This problem shows up after almost every busy shoot. You export JPEG previews, send them to the client, get a shortlist back, and then need to track down the matching RAW files for editing, retouching, or delivery. In a small shoot, that is annoying. In a wedding or event job with thousands of files, it can eat up an entire evening.
The good news is that the workflow can be much simpler if your JPEGs still share the same base filenames as the original RAW captures.
Why this gets so tedious
Most photographers do not lose time because editing is slow. They lose time because the handoff between proofing and final edit is messy. A client might send back:
- a folder of selected JPEGs,
- a screenshot of filenames from an online gallery,
- or a copied text list of favorites.
Then the search begins. You sort through memory card backups, renamed export folders, and multiple RAW formats trying to match each selected preview back to the source file. That manual hunting creates three problems:
- It is slow when file counts get large.
- It is easy to miss a file or select the wrong version.
- It breaks your editing momentum right before the paid work starts.
The manual workflow most photographers use
The common process looks something like this: open the selected JPEG list, search for a matching basename in Finder or Explorer, repeat the process for every chosen frame, then copy those RAW files into a final edit folder.
It works, but it does not scale well. Once the client sends 80 picks from a 3,000-image job, repetitive searching becomes the bottleneck.
A better workflow for matching JPEG selections to RAW files
A faster approach is to separate the job into three clean inputs:
- Collect the selected JPEG filenames.
- Point to the folder or files containing your RAWs.
- Match by filename, then export only the RAW files that belong to those selections.
This is especially useful when your preview exports are JPGs but your originals are CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, RAF, or DNG files. As long as the basenames line up, the matching step can be automated.
What to do when clients send screenshots instead of files
This is common with wedding and portrait galleries. Instead of sending a ZIP of chosen JPEGs, clients often send a screenshot from Pixieset, Pic-Time, ShootProof, or another gallery tool. That still works, but there is one extra step: extract the visible filenames first.
The cleanest version is to crop the screenshot tightly to the filename list, then either transcribe the names or use OCR to pull them into a usable list. Once you have the names, the rest of the matching workflow is the same.
What an efficient final-edit handoff looks like
For many photographers, the ideal handoff is not complicated:
- The client chooses favorites from JPEG previews.
- You match those selections back to the source RAW files.
- You export the matched RAWs into one clean folder.
- You open only those files for final edit.
That keeps the proofing step lightweight and the final retouching step focused. No more digging through full card dumps every time someone says, "Can we edit image 1847?"
Where RAW Matcher fits in
RAW Matcher was built specifically for this bottleneck. You can input selected JPEGs as files, pasted text, or screenshot-derived names, choose your RAW files, and match them by filename in the browser. Then you export only the matched RAWs.
The main advantage is not just speed. It is reducing one of the most mind-numbing steps in a photography workflow so you can get back to editing sooner.
If you want to try it, the app is designed to stay local-first: your files never leave your computer, and you can start free.