Install LR 6 Perpetual on new iMac

[marinephoto]

Lightroom Version Number

LR 6.14 Perpetual

Operating System

1. macOS 10.13 High Sierra

I recently downloaded and installed LR6 on my new iMac. When I attempted to move my old catalog, preview, and presets over to the new computer and place them in the same location I opened my Pictures folder but there was no Lightroom subfolder to drop the catalog and previews into. Am I supposed to create this Lightroom subfolder in Finder and move the catalog and previews into it? Or should I start Lightroom6 using the "create new Catalog" option and have Lightroom create the Lightroom subfolders in Pictures and Library/Application Support/Adobe?

Thanks!

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Either would be fine. I would simply create the Lightroom folder (or drag the entire Lightroom folders from the old computer). You can let Lightroom do it, but we've done it that way round because Lightroom would create a bunch of empty subfolders in Application Support, which can then confuse some people when they try to drag their existing folders in there.

 

[marinephoto]

Either would be fine. I would simply create the Lightroom folder (or drag the entire Lightroom folders from the old computer). You can let Lightroom do it, but we've done it that way round because Lightroom would create a bunch of empty subfolders in Application Support, which can then confuse some people when they try to drag their existing folders in there.

So if I just go to Finder and create the same Pictures/Lightroom subfolder that was on my previous computer I can then just drag and drop and drop my Lightroom 3 Catalog and Preview files from my previous computer into it and LR 6 will automatically know where to find my catalog? Or will I have to somehow prompt LRs to the catalog's location?

Also after LR 6 converted my Lightroom 3 catalog containing 70,000 images I got the message in the attached screenshot. Does "The previews will also be moved to this location and converted for use in Lightroom 6" mean that this will be done automatically by Lightroom or am I correct that it is instructing me to move the Previews into the same "Ligthroom" subfolder the catalog is in?

Thanks!

 

[clee01l]

Does "The previews will also be moved to this location and converted for use in Lightroom 6" mean that this will be done automatically by Lightroom

If you proceed from this point LR will do this for you. What happens is that the catalog file is copied and converted to the new database structure under a new file name. The previews folder is simply renamed to match the new catalog file name.

 

[marinephoto]

If you proceed from this point LR will do this for you. What happens is that the catalog file is copied and converted to the new database structure under a new file name. The previews folder is simply renamed to match the new catalog file name.

Cletus,
I am moving from LR 3.6 on my old computer to LR6 on an entirely different computer. I had moved the the Lightroom 3 Catalog.lrcat file to my new computer and double clicked it to start LR6. This is when I got the Lightroom Catalog Upgrade notice in the screen shot attached to my first email. That said while I had started to move the Lightroom Catalog Previews.lrdata file over I changed my mind and terminated the move after only copying only 41 MB of it due to not having enough time to complete the move. Unfortunately I neglected to delete the tiny portion of preview file I had copied to my new computer before clicking on "Upgrade" and I suspect that Lightroom spotted the only partially moved Lightroom 3 Catalog.lrcat file and assumed the whole file was there so it offered to move it as well. Whatever the cause Lightroom 6 did not automatically move the preview file over. I subsequently copied the entire 30 GB Lightroom Catalog Previews.lrdata file over to my new iMac today. Should I now simply drag and drop that Lightroom Catalog Previews.lrdata file into the subfolder containing the updated LR 6 catalog file?

Thanks!

 

[Johan Elzenga]

You can try to do that, but there is no need. Lightroom will rebuild the previews if it can’t find them or if they are somehow not up to date, so you can also not move the previews and let Lightroom make a fresh set.

 

[marinephoto]

You can try to do that, but there is no need. Lightroom will rebuild the previews if it can’t find them or if they are somehow not up to date, so you can also not move the previews and let Lightroom make a fresh set.

Johan,

I had considered just letting Lightroom rebuild the Previews but several posters on the forum have suggested it slows things down although never describing by how much it does so. Does LR rebuild all the previews, or just one at a time as you access a particular photo? And does the rebuilding slow things down enough to be aggravating?

Thanks!

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Johan,

I had considered just letting Lightroom rebuild the Previews but several posters on the forum have suggested it slows things down although never describing by how much it does so. Does LR rebuild all the previews, or just one at a time as you access a particular photo? And does the rebuilding slow things down enough to be aggravating?

Thanks!

Lightroom only rebuilds previews if and when it needs them, so initially that does indeed take some extra time when scrolling through the grid. You can force the rebuild by selecting all images and then choosing 'Library - Previews - Build Standard-sized Previews'. Then you can leave Lightroom overnight doing this work while you are sleeping.

 

[marinephoto]

Lightroom only rebuilds previews if and when it needs them, so initially that does indeed take some extra time when scrolling through the grid. You can force the rebuild by selecting all images and then choosing 'Library - Previews - Build Standard-sized Previews'. Then you can leave Lightroom overnight doing this work while you are sleeping.

Thanks!