Sortwell™ User Guide

What Sortwell is

Sortwell sorts a folder of scans into one folder per batch, using batch cards. It is made for the Easy Index Workflow: before each group of photos you scan (or capture on a copy stand) a colored card with the batch's date, number and subject. Sortwell finds every card, reads what it says, makes a folder named from it, and moves the card and the photos after it, up to the next card, into that folder.

One folder of scans                      After Sortwell
  Scan-001  (batch card)               1982-10-31-Halloween-0001
  Scan-002 ... Scan-004               Scan-001 (the card), Scan-002 ... Scan-004
  Scan-005  (batch card)               1997-12-25-Christmas-0002
  Scan-006 ... Scan-007               Scan-005, Scan-006, Scan-007

Sortwell comes two ways, with one license for both:

• The Lightroom Classic plug-in, for photos already in your catalog, such as tethered captures: Library > Plug-in Extras > Sort batch cards into folders.
• The Sortwell app, for Windows and Mac. It opens in your web browser and doesn't need Lightroom.

Nothing moves until you have checked what each card says and clicked Sort into folders, and every run can be undone.

Quick start

1. Install: run the Setup program on Windows, or Install Sortwell on a Mac, and choose the app, the Lightroom Classic plug-in or both (see Install).
2. Make the cards: a colored card before each batch, with the card designator in the middle and Batch: 0001 Date: 1982-10-31 Subject: Halloween along the top (see Make batch cards Sortwell can read). Scan or capture them with the photos.

In Lightroom Classic

1. In the Folders panel, click the folder of scans.
2. Choose Library > Plug-in Extras > Sort batch cards into folders, and click Find the cards.
3. Check what Sortwell read on each card, and fix anything it misread.
4. Click Sort into folders. The Folders panel shows one folder per batch.

In the app

1. Open Sortwell from the Start menu, or from Applications > ThePictureOrg on a Mac. It opens in your web browser.
2. Click Choose and pick the folder of scans, then click Find the cards.
3. Check what Sortwell read on each card, then click Sort into folders.

Changed your mind? Library > Plug-in Extras > Undo a Sortwell run, or Undo in the app.

Next: Make batch cards Sortwell can read, Sort scans in Lightroom Classic, Sort a folder with the app, Read hard handwriting online, Finish the batch folders, Delete the cards when you're done.

Make batch cards Sortwell can read

• Use solid, colored card stock in any color (pink, yellow, blue, green, orange …). White or grey cards look too much like the back of a print.

• Put the card designator in the middle of each card: a circle with two opposite quarters filled in black (top left and bottom right), printed or drawn, about the size of a coin. This is how Sortwell tells a batch card from a photo, whatever color the card is. You can use a mark of your own instead (see Settings).

• Along the top of the card, write each thing after a printed word saying what it is, with the date as year-month-day and 00 for a part you don't know:

  Batch: 0001     Date: 1982-10-31     Subject: Halloween
  Batch: 0003     Date: 1976-03-00     Subject: Spring Break      (March 1976, day not known)
  Batch: 0004     Date: 1975-00-00     Subject: baby              (only the year is known)

• Use a dark pencil or marker, in clear letters. Sortwell reads printed numbers very well and clear handwriting well. Joined-up or faint handwriting is harder: the review lets you fix anything it misread, or you can have the hard ones read online with your own API key (see Read hard handwriting online).

• The words before each part can be Batch, Number or No.; Date; and Subject, Description or Event. Without them Sortwell still finds the parts: a number on its own is the batch, a date is the date, and the rest is the subject.

• The date can also be written 6/21/1987, 21 June 1987, June 1987, 1987, a range (1985-88), a decade (1970s) or a guess (circa 1962, c. 1962).

• If you scan the back of each card too, that's fine: a blank card straight after a card is taken as its back and goes into the same folder.

• Photos before the first card stay where they are.

Sort scans in Lightroom Classic

Use this for scans or tethered captures that are already in your catalog.

1. In the Folders panel, click the folder of scans (or select the photos to sort).
2. Library > Plug-in Extras > Sort batch cards into folders.
3. Check the settings (see Settings) and click Find the cards. Sortwell reads each card from its own file (for camera raw files, the preview inside it), or from Lightroom's preview if the file can't be opened.
4. The review shows each card, what Sortwell read on it, and the folder it will make. Fix any date, number or subject that was misread; the folder name changes as you type. Untick a "card" that isn't one: its photos then stay with the batch before it.
5. Click Sort into folders.

Sortwell moves the files (and their .xmp sidecars) on disk, adds them to the catalog at their new places, and puts back what the catalog knew about each photo: its pick or reject flag, stars, keywords, title, caption and the other IPTC fields, GPS location, its Develop settings (edits, crop and rotation) and the collections it is in. Then it removes the old entries, so the Folders panel shows the batch folders with their photos. (With Copy, rather than move, the originals stay in the catalog as they were, and the copies are added with the same catalog data.)

Let Lightroom import the moved photos in one go (on the review screen) is faster on big folders. Lightroom gives plug-ins no way to import many photos at once, so normally Sortwell adds them one at a time. With this ticked, Sortwell moves the files, removes the old entries, and then chooses Library > Synchronize Folder in Lightroom's own menu and clicks Synchronize, so Lightroom imports them all in one go. Then Sortwell puts back what the catalog knew about each photo, as above. In the Synchronize Folder dialog, Lightroom keeps the ticks you left last time: Import new photos should be ticked; Show import dialog before importing is best left unticked (if it's ticked, click Import in the dialog that opens); and leave Remove missing photos from catalog unticked (Sortwell has already removed the old entries, and that box would also remove any other missing photos in the folder). If Sortwell can't click Synchronize itself, it says so in the progress bar: click it, and Sortwell carries on. This works when the batch folders go inside a folder the catalog already has (such as the scan folder). On a Mac, the first time, allow Lightroom Classic under System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility. Lightroom's menus must be in English. If the menu can't be used, Sortwell adds the photos one at a time as usual and says so.

Afterwards Sortwell opens the folder the batch folders went in. If that folder isn't in the catalog's Folders panel yet, the batch folders show at the top level instead: right-click one of them > Show Parent Folder to see them inside it. (Lightroom doesn't let plug-ins add a folder that has no photos in it.)

What can't be carried over, because Lightroom doesn't let plug-ins set it: virtual copies, stacks, Develop snapshots and the history list, links to publish services, and other plug-ins' fields. Sortwell tells you before anything moves if any of the photos have these. Tethered captures and fresh scans usually have none of them.

On Lightroom Classic older than 14.3, Sortwell can't remove the old entries itself, and they show as missing photos in the scan folder. Right-click the folder > Synchronize Folder and tick "Remove missing photos from catalog" to clear them.

The cards get the keyword Sortwell > Batch card, so you can find them all in the Keyword List. Like all keywords our plug-ins add, it is never exported with your photos.

Sort a folder with the app

Use this for scans that aren't in Lightroom, or to sort a folder before you import it.

1. Start Sortwell (Windows: Start menu > Sortwell; Mac: Applications > ThePictureOrg > Sortwell). It opens in your web browser and works only on this computer.
2. Click Choose and pick the folder of scans, or type or paste its path in the box.
3. Check the settings on the left and click Find the cards.
4. Check each card's date, number and subject, as in Sort scans in Lightroom Classic, then click Sort into folders.
5. Show the folders opens the folder they went into.

The app reads JPEG, TIFF, PNG and camera raw files (for raw files it uses the preview picture inside the file).

To bring the sorted folders into Lightroom Classic afterwards, import the folder the batches went into as usual, with "Include Subfolders" on.

Read hard handwriting online

This is optional. For cards this computer can't read well, Sortwell can also ask an online service: Claude (Anthropic), OpenAI or Google Gemini, with your own API key, so what it costs goes on your own account (usually a fraction of a cent per card). Only the batch cards are sent, never your photos.

• Lightroom Classic: File > Plug-in Manager > Sortwell > Reading hard handwriting online. The app: under Reading the cards, click Read hard handwriting online.
• Choose the service, then Enter API key (or paste it in the app) and save. Get a key opens the service's page for API keys, and Getting an API key below has the steps. A chat subscription (such as ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro) does not include an API key.
• When: Only cards this computer can't read well (a part is missing, or the reader wasn't sure) or Every card.
• A key saved for Labelwell or Datewell is used too. The Lightroom plug-in and the app share these settings.
• The review says "read online" for each card the service read. If the service can't be reached, the cards keep what this computer read.
• To stop, choose None as the service or click Remove key. On Google's free tier, Google may use what is sent to improve its products; on a paid key it does not.

Getting an API key

An API key is a long password that lets Sortwell use your account with the service. A chat subscription such as Claude Pro or ChatGPT Plus does not include one: the key comes from the service's developer site, which has its own sign-in and its own pay-as-you-go billing. You only need one key, from one service, and if you already saved one in Labelwell or Datewell, Sortwell uses it too. The sites change their menus from time to time, so a button may be worded a little differently from what is written here.

Which one to choose

• Claude (Anthropic) is the one we use in our own studio. It reads handwriting best in our tests, costs a fraction of a cent per card, and what you send on a paid account is not used to train its models.
• Google Gemini has a free key with no card needed, which is a good way to try reading online. On the free key, Google may use what you send to improve its products, and people at Google may look at it, so don't use the free key on cards you'd want kept private. With billing turned on, Google doesn't use what you send.
• OpenAI works the same way as Claude: a paid account with credit added first.

Claude (Anthropic)

1. Go to console.anthropic.com and sign up (or sign in) with your email or Google account. This is a separate account from a claude.ai chat subscription, though it can use the same email.
2. Open Settings > Billing and click Buy credits. Add a small amount; $5 is the least you can add and lasts a long time for reading cards. Reading online won't work until the account has credit.
3. Open Settings > API keys and click Create key. Give it a name you'll recognize, such as Sortwell.
4. Click Copy and paste the key into Sortwell straight away (it starts with sk-ant-). The site shows the key only once; if you lose it, delete it there and create a new one.

Google Gemini

1. Go to aistudio.google.com and sign in with your Google account. The first time, accept the terms. A work or school Google account may not be allowed to make keys; a personal Gmail account works.
2. Click Get API key (or go straight to aistudio.google.com/apikey), then Create API key. If it asks about a project, choose to create it in a new project.
3. Copy the key (it starts with AIza) and paste it into Sortwell.
4. The free key has daily limits, about a thousand or so readings a day, which is plenty for most jobs. To lift the limits and keep your cards out of Google's product improvement, turn on billing for the key's project in AI Studio.

OpenAI

1. Go to platform.openai.com and sign up (or sign in). This is separate from a ChatGPT subscription.
2. Open Settings > Billing and add credit; $5 is the usual least amount.
3. Open API keys (platform.openai.com/api-keys) and click Create new secret key. Give it a name such as Sortwell.
4. Copy the key (it starts with sk-) and paste it into Sortwell straight away; it is shown only once.

Keeping your key safe

Treat the key like a password: don't email it, post it or put it in a screenshot. Sortwell keeps it on this computer only. If you think someone else has seen it, delete it on the service's site, create a new one, and paste the new one into Sortwell. The service's own billing page shows what you have spent, and you can set a spending limit there.

Finish the batch folders

When a batch's photos are in order, Finish the batch folders makes each batch folder final:

• the folder's date goes into every photo as its date taken (at noon). A part written 00 is unknown: 1982-10-00 is written as October 1982, 1982-00-00 as 1982. A circa year (c1955) is written as that year; a decade (1960s) or a span of years (1975-1978) writes no date;
• the folder's event name (the card's subject) is added to every photo as a keyword;
• the batch number comes off the folder's name: "1982-10-31-Halloween-0001" becomes "1982-10-31-Halloween";
• the photos are renamed with the folder's new name and a four-digit number: 1982-10-31-Halloween-0001.jpg, -0002 and so on. Two folders that end up with the same name are joined into one and numbered on.

The date and the keyword are written into each photo (for camera raw files, into the .xmp sidecar beside it), so other programs see them too. Batch cards still in a folder keep their names and are left out of the numbering.

• Lightroom Classic: click the folder the batch folders are in (or select the batch folders) in the Folders panel, then Library > Plug-in Extras > Finish the batch folders. The photos are numbered in the order Lightroom shows them at that moment: sort the grid the way you want first (View > Sort, or drag them into a custom order). Photos a filter or a closed stack hides are numbered last. Each photo keeps its flags, stars, keywords, edits and collections.
• The app: menu > Finish the batch folders, then the folder the batch folders are in, then Finish. The photos are numbered in file-name order.

A preview shows every folder's new name, date and keyword, and the first and last new file names, before anything changes. Undo a Sortwell run puts the names, folders, dates and keywords back.

Delete the cards when you're done

When you have finished with the batches (captions, rotation and so on), the cards can go.

• Lightroom Classic: click the scan folder (or the folder the batches are in), then Library > Plug-in Extras > Delete the batch cards. Only the batch cards (the photos with the keyword Sortwell > Batch card) go to the Recycle Bin (Windows) or the Trash (Mac), with their .xmp sidecars, and come out of the catalog. No other photo is touched, so you can still get a card back from the Recycle Bin or Trash.
• Or, to look at them first along with photos you rejected yourself: Library > Plug-in Extras > Mark batch cards and rejects for deletion. The cards are flagged Rejected, along with any photos you rejected yourself. Then Photo > Delete Rejected Photos > "Delete from Disk". Lightroom shows you what will be deleted and asks first.
• The app: menu > Remove or delete the batch cards, then for a run either Move out (the cards go into one folder named "Removed batch cards", next to the batch folders, so you can look before you delete that folder; this can be undone too) or Delete (just the cards go to the Recycle Bin or Trash).

Settings

A card Sortwell misses, or a photo it takes for a card

Select the photo, then Library > Plug-in Extras > Mark as a batch card or Not a batch card, and run Sortwell again. Clear the batch card marking takes the mark off.

In the app, untick a photo that isn't a card on the review screen. For cards it misses, see Help.

Undo

• A run that copied the photos: undo deletes the copies (only where the original is still there) and the batch folders, and leaves the originals alone.
• Lightroom Classic: Library > Plug-in Extras > Undo a Sortwell run moves every file of a run back where it was, puts it back in the catalog with its flags, keywords and edits, and deletes the batch folders the run made once they are empty.
• The app: the Undo button (or menu > Undo) does the same for the files.

Each run keeps a small undo file in your PictureOrg folder, "Sortwell-undo". A file that was moved or renamed after the run is left where it is, and the undo says so.

Install

There are three downloads. The installers ask what to install: the Lightroom Classic plug-in, the standalone app (no Lightroom needed), or both. One license covers both, and you can run the installer again later to add the other.

Windows: the Setup program (ThePictureOrg-Sortwell-Setup-<version>.exe)

1. If you are installing the plug-in, close Lightroom Classic.
2. Double-click the Setup program. If Windows shows "Windows protected your PC", click More info, then Run anyway.
3. Accept the license, tick what to install and click Install.
4. The app is in the Start menu as Sortwell. For the plug-in, start Lightroom Classic. Select the scan folder (or its photos), then Library > Plug-in Extras > Sort batch cards into folders.

Mac: the Install Sortwell app (ThePictureOrg-Sortwell-Mac-<version>.zip)

1. Double-click the zip to unzip it. If you are installing the plug-in, quit Lightroom Classic.
2. Double-click Install Sortwell, and click Open when macOS asks. It is signed and checked by Apple.
3. Choose what to install and click Install.
4. The app is in Applications > ThePictureOrg. For the plug-in, start Lightroom Classic. Select the scan folder (or its photos), then Library > Plug-in Extras > Sort batch cards into folders.

On a Mac with an Intel processor, Sortwell uses the Mac's own Python 3. If the Mac has none, the installer says so: install Python 3 from python.org.

Updating and removing: run the installer from the new download the same way, or click Install now when Sortwell offers an update (see Updates). Your settings and license key are kept. To remove Sortwell, use Uninstall Sortwell in the Start menu on Windows, or the Uninstall Sortwell app in the Mac download.

Installing the plug-in by hand: on Windows, right-click ThePictureOrg-Sortwell-Win-<version>.zip, choose Properties, tick Unblock, and unzip it. On a Mac, right-click Install Sortwell, choose Show Package Contents and open Contents > Resources. Move the PictureOrgSortwell.lrplugin folder somewhere permanent, then in Lightroom Classic choose File > Plug-in Manager > Add and pick it. Use one way or the other, not both, or the menu appears twice.

Where it goes: the installers put the plug-in in Lightroom's own plug-in folder for your user account, where Lightroom finds it by itself (%APPDATA%\Adobe\Lightroom\Modules\PictureOrgSortwell.lrplugin on Windows, ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom/Modules/PictureOrgSortwell.lrplugin on a Mac). No administrator password is needed. If the Mac installer has a problem, it keeps a log for support in ~/Library/Logs/PictureOrg/Sortwell-install.log.

License and free trial

• Free trial: every feature works for 21 days on each computer. The Plug-in Manager panel and the app show how many days are left, for example "Free trial: 14 days left".
• After the trial: for 7 more days Sortwell still works, with a reminder. After that, finding and reading the cards still works, and sorting needs a license key. When a license key is needed, Sortwell says "the free trial has ended" and offers Buy a license and Enter key....
• Buying: click Buy a license in the License section of File > Plug-in Manager (select Sortwell), or on the license line at the top of the app, or go to thepictureorg.com/tools. One license is for one person on up to 2 computers, covers the app and the Lightroom plug-in, and includes complimentary updates within the major version (a version 1 key works for every 1.x release).
• Entering your key: paste the whole key from your order email into the License key box in the Plug-in Manager and click Enter key, or click the license line at the top of the app. Spaces and line breaks don't matter. It then says "Licensed to" and your name. The key is checked on this computer: nothing is sent anywhere, and no internet connection is needed.
• Plug-in and app: one license, one free trial. The plug-in and the app share the key and the 21-day count on each computer, so a key entered in either unlocks both.
• New computer: click Remove license from this computer on the old one (it asks first), then enter the key on the new one.
• Where the key is kept: in your user account, not in the program's folder, so it stays through updates and reinstalling: %LOCALAPPDATA%\PictureOrg on Windows, ~/Library/Application Support/PictureOrg on a Mac.

Updates

• Automatic check: once a day Sortwell looks up the current version number on thepictureorg.com's download service, in the background when Lightroom starts and when you run it. Only that small version list is fetched: nothing about your computer, your photos or your license key is sent.
• When a new version is out: the next time you run Sortwell, a message says so once per Lightroom session: Install now (or Download), Not now (asks again next time you start Lightroom) and Skip this version (stays quiet until a later version comes out). Nothing is downloaded or installed until you click.
• Install now: Sortwell downloads the update, checks that it arrived whole and unchanged, that it carries The Picture Org's release signature and that it is newer than the version you have, and installs it into its own folder, with a progress bar. Then quit and restart Lightroom Classic to start using it. If anything goes wrong, every file is put back as it was.
• Download: opens the installer download in your browser; close Lightroom Classic and run the new Setup program (Windows) or Install Sortwell (Mac). Your settings and license key are kept either way.
• Plug-in Manager > Updates: shows your version and whether a newer one is out, with Check now, Install update, Download installer and What's new. Untick Check for updates automatically to turn the daily check off; Check now still works. When an update can't be installed from inside your version, the panel says to use Download installer for that one.
• The app checks once a day when it opens, and Check for updates checks at any time. When a new version is out, a bar lets you install it (the app installs it into its own folder, then restarts itself), download the installer, or see what's new. The plug-in and the app update separately: each installed copy has its own files.

Updates within the major version are complimentary.

Help

• No cards were found: check that the cards have the designator on them (or, for cards without one, choose "The first photo is a card" or "Cards of any color", and try Color match "Loose"). With a designator of your own, check that its picture is cropped close and is the same mark as on the cards.

• A photo was taken for a card: untick it in the review (or mark it "Not a batch card" in Lightroom). Without a designator, try Color match "Strict".

• Check my setup (in the app's menu, or in File > Plug-in Manager with Sortwell selected) checks that everything Sortwell needs works on this computer, and shows the result as text you can copy or save.

• Create an error log (in the app's menu, or Library > Plug-in Extras > Sortwell: Create an error log) saves a text file on your Desktop with what Sortwell did. Email it to The Picture Org with a few words about what went wrong. File names are in it; your photos aren't, and nothing is sent by itself.

Appendix: What's new

• 0.9.12: this User Guide is reorganized, with a Quick start and one section for each job.
• 0.9.11: Let Lightroom import the moved photos in one go for big folders; every finished run says how long it took; Sortwell home page, User Guide and Other -well tools buttons in the Plug-in Manager.
• 0.9.10: Sortwell removes old catalog entries only when exactly those entries are selected; faster with large folders in Lightroom Classic.

Earlier versions: see CHANGELOG.txt.

Appendix: License and credits

© 2026 The Picture Org LLC · thepictureorg.com. Sortwell reads the cards with RapidOCR and finds them with OpenCV (and, only if you set it up, the online service you chose), and writes dates with ExifTool by Phil Harvey. See NOTICE.txt.