How?

It's really pretty simple. For some detailed instructions, read through this article on how to customize Lightroom's date format for imports.

First, you need to create a TranslatedStrings.txt file. These exist for non-English languages, but (assuming you're using the standard English version of Lightroom) there is by default no English TranslatedStrings.txt. Within your Adobe Lightroom program folder, go to the Resources folder. Create a folder called "en." Then, create a text file called "TranslatedStrings.txt."

In this file, include one simple line. "$$$/AgImportDialog/ShootArrangement_1/Template=%Y/%m/%Y-%m-%d" Include the quotes at the beginning and end.

This will replace the first option in your "Date Format" drop-down menu of the Import window. Instead of the typical entry, it will say something like "2011/08/2011-08-06."

What Else Do I Need to Know?

That'll get you started. If you're not in the mood to experiment, here are two resources to help you further. First, here's a list of possible values you can include in your date format. There are 16 possible values, including variations on dates, days, and time.

You may also want to check out this resource regarding the ShootArrangement value and the menu order. There are 13 entries into the dropdown box, and you can replace each of them. The previously mentioned article will show you the order in which they appear in the menu... because oddly enough it's not 1, 2, 3...

So what are you waiting for? Get customizing. Make Lightroom yours. Don't make it transform your workflow when you can easily bend it to your will.