How to bring LR4 catalog into LR5?

[Gene_mtl]

I recently installed the new Lightroom 5. I had the LR5 beta installed using a separate catalog than the one I have for LR4.

LR5 is using the Catalog from LR5beta. I want to keep this. But I also want to bring my LR4 catalog into LR5.

Can anyone direct me to a tutorial or advise what steps I must follow to achieve this?

One other point that I should mention. While playing with the beta, I did not have enough images so I imported a folder or two of images that were in the LR4 catalog. So when I do manage to import the LR4 catalog into LR5, these will be duplicates. Because I've applied toold and features that are new to LR5 to some of these images. I'd want to keep teh LR5 versions and not overwrite them with teh LR4 versions. Is there anything I need to know or do before or during the merging to avoid problems?

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

 

[bigbob]

I am having the same problem. bob

 

[clee01l]

In LR5, Open the LR4 catalog. LR5 will offer to convert the LR4 structure to the LR5 Structure and output a LR5 copy of the LR4 catalog.
This catalog will most likely be your new Master catalog. When it is open, use the Import From Catalog option to import the Beta Catalog into the master.

 

[Gene_mtl]

Cletus: LR5 opened with the catalog I had created for the beta. Do I then use the Import From Catalog to bring the LR4 Catalog into LR5?

 

[clee01l]

Cletus: LR5 opened with the catalog I had created for the beta. Do I then use the Import From Catalog to bring the LR4 Catalog into LR5?

LR5 defaults to open the first LR5 catalog that it finds. Not finding one, it creates a new empty catalog. (At least that is what happened to me.) Presumably your master LR4 catalog is the larger of the two. Conversion of this catalog still needs to happen. You can import the small beta catalog into the larger converted LR4 catalog quicker than importing the larger converted LR4 catalog into the small beta catalog. You'll be happier if you just follow my prior recommendation.

 

[Gene_mtl]

Will see what happens. There already exists a LR5 catalog containing images. But I am following your suggestion to open teh LR4 catalog in LR5 and have it convert it. aLR5 is currently converting my old LR4 catalog as I type. Will be interesting to see what happens at the end. Thanks for the help Cletus.

 

[Jim Wilde]

Cletus: LR5 opened with the catalog I had created for the beta. Do I then use the Import From Catalog to bring the LR4 Catalog into LR5?

If you use Publish Services of any description in your LR4 catalog, the simple answer would be Absolutely Not! Publish Service collections do not get imported during an "Import from another Catalog" process, so am pleased you are doing it the way Cletus suggested, i.e. use File>Open Catalog>Select LR4 Catalog from within LR5. Use "Import from another Catalog" to bring in the LR5 Beta Catalog (which BTW should identify the fact that you have duplicate files in both catalogs and give you various options to deal with that situation).

 

[clee01l]

...Publish Service collections do not get imported during an "Import from another Catalog" process....

Excellent point! And probably a better reason than importing into the largest catalog.

 

[Gene_mtl]

Thank you Gentlemen for your help. The Conversion of the master catalog went into the night and appears to have been successful. I am currently importing the beta catalog into the master, and new and duplicate folders/images have been correctly identified and options offered, as you had suggested.

Jim: If I used Publish Service in the Beta, I assume they are lost now that I've imported the beta catalog into the Master? Is there any way to sync the Publish Service? (I publish to my SmugMug account.)

- Gene

 

[Jim Wilde]

The only way I know to transfer Publish Services from one catalog to another is via plug-in, such as this one:

http://alloyphoto.com/category/lightroom-plugins/lightroom-voyager/

I can't vouch for it's effectiveness, as I've never had need to use it. There may be other plug-ins available of course.

 

[Gene_mtl]

Again, Thanks, Jim (& Cletus)

- Gene

 

[Norfolk Lad]

Publish Services

If you use Publish Services of any description in your LR4 catalog, the simple answer would be Absolutely Not! Publish Service collections do not get imported during an "Import from another Catalog" process, so am pleased you are doing it the way Cletus suggested, i.e. use File>Open Catalog>Select LR4 Catalog from within LR5. Use "Import from another Catalog" to bring in the LR5 Beta Catalog (which BTW should identify the fact that you have duplicate files in both catalogs and give you various options to deal with that situation).

That is really helpful to know. I came into the forum to check this out because I lost all my Flickr published files when I upgraded from LR3 to LR4 and I was trying to find out a way of avoiding repeating that if I upgrade to LR5. Thanks for mentioning it, Jim.