How can I change the settings in Lightroom 4 in order to be able to flag only the image I've focused on and not the all selected photos?

Question

How can I change the settings in Lightroom 4 in order to be able to flag only the image I've focused on and not the all selected photos?

Few days ago I could flag (pick, reject or star) only the image I've focused on even if more than one image has been selected. Lightroom 4 is new to me and I don't know where should I change this settings (if there is setting like this). Now when I click to flag as pick, reject or rate LR flags, or rates all the photos that I've selected.

Any help is appriciated, thank you!

Answer 1

in Library Module in Survey View I had AutoSync enabled and this is the reason to have all selected photos flagged or rated and not only the active one.

Answer 2

In Library mode, you can quickly ensure that only the one image you're currently focused on will receive any flags, ratings, etc, by hitting Ctrl-D (cmd-D on a Mac). This is the shortcut key for "select none".

Answer 3

There's no setting to control this but the behaviour does vary depending on which module you're in. You can make multiple selections in all modules using the Filmstrip across the bottom of the screen. (If you don't see it, hit F6 to reveal it.)

• In the Library and Map modules, flags, star ratings and colour labels are applied to all selected photos.
• In the Develop, Book and Print modules, they're only applied to the active photo.

I can mostly understand why it's this way. In the Library module (especially the grid) you're likely to be batch editing groups of photos, so having to flag/star/label each one individually would be frustrating. In the other modules, you're more likely to be focused on a single image. I guess the Map module was also seen as a batch-editing module - I admit that one seems inconsistent to me but that's how it works so we're stuck with it.