How do I import Profiles and Presets into Cloud and Mobile?

Presets and profiles are a popular starting point for photo editing, and there’s a vast number of presets and profiles available as free and paid downloads. Presets and profiles designed for Lightroom 4 or later, including Lightroom Classic, will work with the cloud-based Lightroom apps. These may have a *.lrtemplate, *.xmp, or *.dcp file extension. But how do you import them into the cloud-based Lightroom apps?

Importing Profiles & Presets on the Desktop

To install profiles and presets on the desktop, go to File menu > Import Profiles and Presets. Navigate to the folder or zip file containing the presets and click Import.

The presets appear in the Preset panel and profiles appear in the Profile Browser panel. If you can’t see them, they may not be fully compatible with the selected file type or camera model. To show the partially compatible presets, click/tap the … button at the top of the Presets panel and toggle Show Partially Compatible Presets (desktop/Android) / Show Partially Incompatible Presets (iOS).

Alternatively, the preset group or profile set might be hidden. Tap the … button at the top of the Presets panel and 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.

Importing Profiles & Presets on Mobile/Web

To install presets (XMP format only) on mobile, tap the … button at the top of the Presets panel and select Import Presets. You can import presets from your device’s storage (such as the Downloads folder) or Google Drive. Select the individual presets or a whole zip file containing multiple presets to start the import.

Creating Presets from DNG Files

Some preset developers sell their presets as DNG image files.

To add these presets, copy the DNG  photos to the device, for example, by emailing the files to yourself or placing them in an iCloud or Dropbox folder. Import the photos into Lightroom, and then select them each in Edit view.

To create a preset for use on your own photos, click the … button at the top of the Presets panel and select Create Preset, then give the preset a name and select a Preset Group to keep the presets together.

Check all panels (unless you know the preset only uses specific sliders) and tap Save. This isn’t ideal, as it’ll overwrite any existing edits when you apply the preset to a photo, but it’s better than nothing.

But I use Lightroom Classic with Lightroom mobile!

As you may have discovered, Lightroom Classic only has limited ability to sync with the cloud, and that doesn’t include syncing presets and profiles. Don’t worry though, there is still a way to get your Lightroom Classic profiles and presets to the mobile apps…

1. Open the Creative Cloud app and install the Lightroom desktop app. (It’s the one with ‘cloud-based service’ seen below.)
   
2. Open Lightroom Desktop and it’ll automatically start downloading any low resolution previews of photos that are in the cloud, just like installing on your phone or tablet. Do NOT run the catalog migration tool if you’re planning to continue using Lightroom Classic.
3. Go to Edit menu (Windows) / Lightroom menu (Mac) > Preferences > Local Storage and set Use photo cache size to 0% of your remaining disk space. This minimizes the local storage space Lightroom Desktop uses on your hard drive, which is handy if you’re only using it to upload profiles and presets.
   
4. Go to File menu > Import Profiles and Presets and navigate to any profiles and presets you want to import. You can simply select the parent folder and Lightroom will search inside, rather than having to select the individual presets and profiles. Locations may include:
   • Windows:
     • C: \ Users \ [your username] \ AppData \ Roaming \ Adobe \ Lightroom \ Develop Presets \  (ignore any presets that have a ~ at the beginning of the filename)
     • C: \ Users \ [your username] \ AppData \ Roaming \ Adobe \ CameraRaw \
     • C:\ ProgramData \ Adobe \ CameraRaw \ Settings \
     • next to your catalog, inside a Lightroom Settings folder
   • Mac:
     • Macintosh HD / Users / [your username] / Library / Application Support / Adobe / Lightroom / Develop Presets / (ignore any presets that have a ~ at the beginning of the filename)
     • Macintosh HD / Users / [your username] / Library / Application Support / Adobe / CameraRaw /
     • Macintosh HD / Library / Application Support / Adobe/ CameraRaw /
     • next to your catalog, inside a Lightroom Settings folder
   • (Note that many of these folders are hidden by the operating system.)
5. Leave Lightroom to finish syncing (check by clicking on the cloud icon), then quit. You don’t need to open Lightroom Desktop again until you want to upload more profiles/presets (unless you want to, of course!)
   
6. Check your mobile apps are updated to the latest release, and allow them to sync. If the profiles/presets still don’t show up in the Profile/Presets panels, force quit and restart the app.
   

For lots more information and tips on using Lightroom, see Adobe Lightroom – Edit Like a Pro (covers the cloud and mobile versions). If you have a current Premium Membership, you can download the latest version of your book from the Members Area right now. (And if not, here’s the shop – go and buy your copy!)