If you need to find Lightroom’s files at any time, you’ll need to know where to look, so here are the most frequently used Lightroom file locations.
By default, the boot drive is C: on Windows and Macintosh HD on Mac. If your operating system is installed on a different drive, you may need to replace the drive letter/name on the file paths that are listed below.
[your username] refers to the name of your user account, for example, mine is called Vic.
The default location of the Lightroom catalog is…
Windows—C: Users \ [your username] \ My Pictures \ Lightroom \ Lightroom Catalog.lrcat
Mac—Macintosh HD / Users / [your username] / Pictures / Lightroom / Lightroom Catalog.lrcat
You can check the name and location of your catalog by going to Edit menu > Catalog Settings (Windows) / Lightroom menu > Catalog Settings (Mac).
The default location of the Preferences is…
Windows—C: \ Users \ [your username] \ AppData \ Roaming \ Adobe \ Lightroom \ Preferences \ Lightroom Classic CC 7 Preferences.agprefs
Mac—Macintosh HD / Users / [your username] / Library / Preferences / com.adobe.LightroomClassicCC7.plist
Preference files aren’t cross-platform. By default, Preferences are hidden files on Windows and macOS.
There are also separate startup preferences. These include the last used catalog path, the recent catalog list, which catalog to load on startup and the catalog upgrade history.
Windows—C: \ Users \ [your username] \ AppData \ Roaming \ Adobe \ Lightroom \ Preferences \ Lightroom Classic CC 7 Startup Preferences.agprefs
Mac—Macintosh HD / Users / [your username] / Library / Application Support / Adobe / Lightroom / Preferences / Lightroom Classic CC 7 Startup Preferences.agprefs
The default location of most of Lightroom’s Presets and Templates is…
Windows—C: \ Users \ [your username] \ AppData \ Roaming \ Adobe \ Lightroom \
Mac—Macintosh HD / Users / [your username] / Library / Application Support / Adobe / Lightroom /
If you’ve checked the Store presets with this catalog checkbox in Preferences, they’ll be stored next to your catalog file instead.
To find them easily on either platform, go to (Windows) / (Mac) and press the Show Lightroom Presets Folder button.
Each type of preset has its own subfolder, for example, Filename Templates and Metadata Presets.
Presets are cross-platform and are saved in a Lightroom-only format (.lrtemplate). They’re just text files with a different extension, so you can open them in any plain text editor.
If you have older style .lrtemplate Develop presets, place them in the Develop Presets subfolder and restart Lightroom. They’ll be converted to .xmp format and copied to the shared Camera Raw Settings folder.
Your shared Camera Raw Settings are stored at…
Windows—C: \ Users \ [your username] \ AppData \ Roaming \ Adobe \ CameraRaw \
Mac—Macintosh HD / Users / [your username] / Library / Application Support / Adobe / CameraRaw /
This includes your Develop presets (.xmp format), default settings, custom camera-specific profiles, custom lens profiles, lens profile defaults and custom point curves, because these are shared with Photoshop’s Camera Raw plug-in.
Camera profiles (.dcp format) go in the CameraProfiles folder.
Lens profiles (.lcp format) go in the LensProfiles folder.
Develop presets (.xmp format) go in the Settings folder. They appear in the Develop Presets panel.
(If Store presets with this catalog is checked in Preferences > Presets, the Develop Presets and Third-Party Creative Profiles may be in a Lightroom Settings/Settings subfolder next to the catalog instead.)
Third-Party Creative Profiles are stored at…
Windows—C:\ ProgramData \ Adobe \ CameraRaw \ Settings \
Mac—Macintosh HD / Library / Application Support / Adobe/ CameraRaw / Settings /
These are new-style Creative Profiles with an .xmp extension, which are then displayed in the Profile Browser panel. You can also put them in the Camera Raw Settings user folder along with .xmp format Develop presets (as previous).
The default location of the Camera Raw Cache is…
Windows—C: \ Users \ [your username] \ AppData \ Local \ Adobe \ CameraRaw \ Cache \
Mac—Macintosh HD / Users / [your username] / Library / Caches / Adobe Camera Raw /
You can set a custom location in Preferences > Performance tab.
How do I show hidden files to find my preferences and presets?
Many of these folders are hidden by the operating system.
On Windows, you can open the Start menu search box (Windows 7/10) / Search charm (Windows 8) search for the location, for example, type %appdata%\Adobe\Lightroom, and you’ll be taken directly to the Lightroom user folder.
On macOS, the user Library folder is hidden by default. If you go to Finder, select the , and hold down the Opt key, you’ll see Library appear in the menu, and then you can navigate to the Preferences or Application Support folder. Personally, I drag that Library folder to the sidebar so that it’s always easily accessible.
Preferences & Settings Menu Locations
A few of the menu commands are in different locations on Windows and Mac, depending on the operating system standard:
Lightroom Preferences & Catalog Settings are…
Windows—under the
Mac—under the
Photoshop Preferences are…
Windows—under the
Mac—under the
I have an issue with one of my DCPs, specifically the “Nikon Z 6 Adobe Standard.dcp” and am having trouble removing it from Lightroom. Adobe has released a second version of the ‘Standard’ profile for this camera with the file name ending in “… v2.dcp” Lightroom Classic applies this DCP on ingest however when pasting profiles from files made by other cameras it will apply the original profile, which makes my images 30 points or more magenta.
I have tried multiple strategies to prevent this behavior including in renaming the revised DCP to “Nikon Z 6 Adobe Standard.dcp” and ending the orginail in “… v1.dcp”, and appending the original profile with “.DISABLED” and despite stopping the issue while syncing in Camera Raw Lightroom Classic still will use the original profile despite this. I tried uninstalling Photoshop and it removed the DCPs at the location listed above however I could not find where Lightroom Classic is storing that DCP.
I was going to say I’ve seen a bug report on that, but apparently you’ve see it! https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/nikon-z6-adobe-standard-dcp-issues
Where are the default, built-in templates stored? I don’t want to see the generic brush/gradient templates that Lightroom comes with and would like to delete them, even if I have to do so after every update, is that possible? I am talking about the built-in templates for brush and gradient tools, NOT my custom presets. These are:
TEMP
TINT
CONTRAST
HIGHLIGHTS
SHADOWS
etc.
all of which appear above my customer presets, they are pretty useless and make it more cumbersome to find your own.
They’re built into the program itself, there’s no easy way to delete those.
I have a question I don’t see an answer for. I was upgrading from LR3 to LR CC. Instructions said that I needed to upgrade to Classic first. To have enough room I had to use the external hard drive to upgrade. The upgrade to Classic worked. However the upgrade to CC failed mid way through and the hard drive crashed. I was going to start over but was not sure how to do that. I thought I could just delete all the pictures and try again. However before I did that I checked to see if I could import pictures off the hard drive but LR would not do that because they had already been marked as downloaded. Any suggestions on how to proceed? Additionally I had created multiple galleries before, is there a way to keep this or do I need to redo under Albums and folders when the all the pictures are finally migrated. thank you for the help.
I have a bit of a long one for you. I waas upgrading from LR3 to LRCC. In order to migrate my photos I had to first upgrade to Lightroom Classic. My computer hard drive did not have enough room for the process so I directed the program to use the external hard drive where my photos were. In the middle of importing the catalogue apparently my hard drive failed and only about a third of my photos were migrated. The hard drive is evidently irreparable. I had my back up hard drive and my intention was either to start all the way over and delete everything in LRCC or try to find files that had not been migrated and add those to the files. When I try to import pictures the program will not let me import as it thinks the pictures have already been imported. What do you suggest?? I appreciate any help.
For simplicity, I’d start over, wipe the cloud and migrate again.
Sorry I missed your response! I’m not seeing how to start over??
To start over:
1. Go to LR web > LR icon > Account Info > Delete Lightroom Library
2. Delete the local Lightroom Library.lrlibrary file
The it will let you migrate the catalog again. You do need loads of space during the transfer.
I recently upgraded to Windows 10, reinstalled Lightroom and got everything to work again except for the presets. I had copy/pasted them from a backup where they used to go (C: \ Users \ [your username] \ AppData \ Roaming \ Adobe \ Lightroom \) but that didn’t work.
By creating a new preset and then using the Windows search function to find it, I figured out that Lightroom stored it not under AppData \ Roaming \ Adobe \ Lightroom \ but under AppData \ Roaming \ Adobe \ CameraRaw \ for whatever weird reason. This is also the location that shows up when I check edit > preferences > presets > “Show Lightroom develop presets”.
So I know that I could copy/paste all of my presets over to CameraRaw but why would I want to store them outside of Lightroom?
I found a post that said to hit shift+alt when starting Lightroom to be able to change the location where things are stored but that doesn’t seem to work. It only gives me an option to edit the catalog.
If there any other way I can Lightroom store presets again from within the actual Lightroom folder or should I just except that they go in CameraRaw now?
Thanks!
Since 7.3, Develop presets are converted to the xmp format (instead of the old lrtemplate format) for compatibility with both Lightroom and ACR. The xmp format ones are stored in the Camera Raw folder. If you check “store presets with this catalog”, they’re copied to the Lightroom Settings folder next to the catalog itself, but that can get confusing so I don’t generally recommend it.
Hello, this is not working for me. All of my older “.lrtemplate” presets are in the location you’ve indicated above but they are still not showing up in LR Classic. I’m using Mac Sierra 10.12 and LR 8.3.1
All my presets are in subfolders in that one main “Develop presets” one. Is that causing it? But if I remove the folders it will be a giant mess of 1000s of presets in no order. How do I get these converted to XMP presets?? Thanks
In /Users/[your username]/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CameraRaw/Settings do you see a bunch of XMP files? If so, they were created correctly and are probably only partially compatible with the photo you have selected in Develop. Click the + button on the Develop presets folder and look at Manage Presets to see if they’re all checked, and then also check Show Partially Compatible Presets.
If the XMP format ones aren’t there, do the .lrtemplate format presets have a ~ on the start on their names?
Hi Paul
Thanks for your prompt reply and correcting me in respect of the path. So I went into Lightroom Preferences, Presets. Normally one would click on the ‘Show Lightroom Develop Presets’ BUT with the old .lrtemplate presets they need to go into, ‘Show All Other Lightroom Presets’, Lightroom and open the Develop Presets folder. Drag the presets into it, close Lightroom and re-open. Click on the Develop module and after about 10 seconds a dialogue box comes up stating, ‘All custom develop presets were successfully converted to XMP’.
So Lightroom Classic CC has a built in .lrtemplate convertor to .xmp. All is now fine.
Regards
Hi Victoria
I note that in LR CC Classic all of my presets are in .xmp format. I have some great B&W press that worked in LR6 but are no longer visible- they are in .lrtemplate. I have dropped them into : LR/Preferences/presets/show Lightroom presets/settings but they will not convert to .xmp, as you had suggested.
I have slept on this one and reviewed it this morning, to no avail. What am I doing something wrong??
Kind regards
Hi Martin
Couple of things to check. Your folder you mention isn’t actually a path, I assume you’ve gone to the Presets folder shown in settings; for clarification the folders are:
Windows—C: \ Users \ [your username] \
AppData \ Adobe \ CameraRaw \ Settings \
Mac—Macintosh HD / Users / [your
username] / Library / Application Support /
Adobe / CameraRaw / Settings /
When LR opens it should then pick up ones not previously seen and make .lrtemplate files with them. This is assuming you do not have ‘Store Presets with Catalog’ ticked.
If you have done the above, also look at Preferences and try:
Preferences > Presets tab > Show Partially Compatible Develop Presets.
See if that’s the cause (not all are compatible with specific files)
Hi Victoria,
Trying to back up my photo’s file, not the catalog. Where are they?
Mac user
Thanks
They would be wherever you chose to put them when you imported them. You set that location in the Destination panel of the Import dialog. To find out where your photos are, right-click on either the photos or the folders and choose Show in Finder.
I am currently on LR Classic CC Release 7.4 and ACR is 10.4
At one time I had a camera profile to do a Blue/Red Swap for my IR photos from my Nikon D200. I still see my Nikon D200RedBlueSwap.dcp file in finder in Camera Raw>Camera Profiles but in Calibration all I see now if Process: Version 4 (Current) along with versions 1-3 in the dropdown. Is there anyway to get my Blue/RedSwap back?
Thanks.
The Profiles moved to the new Profiles panel in 7.3 and later, and DCP profiles should be in a subfolder up there called Profiles. There’s a bit more blurb on the changes here: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/camera-profiles/
I am about to upgrade my Windows 7 system to a new PC running Windows 10 and specially specified hardware for running Lightroom (latest i5 CPU, graphics card and 16GB RAM).
I note all your advice about how to move catalogue and other files, but I am not sure when, this happens in the change process. What you advise as the best sequence of setting up the new PC in relation to data files transfers and program setups?
You can do it whenever suits you. I’d get the new computer operating system installed and then transfer Lightroom.
Thanks.
As I work on my photographs, LR creates cache data files and places them in the same file folder as my photographs. They are small files but if I don’t every few minutes throw them out I end up getting 1000’s of files to throw away. How should I handle these files? I never had to deal with these before. They’re a pain in my back side. Thx
What file extension do they have?
Hi Victoria
Many thanks for your reply. I’ve since found your forum and am wading through all the questions and responses. That’s probably where I should have posted my questions. It must get tiresome responding to those who just haven’t put in the hard yards of reading and research.
Anyway yes I do have Quick start eBook, seems very good, and I’m working through it, but like other guides, and I have a few, there’s often things that I just don’t get. Personally I’d be be totally happy if I could just decouple the Develop module from the Library, the whole cataloguing and file storage side of Lightroom I find very confusing and simply unnecessary. I mean what is so hard about having your original photo files in folders, you edit them, and then save them back to that same folder or a sub folder? I never lose files, they never go missing, it’s simple and perfectly logical. But then I don’t have clients or shoot vast numbers of photos, my only client is myself and my family.
Anyway I’ll venture on, surely with so many others using it I should be able to get a result.
Thanks again.
Yeah, a database is a new concept to learn, but it has a lot of benefits. Apart from anything else, the edits are non-destructive (so you can go back and change them without degrading the file) and since you don’t need an edited copy, it takes half the hard drive space too.
Hi Victoria
Like many before me I’m sure, migrating to the Lightroom catalogue system from an older folders system really seems to be doing my head in. So a couple of basic questions that will demonstrate my low level of comprehension.
On my desktop PC which has a 256 gb SSD as C:drive and a 1 tb hard drive as D:drive, I keep OS and program files on C: and everything else including photos on D:. Consequently my D:drive is near full. I’ve backed up my Photos folder (and it’s many sub folders) to a 5 tb external drive (not mains powered). To begin using Lightroom could I or should I keep everything on the external drive i.e. the .lrcat files and the photos? If I do that can I then plug the external drive into my laptop and use that as an alternative to my desktop? It seems strange to have all your catalogue info on one drive and image files on another, I must be missing something here.
If the catalogue houses all the instructions about your photo edits, when you’ve finished editing an image, you export it (or what I have always known as save it) back to the folder the image lives in (or an edt sub folder), can you then send that edited, finished image off to printers, or by email, or wherever, does it stay in it’s edited form?
Thanks for any possible help.
Have you downloaded my free Lightroom Quick Start eBook Mike? That should help simplify it a bit.
> To begin using Lightroom could I or should I keep everything on the external drive i.e. the .lrcat files and the photos?
Yes, you can do that, no problem.
> If I do that can I then plug the external drive into my laptop and use that as an alternative to my desktop?
Yep!
> It seems strange to have all your catalogue info on one drive and image files on another, I must be missing something here.
The boot drive is just the default, because someone might not have other drives, or they might get confused if they try to open Lightroom with the external drive disconnected. There’s also a slightly higher risk of external drives dying (like they can get knocked off the table, or the cable can get disconnected accidentally while LR’s open. And internal drives tend to be a bit quicker than externals, which helps performance. But if you’re careful, having the catalog on a fast external is ok.
> If the catalogue houses all the instructions about your photo edits, when you’ve finished editing an image, you export it (or what I have always known as save it)
You can, but there’s no need to do so until you actually need to send the file elsewhere (such as the printers or email). And at that point, you can export the photos to any location (I often use the desktop) and delete once they’re sent, because you can export again at any time.
Victoria. I seem to have picked up some extra catalogs, possibly when I moved My Photos to an external drive (a Herculean exercise!). I currently have a Lightroom 5 Catalog.lrcat; a Lightroom Catalog-2.lrcat; a Lightroom Catalog-3.lrcat; and a plain Lightroom Catalog.lrcat
How can I determine which is the actual and current catalog and which I can delete?
Any advice will be appreciated
If the catalog you have open in Lightroom is the “right” one, go to Edit menu (Windows) / Lightroom menu (Mac) > Catalog Settings and it’ll tell you which catalog you have open. I suspect Lightroom Catalog was your first one, Lightroom Catalog-2 was the next upgrade, Lightroom Catalog-3 was the upgrade after that, and Lightroom 5 Catalog was a separate catalog created at some stage. So I’d bet that either Lightroom Catalog-3 or Lightroom 5 Catalog is your current working catalog. File modified dates and file sizes would also offer some clues.
Bingo! Catalog-3 is the current one. Is it safe then to delete the others?
If you’re certain it includes all of the edits, then yes. Personally I’d delete their previews and zip up the catalogs in case I missed something.
I have been struggling with getting a preset file called “user presets” to show up on my newly installed laptop. All my older presets show up, but in this file I have some older second party presets plus some I created myself on the 7.3 (I think lol).
I have gone through the tutorials that adobe provided for the different versions 4 or 5 times and it still doesn’t show up.
Can anyone help me figure out how to get that one set of presets viewable on my new system?
Do you still have your old computer with the presets on? If so, open Lightroom on that old computer, right-click on the presets and click Show in Explorer/Show in Finder. That’ll take you to where they’re stored. Copy them to the other computer. Then where you put them will depend on whether they have a .lrtemplate extension or a .xmp extension.
Thanks I finally figured it out after a lot of hair pulling!
Now that Victoria’s updated us on Lightroom’s current file locations, I found it helpful to re-read her excellent post explaining all the files we should be sure to back up:
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/backup-lightroom-files/
Thank you, Victoria!
Thanks John. I forgot I’d updated that one!!
Thanks, nice job!
I always enable Windows Explorer to display hidden files. To enable:
Select the VIEW tab
On the VIEW tab select OPTIONS
This will bring up the FOLDER OPTIONS dialog box
Select the VIEW tab
Choose SHOW HIDDEN FILES, FOLDERS, AND DRIVES
Then I apply to all folders
Thanks for sharing that Gene!
I am confused. What is the difference between Lightroom ccClasic and Lightroom cc. I have the Classic and keep seeing Lightroom 7.1 and now 7.3 Classic is available, but I can’t download it through Lightroom update.
Hi Dick. Lightroom Classic is Lightroom 7, but subscription only. Lightroom CC is a new simplified version of Lightroom that stores the photos in the cloud. If you go to Help menu > System Info, which version of Lightroom does it say you’re using at the moment?
Very nicely done. Thanks so much.
Hi Victoria- in your email today you mentioned corrupted backups and recommended doing a “file system copy”. What does this mean exactly?
Hi Michael. The backup corruption issue may only affect a few people, but it’s serious for those who it does affect, and easily avoided by a manual backup until Adobe release 7.4 or a 7.3.1 version with a fix.
It’s simply a case of quitting Lightroom, finding your catalog in Explorer (Windows) / Finder and copying the lrcat file into another folder, or compressing it (zipping it) and renaming the zip file with today’s date.
How will I know if I am affected? Will I receive a notice when creating the backup?
The backup issue is fixed in the latest 7.3.1 release, so upgrade to that and you’re all set.