How to Auto Sort RAW Files Before Lightroom Import

RAW and JPEG Mixed Together Before Every Lightroom Import

Professional photographers shoot in RAW for maximum editing flexibility, but RAW files come with a hidden organizational nightmare. Every camera brand uses a different format: Canon produces CR2 and CR3 files, Nikon generates NEF, Sony uses ARW, and Fujifilm creates RAF. When you offload a memory card, these RAW files land in the same folder as your JPEG previews, and separating them by hand is a chore.

The problem compounds when you have multiple camera bodies or shoot with a second shooter at events. You end up with a folder full of mixed CR2, NEF, ARW, and JPG files, and you need to sort them before importing into your photo editing workflow. RAW files go to one archive for processing, JPEGs go to another for quick sharing or client previews. Manually selecting, filtering, and dragging hundreds of files eats into your editing time.

Worse, if you forget to separate RAW files before import, your editing software’s catalog becomes cluttered with duplicates and mixed-format pairs. Reorganizing a catalog after the fact is painful and time-consuming. You need the separation to happen before import — automatically, every single time.

Auto-Separate RAW from JPEG the Moment They Arrive

FinalPlace separates RAW files from JPEGs the moment they arrive. Set up a rule to watch your import folder and target RAW extensions like CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, and RAF. FinalPlace moves them to a dedicated RAW archive instantly, leaving JPEG previews behind in the original folder for quick access.

Brand-specific routing keeps multi-camera shoots organized. If you shoot with Canon and Nikon bodies, FinalPlace can route CR2 files to a Canon subfolder and NEF files to a Nikon subfolder. This makes Lightroom catalog setup clean and predictable — each import session pulls from a consistent, pre-sorted location.

The safety-first engine ensures no file is moved mid-write. FinalPlace’s 3-second default trigger delay waits until each RAW file is fully written to disk before acting. The Watchdog safety system monitors the process, so even large 50 MB RAW files from a burst-mode import are handled without corruption or data loss.

Set Up RAW File Auto-Sorting in Three Steps

Add RAW extensions to a new monitoring rule. In FinalPlace, set the watch folder to your memory card import or inbox directory. Add the file extensions you want to auto-sort: CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, and RAF. You can include or exclude JPEG separately depending on your workflow.
Set the destination for each format. Configure the action to “Move” and specify a destination folder for RAW files, such as ~/Photos/RAW-Archive/. If you shoot with multiple brands, create separate rules for each extension group with different destination subfolders.
Run your first import and verify. Copy a batch of mixed-format files into your watched folder. Watch as FinalPlace separates RAWs from JPEGs within seconds. Once confirmed, leave the rule running — every future import is sorted before you even open Lightroom.

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