Export, naming, delivery — the overnight file highway

Delivery is the product

An agent never sees your Lightroom catalog. They see a folder of files — named right, sized right, arriving on time. Botch the export and a flawless edit becomes a support ticket: photos the MLS rejects, files too heavy to upload, a gallery in random order. This lesson is the unglamorous machinery that makes the 9am promise real.

The two export recipes

Almost every job ships one or both of these. Learn them as reflexes:

Why it matters: an AdobeRGB file on the MLS renders dull and desaturated in browsers; a 72 PPI web file on a printed flyer turns to mush; oversized files choke MLS uploaders. Save both recipes as export presets on day one and never hand-type them again.

Naming: boring, and completely non-negotiable

The house standard you'll most often see: PropertyAddress_Room_## — as in 4521Maple_Kitchen_01.jpg, 4521Maple_PrimaryBath_02.jpg. Sequence numbers follow the walkthrough order from your cull plan, because most delivery portals and MLS uploaders sort alphabetically — your numbering IS the gallery order the buyer sees.

Rules that prevent 2am disasters: no spaces (underscores only), no special characters, consistent room vocabulary from the company's list ("PrimaryBed," not "MasterBR" one night and "Bedroom1" the next), and the address spelled exactly as the order sheet spells it. Batch-rename in Lightroom on export — hand-renaming 35 files invites the typo that mislabels a bathroom.

Folder discipline

One property, one folder tree, identical every night: 4521Maple/01_RAW (untouched originals), 02_Selects (culled brackets), 03_Edited (working files/PSDs), 04_Delivery_MLS and 05_Delivery_Print (exports only), plus notes.txt for flags and decisions. Never edit inside RAW, never deliver from anywhere but the delivery folders, never leave rejects mixed with finals. When a client asks for a re-edit three weeks later, this tree is the difference between a 5-minute fix and an archaeology dig.

The overnight file highway

Build your personal buffer: aim to finish editing 90 minutes before the QC gate. Uploads fail, power blips, one house always has cursed light. The editors who last are the ones whose margin absorbs the bad nights — backup internet and a charged power station are part of the job description, not optional extras.

When the highway jams

Missing files ("92 sets" in the notes, 78 in the folder), a corrupted upload, a property that can't hit tier count — the rule is always the same: flag early, in writing, with specifics. A 1am message saying "Job 2214 short 14 bracket sets — missing the basement and two baths; can the shooter re-upload or should I deliver 28 with a note?" gives the US side a whole evening to fix it. Discovering the same gap at 8:40am gives them nothing but an angry agent.

Do this now

Build the delivery kit you'd use on night one. In your file manager, create the full folder tree for a fictional job at 2107Birchwood. Write out the complete file-name list for a 30-photo MLS delivery in walkthrough order (exterior → living → kitchen → 4 beds → 3 baths → deck → 3 aerials), exactly as the files would be named. Then write the two export recipes from memory — MLS and print — and check them against the table above.

Screenshot the tree, save everything as delivery-kit-drill. If your recipes were wrong from memory, redo the drill tomorrow — these two specs must live in your reflexes, not your notes.