When I first started using Lightroom, I noticed that you could set custom end marks at the bottom of your panels. I also knew that I could never, ever remember what I decided all the star rankings and colors would mean if I didn't write it down. So I wrote down those rankings and promptly lost that sheet of paper within a day or two.

It wasn't until a couple days ago when I was watching a Lightroom video on something completely unrelated that I saw the answer to my dilemma and as soon as I saw it I thought "That is brilliant! Why didn't I think of that?!"

In the video I was watching, the panel end marks were a legend for what the stars and colors meant to that person's catalog. No more losing bits of paper! Just open Lightroom and the key is right there for you!

Here's what my LR window looks like now:



Notice my custom Panel End Mark/Legend on the lower left. Awesome idea, especially since I have 3 computers that I use and now instead of trying to carry my little cheat sheet around to each without losing it, I have it already in LR whenever I open it.

And, just so this post wasn't all "Look what I did, I'm awesome!" I put a zip file with my custom end mark AND the PSD I used to create it on my website. You can download it by following this link.

If you use the PSD to modify the ratings and colors (how dare you! ), just turn off the background layer and save the image as a png with a transparent background. That way if you change your background color in Lightroom, it won't clash.

I'm not sure where to find the Panel End Marks folder on a Mac, but all I had to do on my PC was right click on the end mark in Lightroom. In the pop-up menu, hover over "Panel End Mark" and then click "Go to Panel End Marks Folder." This popped the folder up for me, I moved my png from the desktop into the end marks folder and it was instantly selectable from the end marks menu in Lightroom.

Many of you have probably already seen/thought of this, but the simple awesomeness of it blew my mind when I saw it, so I wanted to share in case it helped anyone else!

That's a clever idea! Thanks for the link.
Tom

Great idea thanks

Brilliant! Thanks for the post/link!!!