"My Locations" in Map Module

[Ray]

Lightroom Version

Lightroom Classic 12.0.1

Operating System

1. Windows 10

Hello

I had 20-30 locations saved in "My Locations" in the map module. I can see Saved Locations folder and the subfolder My Locations but the folder My Locations is empty. I wonder if the locations were removed when I restored from a backup. I've checked and they are not in the backup catalog. I hope someone can tell how to recover them

Thankyou
Ray

 

[johnbeardy]

In Preferences, Presets, have you changedStore presets with this catalog ? How is it set? This controls where those locations are stored, either in the default or in the same folder as the catalogue.

There's also a button Show All Other Lightroom Presets which would take you to the overall presets/templates folder, and you should look for the Locations subfolder.

 

[Jim Wilde]

Where are looking to find a "Saved Locations" folder? If you are referring to the "Saved Locations" panel in the Map Module, they will only show what are stored in a sub-folder called "Locations" alongside all the other standard Lightroom presets, i.e. the saved locations are not stored IN the catalog.

The location of that "Locations" sub-folder will depend on how you have treated the "Store presets with this catalog" option in the LrC Preferences>Presets tab. If you routinely have that option enabled then the "Locations" sub-folder would be inside a "Lightroom Settings" folder which in turn is in the same folder as each catalog that you use......but if you open a new catalog which is not in the same folder as the previous catalog, a new Lightroom Settings folder (complete with all relevant sub-folders) is automatically created, but all the new sub-folders would be empty because LrC does not automatically copy the contents from a previous source. If that option remains unchecked, everything is stored in the default locations (and thus become accessible to all catalogs opened on the same system).

So, a couple of possibilities:

1. As per John Beardy's post, if you've recently changed the "Store presets with this catalog" option, then LrC would then be looking in a different location for all presets.

2. You mention you've "restored from a backup", so what are we talking about here? A system backup or a catalog backup? If a catalog backup is it now in the same folder as the original catalog, because if not (and that option is enabled) LrC would now have a new empty Lightroom Settings sub-folder, which would explain why your saved locations are not present.

 

[Ray]

To answer the above questions :
I restored a "catalog backup". I did recently changed to "Store presets with this catalog" to use the catalog on another computer
I did find the subfolder "My locations" in the folder "Locations" in " Settings" however the folder "My Locations" is empty

Thanks for any help you can provide

 

[johnbeardy]

You're now likely to have two Locations folders, the empty one created by Store presets with this catalog and the original or default one, which probably contains the files. Disable Store presets with this catalog, and then use the Show All Other Lightroom Presets to access the default folders.

 

[Jim Wilde]

And if you need to have that option checked, understand that while LrC switches to the Lightroom Settings folder as the ongoing source of all user-created presets (such as Locations, Metadata Presets, Export Presets, Import Presets, etc.) it doesn't actually copy any existing user-created presets from the default location to the new Lightroom Settings folder. That's the users' responsibility. So if you do need that option checked, ensure you copy all required presets from the default location to the Lightroom Settings folders adjacent to the two catalog folders that you will be using.

 

[Ray]

You're now likely to have two Locations folders, the empty one created by Store presets with this catalog and the original or default one, which probably contains the files. Disable Store presets with this catalog, and then use the Show All Other Lightroom Presets to access the default folders.

Great. There they are!

 

[Ray]

And if you need to have that option checked, understand that while LrC switches to the Lightroom Settings folder as the ongoing source of all user-created presets (such as Locations, Metadata Presets, Export Presets, Import Presets, etc.) it doesn't actually copy any existing user-created presets from the default location to the new Lightroom Settings folder. That's the users' responsibility. So if you do need that option checked, ensure you copy all required presets from the default location to the Lightroom Settings folders adjacent to the two catalog folders that you will be using.

Thanks for the advice. I think I need the option checked because I'm going back and forth between 2 computers. But I don't quite understand where I am to " paste all required presets from the default location to" ?
Thanks for your help

 

[johnbeardy]

I feel that it's better to find ways to copy sync presets between computers rather than store them with the catalogue.

While it's possible to copy the folders manually or even with scripts (and possibly utility apps), my own practice is to put these preset folders on Dropbox and put symbolic links or aliases on each computer. These tell the PC that their C:Users/USERNAME/AppData/Roaming/Adobe/Lightroom is on the Dropbox location.

Once you have this set up, any changes to presets are synced by Dropbox.

Look at this post http://lightroomsolutions.com/dropbox-lightroom-aliases-and-symbolic-links/ and the section How to create PC symbolic links. I prefer to do this with the entire folder of presets/templates, but you could do it for individual subfolders.