How do I import Profiles and Presets into Classic?

There’s a vast number of Lightroom profiles and presets available for free download and for sale, but since April 2018 (Lightroom Classic 7.3) the method for importing profiles and presets has changed. So, how do you import Profiles and Presets into Lightroom Classic now? Let’s take a look at two options:

Method 1 – Automatic Import

To automatically import profiles and presets, just go to Develop module > File menu > Import Develop Profiles and Presets and navigate to the files. This can import XMP presets, XMP profiles, DCP profiles, and LCP lens profiles, even if they’re inside a zip file.

To automatically import the old lrtemplate format Develop presets, unzip them and then go to Presets panel > + button > Import Presets and navigate to the presets. They’ll be imported and automatically converted to XMP format presets in the User Presets folder.

Method 2 – Manual Installation

Automatically imported profiles and presets are placed in the Camera Raw / Imported Settings folders in your user account, rather than being stored with your catalog. If you use your Lightroom Classic catalog on multiple computers, and therefore have Store Presets with This Catalog checked in Preferences > Presets, you’ll need to install presets manually.

Also, if you have the old style *.lrtemplate format presets tidily organized into folders, this organization is lost when importing automatically, so you may want to install them manually.

We need to look at *.lrtemplate format and *.xmp format separately, as they’re placed in different locations.

• Manual installation of *.lrtemplate format presets:
  1. Unzip the presets if they’re zipped.
  2. Find the Develop Presets folder in Explorer (Windows) / Finder (Mac) by going to the Preferences > Presets tab and pressing the Show All Other Lightroom Presets button.
     You can also manually navigate to:
     Windows—C: \ Users \ [your username] \ AppData \ Adobe \ Lightroom \
     Mac— Macintosh HD / Library / Users / [your username] / Application Support / Adobe / Lightroom /
  3. Drag (or copy/paste) the presets into the Develop Presets subfolder, still in their folders if you’d like to keep them organized in the same way.
  4. Restart Lightroom. Lightroom automatically converts the presets to the new XMP format.
• Manual installation of *.xmp format presets and creative profiles:

  1. Unzip the presets if they’re zipped.
  2. Find the Develop Presets folder in Explorer (Windows) / Finder (Mac) by going to the Preferences > Presets tab and pressing the Show Lightroom Develop Presets button.
     You can also manually navigate to:
     Windows—C: \ Users \ [your username] \ AppData \ Adobe \ CameraRaw \ Settings \
     Mac— Macintosh HD / Library / Users / [your username] / Application Support / Adobe / CameraRaw / Settings /
  3. Drag (or copy/paste) the presets into the selected Settings folder.
  4. Restart Lightroom.

Where are they?

The presets appear in the Preset panel in the Develop module and profiles appear in the Profile Browser at the top of the Basic panel.

If you can’t see them, they may not be fully compatible with the selected file type or camera model. Check the Show Partially Compatible Develop Presets in Preferences > Presets to show the presets regardless of their settings.

Alternatively, the preset group or profile set might be hidden. Click the … button at the top of the Presets panel or Profile Browser and select Manage Presets / Manage Profiles. Check the group/sets that are unchecked and return to the panel to view all available presets/profiles.

Related posts

If you have Lightroom (cloud-based), then check the related post How do I import Profiles and Presets into Cloud and Mobile?

You might want to create your own preset. This can save time and also help with consistency. We look at how to do this in How do I create Lightroom presets?