When you first launch Lightroom after a major update, such as the October 2023 update to 13.0, it asks your permission to upgrade your catalog – but why? Is it safe? What does it actually do?
Sometimes database changes need to be made in the catalog to enable new features or to improve performance. Lightroom asks permission to upgrade your catalog when you first launch it after the new release has been installed. As many of us have our CC App set to automatically upgrade when a new version is released, this may be a bit of a shock, especially as the dialog says it’s not compatible with previous versions. But it’s all okay!
Lightroom doesn’t actually change the catalog you’ve been using. It takes a copy of your current catalog and upgrades it. Previous to version 10, it added -2 to the new catalog name. Now it allows you to change the catalog name. If the old catalog was the previous version (v12) then this will be replaced with v12. If it was an older version, the name will default to the old catalog name with -v13 added. The objective is to make it easier to see which is the latest catalog. It then launches a new one. The upgrade uses the existing Preview files and Sync data file and renames them to match the upgraded catalog name. The old catalog is left untouched.
Although a warning is displayed The upgraded catalog will not be compatible with previous versions of Lightroom Classic, the earlier catalog is retained. So should anything go wrong during the upgrade, or you need to roll back to the previous version (currently 12.5), you can use the previous catalog. The old catalog won’t include any edits you make after the upgrade, making it harder to roll back, so we recommend you do some testing after the upgrade to make sure all looks good. Also, keep an eye on our release blogs as we update them with any major issues if they occur.
If you accidentally try to open the older catalog again (for example, you have it set as the default for Lightroom to open or you double-click on the old catalog), Lightroom asks you whether to open the upgraded catalog or upgrade again. Yes, use the newer, upgraded Catalog is almost always the right answer. If you tell Lightroom to upgrade the older catalog again, then the most recently upgraded catalog changes to catalogname-2 and additional Preview files will be created (also named -2, the -v12 files are untouched).
Note: as a double-check that the upgrade goes well, we suggest taking a note of the total number of photos in your catalog before upgrading and comparing to the number after.
Originally posted 20 October 2020, updated for current Lightroom Classic version, October, 2023.
For extensive information on Lightroom Classic, see Adobe Lightroom Classic – The Missing FAQ.
If you have the Photography Plan, then as well as Classic you have access to the Lightroom cloud ecosystem including the mobile apps and web interface. For more information on these apps, see Adobe Lightroom – Edit on the Go.
Note: purchase of these books includes the first year’s Classic or cloud-based Premium Membership (depending on the book purchased), giving access to download the latest eBook (each time Adobe updates the software), email assistance for the applicable Lightroom version if you hit a problem, and other bonuses.
We also have a special bundle offer for the two books. This includes Premium Membership for the first year as described above for the whole Lightroom family!
Lightroom Classic wants to upgrade the catalog. Lightroom wants to put a copy of my current catalog in my main drive on my Mac Mini. My Mac Mini does not have anywhere near the memory to support the size of the catalog copy. But there is no option to change the destination of the copy of the catalog. And it will not let me enter LR until the upgrade is done.
It’ll put the upgraded catalog next to the current catalog. It should only be the size of the catalog itself, not a copy of all the previews, so it shouldn’t be that big, but you could move the current catalog and its associated files to another drive if that’s a problem.
Apparently, Adobe is forcing a change of catalogs. Is it safe? Will LR work the same way? Will I need to handle anything differently.? I am concerned. I do not have time to unravel problems now.
It’s just a catalog upgrade, happens most years about this time. Most of the initial issues with 13.0 are now solved, but if 12.5 is working well for you and you don’t have time for it to go wrong, you could hold off for now and perhaps wait for 13.1.
I must say I am a bit infuriated by the naming convention Lightroom chooses when updating. I carefully choose my Catalog name and there is no way I can accept a -v13 added to the name. Additionally, it breaks a few plugins (like Excire) which don’t accept the catalog name to change!
I see that Adobe now created a legacy with xxx-v## catalog names. Therefore, I ask Adobe to offer an ADDITIONAL option to rename the OLD catalog name (e.g., to append -old, or -v12) and to NOT alter the current catalog name. This should be easy enough to implement.
Here’s instructions on how to request it from Adobe: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/send-bug-report-feature-request-adobe/
owk…following but lost…i just upgraded my catalogue by mistake…thinking am exiting the option to my shock…how do i roll back to my previous?
If you mean go back to the previous version of Lightroom, then the blog below tells you how. When Lightroom upgrades a catalog, it leaves the old one in situ, so the previous version of Lightroom (assuming that’s the one you had used for the catalog) will work with it.
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/roll-back-update-previous/
Hi there, I’ve been having an issue with Lightroom 10.4 that their tech support was not able to solve. Admittedly, I’ve been using Lightroom for years and never paid much attention to catalogs, directories, etc….After updating to Lightroom 10.4, I couldn’t find my photos in the new catalog and Adobe tech support recommended I revert back to an older catalog (sadly I can’t recall which this was). This worked! However, Lightroom has since updated several times resulting in more empty –except when it updates, it’s almost as if it is reinstalling/reupdating to the same 10.4 version (when I open Lightroom, I get the same pop-ups describing the exact same updates each time as if I JUST updated to 10.4 for the first time). This often happens when I restart my computer.
For visual learners, this is what I have:
File directory: ~\Lightroom\Backups\2020-10-23 1157\Lightroom Catalog.lrcat
Lightroom Catalog (old)
Lightroom Catalog-2 (old)
Lightroom Catalog-v10 (can’t recall when this catalog appeared; may it was the first updated catalog created when I updated to 10.4?; contains older photos)
Lightroom Catalog-v10-2 (this is the current catalog I use)
File directory: ~\Pictures\Lightroom
Lightroom 5 Catalog (old)
Lightroom Catalog (old)
Lightroom Catalog-v10-v10-2 (one of the “updated” catalogs produced during the 10.4 “update”–was produced AFTER I already had 10.4 on my laptop; catalog is empty)
Lightroom Catalog-v10-v10-3 (same description as Lightroom Catalog-v10-v10-2)
So my questions are:
1. Why does Lightroom continue creating new catalogs/updating constantly to the same version?
2. Why would it be switching between storing updated catalogs in a backup vs Lightroom folder?
Check Lightroom Preferences > General > Default Startup Catalog. Sounds like you have this set to a specific catalog, so Lightroom notes it needs updating and tells you this each time you startup.
Change it to Ask, then navigate to the correct catalog (the upgraded one).
I came back to my computer this morning and it opened in a different catalogue than the one I was using last night. There was no option to run my previous catalogue and al of my photographs, presets etc were missing. What has happened?
I copied my old (3-v10) catalogue into the Adobe directory and everything looks fine apart from some third party presets that I have reinstalled.
Would I have lost any new features that the upgrade would have given me? Can an upgrade be performed without losing my files, presets and photo adjustments that I have made?
Thanks
Check Lightroom Preferences > General for the default catalog to be opened, this may explain the different catalog that opened.
If the one you’re using is a v10 catalog (that the name tells us it is) then you won’t have lost any features, just any edits between this catalog and the one you were working in.
Today I just opened my book catalog which was ver -3.lrcat, LR Classic as usual force to upgrade, after that all my 2 thousands plus file gone can’t be opened, each of the file name comes with ? hope someone could help me out. I am using Big Sur ver 11.5 the latest version.
I also tried uograde from ver -2.lrcat same thing.
Thanks
This isn’t the catalog upgrade giving the issue, ? on photos means they have moved since the catalog was last opened and Lightroom now doesn’t know where to locate them.
Check this blog to help sort:
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/lightroom-photos-missing-fix/
I did not move the file, what I meant after upgrading all file can’t be opened and the file name been mark with “?”
secondly, is there away not to upgrade ?
It would be easier to discuss with a screenshot – I’d suggest drop onto our Forums so we can comment better there.
You can roll back Lightroom to the previous version if you choose – so for example if you had been on version 9.4 and the upgrade took to you 10.x. Details:
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/roll-back-update-previous/
Then you’ll know if it’s the upgraded catalog or not (just open the previous one with the previous version of Lightroom)
Thanks Paul for the tips to go back to earlier version.
Now I tried ver 10.0 works fine, so mean time I will stick to this before making any move
After I upgraded, I’m seeing a much smaller catalogue and don’t know where the rest has gone to. I accepted all the recommended settings/questions. I found a catalogue from January 2019 and the current one it’s using. What can/should i do?
Does the catalog that it converted have all your images in? Is it named the same as the one you had been using but with -v10 appended to the name?
By ‘much smaller’ how much so? And do you know the version you updated from?
I recently opened an old Lightroom Catalog on my laptop. (I am away from home and do not have my hard drive with the original photos on them.) Usually I can open the catalog with no problem and see all the previews/smart previews but it has been a while. The catalog updated itself and the preview files are there (.previews.lrdata) but Lightroom is not reading them. My catalog is intact but I can’t see anything but grey boxes and the infamous !. (I know how to locate missing files and remake previews but since I am not home I need just the previews.) I am using a macOs Mojave on a Powerbook Pro. I noticed that a couple of new files that I have never seen were also created along with this update today: lrcat-wal and lrcat-lock. What are these? And, is there anything that I can do to see the previews to edit? I cannot return home due to the pandemic for a while to remake the previews from the original photos. Thank you for any help! I have followed your blog and bought your books for years. This is my first question!
Okay, so:
– .wal file is normal when the catalog is open (it’s a write ahead log for the database)
– .lock file is also normal when the catalog is open (it’s simply a lock file to ensure a different Lightroom doesn’t try and open it)
With the gray boxes, that sounds like the preview files aren’t being read. Did you let the catalog have the suggested extension -V10? If so the previews should also reflect the same extension (they convert). If the catalog has a different name to the previews (so catalog-v10 but previews not) then the catalog just can’t see the previews. In that case I would suggest convert the catalog again and see what the names do in previews.
As reassurance, with the photos offline, the conversion should still be able to work with converting the previews and display them (just tested)
My main computer is a 2011 Sierra Os which does not let me update the new Lr updates. I have my 2018 to present catalogue on a hard drive and want to open on a laptop which can upgrade LR. I used this laptop once years ago with no catalog, just worked a photo in Lr. Today I updated LR on the laptop with my catalog from an external hard drive. but did not have the the other external drive with photos plugged in. Thought it would get photos from catalog but no photos were visible. I now plugged in the external drive with photos, it said I have to upgrade again so I said yes and it asks “ Adobe LR classic would like to access files on removable volume.” If I do this will I be able to open photos from my external hard drive on the old Sierra operating system if needed? Will my presets and brushes be in the upgrade on my laptop which never had them installed on there before? I always worked on my desktop with the Sierra os version. Thank you.
If you want to use the same catalog on both computers, you’ll need to stay on the same Lightroom version on both, otherwise the catalog will be too new for the old computer.
Before I had the new lightroom, I used a Hack found on the internet to force open lightroom 6 on my new mac catalina by Copy/pasting the SLCACHE and SL STORE files over the older ones and then for some reason it would open again. Not sure what these files are or do but perhaps I messed up there?
thx
Hi, I just upgraded from lightroom 6 to the new lightroom classic on my new Macbook pro (which does not support LR6)… I imported my old catalogues in LR classic which suggested to update them with a -V10… That worked well HOWEVER all my development history has disappeared… I can see the reworked photos but I cannot undo the history or revert to the original?? Please Hlep! thx
It could be the upgrade had an issue – try opening the Lr6 catalog again in Classic, it’ll tell you it needs to upgrade (and also that you’ve already done it) but it’s worth trying. Give it a name that distinguishes it from the first attempt.
You can revert to Original on a specific photo by Ctrl (Cmd on Mac) Shift R
WTF ADOBE! I don’t want to take classes to navigate your dang upgrades man. Zero customer service, confusing and complicated instructions if you can follow anything on a forum. I mean seriously, we pay a lot of money for this sketchy crap.
I upgraded because it told me it needed an update. Now no presets, no catalog of wedding photos I was working on and a basic start over. REALLY!!??
I don’t know where it stores all these files that have odd names and have no idea what was where before the upgrade I didn’t need, I just add photos, edit, save the catalog where it wants. For the money I have thrown down over 20 years you could at least offer a live phone tech. Shameful customer service and update rollout. When I find a suitable alternative to LRC I’m out. Sick of the hurdles. I’m trying to start a damn business here man!
A gentle reminder… we are not Adobe, so your complaints aren’t reaching any ears that can do anything about them. However there is a phone support option if you want to talk direct to Adobe.
That said, no presets or catalog sounds like it opened a catalog it found at the default location. This most frequently happens because the normal working catalog is on a drive that’s changed letter or is disconnected. We’ll be pleased to help you find your normal catalog if you want to post (nicely!) on the forum linked in the menubar.
I upgraded recently LRC and now can’t see my external drive with all my kpotos nor the bulk of pics on my c: drive. LRC won’t let me navigate to those. Very disgusted with cloud only software ready to ditch the whole thing.
That sounds like some kind of permissions issue rather than a Lightroom one, but please feel free to start a thread on the forum (in the menubar) and we’ll help you troubleshoot.
The catalog does work in version 9.4, But when I try to back up the catalog I get an error:
lightroom encountered an error when reading a catalog file and needs to quit.
How can I check if indeed there’s some underlying corruption in the catalog?
Thanks
Ok, that does sound like there’s some kind of corruption going on. Zip up the catalog (just the lrcat bit) and use http://www.wetransfer.com to send it to us at uploads@lightroomqueen.com and we’ll see if we can get someone at Adobe to take a look at it for you.
I just sent you the file. Thanks so much for all the help 🙂
Repaired and sent back to you!
I just finished updating, everything is working … what fun to see the screen of LR10 coming up. Thank you so much for all the help 🙂
We’re really pleased it could all be fixed and you’re working again!
There is an update to version number 10.1, has anyone tried? Has the problem been fixed?
Which specific problem Meiriko?
Lightroom couldn’t update the format of its catalog because file appears to be damaged priblem 🙁
update – I tried the latest update 10.1 and the exact same error message.
Does anyone have a solution to this problem?
Have you tried a backup catalog? Does the catalog work ok in 9.4? It’s possible there’s some underlying corruption in the catalog itself, we could take a look for you if so.
Thank you for the article and the knowledge, Victoria. I was wondering if I can move the old catalogues off to a backup drive and remove them from the main Lr folder. They do take up space and if not needed anymore, I can move them off my main drive.
Yes, that’s not a problem at all. Just use Explorer/Finder to pick them and move them like any other files.
Hi Victoria, I’m still running Lightroom 6 and I’ve just ordered a new PC so I’m thinking it’s time to upgrade to Lightroom Classic on the subscription plan. My question is will LR Classic (LR10) be able to import my LR6 catalogue? If not it’s going to be a fairly major headache for me.
Hi Phil
Yes, no problem. Lr Classic can import from all previous versions of Lr, it upgrades the catalog just as described above.
Ok guys,
After the update I went to recent I the open cat section and it seems I have several .lrcats with various names. Where do I go to delete fabricated and old .lrcats?
Deleting them from the hard drive (or moving them to backups) should work, but if that doesn’t do the trick, you’d need to trash the startup preferences.
Hope someone can help me. I upgraded 4 of my catalogs to the new v10 version yesterday. With the exception of the 4th(most recent) catalog, catalogs 1-3 are now all showing the same exact pictures and collections. i.e. Catalog 1 collection “2015 Weddings” is also showing in Catalog 3, while all of Catalog 3’s collections are nowhere to be found.
I downgraded back to 9.4, selected the old catalogs…yet Lightroom is still showing all of the same pics and collections. I can’t imagine what happened, but I would love to get my collections, pictures, and edits back. Any ideas?
Are you saying in 9.4 the catalogs are all the correct (different) photos or the same issue exists there? If they are all the same (2015 Weddings) photos in all 4 albums with 9.4 then it’s not the upgrade and you’ll probably need to look back on your backups. Check the file sizes (for the catalogs) and dates to see the differences.
If that’s confusing perhaps post on our Forums and we can then get some screenshots and help further.
Hi Paul, the 9.4 catalogs were correct until I upgraded them to v10. Once I upgraded them, that’s when I noticed all of the catalogs showing the same (2015 Weddings). The issue persists after rolling back to 9.4. Now the 9.4 catalogs are showing the same.
I will post in the forums so I can upload screenshots. I understand this sounds confusing.
I didn’t rename my Lightroom Classic catalog when I upgraded to v 10.0. If I manually change the catalog name now, will Lightroom recognize the renamed catalog as my sync catalog? If not, is there any way to rename the catalog and retain the sync status?
Hi Lynne
Lightroom is happy enough for you to rename the files in the Operating System (in Windows Explorer / Finder) but be sure to rename all the ones it uses – so the catalog file (*.lrcat) and the Previews, Helper file and especially the Sync file (*.lrdata)
Once done, double-click on the catalog file to open this with Lightroom.
Then, check in Preferences > General the Default catalog that opens (if it was a specified one and it was the one that has now been renamed then change to the correct one in the dropdown list).
Hi Paul
That was quick! Thanks so much! I didn’t want to get that nasty warning dialog telling me that the renamed catalog was not my sync catalog!
Any chance I can have Lightroom Classic sync working on a LrC 10.0 on a Macbook and LrC 9.4 on an iMac that cannot be upgraded to a version 10?
After I upgraded the Library to version 10 I cannot since with the older LrC 🙁
Thanks
Lightroom Classic can only sync one catalog, so if you’re using that catalog on both computers, you’d them both to stay on 9.4 (or update the OS of the iMac).
Oh gosh… just did the upgrade and the photos I was working on look different. ??? How could this be? The highlights are now much brighter and don’t look good. UGH back to reprocess these. What happened?
Which camera? The Canon R5 was affected by the new version of LrC 10.0 as it was under-exposing photos before, not aware of others though.
When I upgraded the previews for all images in my catalog were scrambled and corruoted. Have gone back to 9.4 and my prior catalog and all is fine. Is Adobe working on a fix?
I haven’t seen other reports of this specific issue, so based on the screenshots you sent and the fact that it’s limited to the Develop module, I’d suspect a conflict with the graphics card driver. It would be worth reporting along with your system specs so Adobe can look into it: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/send-bug-report-feature-request-adobe/
I’m getting this message:
Lightroom encountered problems when trying to update the format of the catalog file and cannot use this catalog in this version of Lightroom. I don’t understand what this means or how to fix it.
We’ve just updated our release blog:
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/whats-new-in-lightroom-classic-10-0/
There are some reports of this so our recommendation is:
“If you come across an Unexpected Error Opening Catalog, the cause is currently unknown, so roll back to 9.4 and track the progress of the investigation here.”
Rollback instructions:
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/roll-back-update-previous-classic/
After updating from version 9.4 to version 10, I was asked to update the version of the catalog. Receives the following error message:
Lightroom couldn’t update the format of its catalog because file appears to be damaged.
what can we do?
If you go back to 9.4 does it then open and work fine?
Some have noticed third-party plugins have caused an issue; check what you have, try disabling them and try again.
We’re still working on trying to understand what circumstances are causing an issue for a few.
When I return to version 9.4 the file works fine.
When you say plugins, do you mean like Luminar?
I do, but we’re seeing a number of these reports and suggest staying with 9.4 if you hit the problem until it’s investigated further. See our release blog:
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/whats-new-in-lightroom-classic-10-0/
Is anyone having issues loading the image in Develop after the upgrade? It takes a while to load up, and quite a few times has suddenly loaded an older version of the image, losing the Lightoom edits I had worked on. I had a major issue the first time I upgraded, but it seems to have been an issue with the upgraded library which kept crashing my computer – I reinstalled and did a new upgrade of the older library file which seems to have sorted out the crashing. Am not sure if the new issue is also related to the library.
When you find one that loads an older version of the image, what shows in the History panel? I’m wondering if perhaps you upgraded a copy of the catalog from before you did those edits, but it’s difficult to tell without knowing the timeline involved.
I’m currently importing images into a destination called Lightroom 9.4 catalog. I just upgraded to v.10. I tested importing one new photo into LR since the upgrade and I have not changed the destination. It is still going to Lightroom 9.4 catalog, but of course the top of the screen now says Lightroom 9.4 catalog-v.10.lrcat. Do I need to change the destination to match or does this not matter? Do I need to create a new folder destination? Stupid question, but just making sure. All the new edits will be applied right? I do not need to change the destination do I? Thanks!
Hi Marie
The Destination name doesn’t matter to Lightroom, it’s just a folder on the disk. It’s a curious name to use, but Lightroom won’t mind and edits etc will be as normal.
The new catalog is less than 2 GB when the old catalog was 30+ GB. The only difference in content was that all my color gradings were set to white instead of my previous red, yellow, green, blue and purple and perhaps some old pictures in white. I suspeced that the size difference in the catalogs were due to smaller previews but you say they are included in the new catalog. Do you have any idea what could cause the difference in catalog size?
Hi Anders
No, previews are held outside of the catalog. 30+ Gb for the actual catalog doesn’t sound right; definitely looking at the file that has an extension of *.lrcat?
One of my catalogs has just shy of 2 million photos in it, and that’s “only” 15Gb.
The old was the entire Lightroom folder with 2 cataloges (-1 0.7 GB and -2 0.9 GB), helper and previews but also Mobile Download.lrdata.
Mobile Download.lrdata should still be there, that’s not affected by the upgrade.
Now I see that it is the previews that differs almost 30GB between the old catalog and the upgraded. Maybe I save them too detailed too long. How does the upgrade treat the previews?
Anders
As mentioned in the post above, the previews files are re-used and renamed. They don’t delete previews in the upgrade.
I have the same problem as Jean Fernandez. I accepted the catalog update. My old catalog is still there though. However, after I did the upgrade, I imported some photos, did some work on them, shut down and went home. This morning I open Lightroom and it is again saying I have to upgrade the catalog. I thought oh well and did it. My old photos are still there but the photos I imported and worked on yesterday are gone!?!? I closed out the program and restarted. Opened Lightroom and it is again saying I need to upgrade the catalog. Is this going to ask me every time I open Lightroom? Should I look somewhere else for the photos I imported and worked on yesterday?
Check in Preferences – General – Default Catalog. It sounds as though you have the old catalog set there. Change and select the new one in the dropdown and you should see it all again!
I am having a serious issue with Lightroom and upgrading my catalog. I have NEVER been asked to upgrade a catalog over the many years I have used Lightroom. 2 weeks ago I came back from a trip where I used my travel external SSD drive and where my catalog worked fine. I plugged that one into my desktop computer as well as the external hard drive I use to keep all my photos and the main catalog. I was going to import the folder from my trip into my main catalog. I got the message that I needed to upgrade the catalog (main one). I did that and now NONE of my folders/photos show up in that catalog. NONE. No question mark, no nothing, no pictures, no indication of previous imports. I tried opening the catalog on my SSD travel drive. Suddenly the same issue appears…upgrade catalog. I did. NO folders/pictures show up any longer. The files are still on the hard drives, but now what?? All my backup files are from 2015 and earlier…I know that I have backed up several times in the last month. Even trying to open a backup file requires and upgraded catalog…which no longer works. The catalog I upgraded last week is now getting the menu that the catalog needs to be upgraded!! I don’t know what to do at this point. I have a series of old and new catalogs. None of which are giving me my previous folders/collections/presets. Now what?? How do I get all my folders/presets/keywords etc into a new catalog??
The only main version upgrade that didn’t need a catalog upgrade was version 8, so I suspect you have done it before without realizing, if you’ve used Lightroom for that long.
None of your photos showing up simply means that Lightroom couldn’t find your normal catalog and so it opened a blank one it found in the default location.
We’d need to troubleshoot further. If you’re a Premium Member, you can drop us an email via the contact form. Otherwise, post on the forum, which is linked in the menubar, and we’ll help you out that way.
When I upgraded Lightroom cannot locate many of my pictures. They all appear in my library, but I can’t do anything in the Develop Mode. It says photo can’t be found. I have found then on my externals, but don’t know the next step so Lightroom knows where they are.
Any suggestions?
Upgrading the catalog shouldn’t affect Lr knowing where the photos are. Double-check it was the right catalog updated (just looking at the photos in Grid and the folders should prove that)
So it sounds more like the path(s) to the photos is wrong -based on the message you’re reporting. Check this blog post that helps link missing photos back to Lr:
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/lightroom-photos-missing-fix/
Hey Victoria!
I tried to open lightroom today and it just flashed and then quit.
Two Things: I hadn’t backed up in a few months (one project not completely backed up)
I hadn’t upgraded to the newest version yet.
Because I wasn’t able to open Lightroom today, I’m not able to back up the current catalogue. What will I lose by clicking Upgrade Destination on the pop up?
Thanks!
Amy
Hi Amy
I’d suggest going to the folder where your catalog(s) are and at least taking a manual copy – the longer you leave it between backups, potentially the more work you lose if there’s a problem with the catalog.
‘Upgrade Destination’? Do you mean ‘Upgrade Catalog’? If the latter then you lose nothing as the current catalog is left in place.
so I should be able to delete the old catalog without damaging anything, right?
Once you have the upgraded catalog all working fine, then the only reason to keep the old one (for a time) is as a backup in case of catalog issues (like you’d keep a number of previous backups anyway)
I just upgraded to Lightroom Classic from LR6. I struggle immensely with technology and although I’ve read the articles/comments several times, I’m still struggling.
I’m on a new Mac with Catalina OS. Prior to today, I did not realize that LR 6 would not work on the new machine. I used migration assistant to transfer all of my applications and documents over, including LR 6. I have now upgraded to LRC and am able to open the application. My question is – should I uninstall Adobe LR 6 on the new machine? I assume both applications are now taking up space.
If I uninstall, would this have any impact on the catalogs that have been created? When I upgraded to LRC, a new catalog was created as described above.
Uninstalling Lr6 doesn’t affect the catalogs (or photos) on your system, it’s purely removing a program and as you found, Lr6 can’t be installed on Catalina.
Hi, I just upgraded from lightroom 6 to the new lightroom classic on my new Macbook pro (which does not support LR6)… I imported my old catalogues in LR classic which suggested to update them with a -V10… That worked well HOWEVER all my development history has disappeared… I can see the reworked photos but I cannot undo the history or revert to the original?? Please Hlep! thx
I need to upgrade my catalog but it doesn’t look like I’ve done a backup in many months. I can’t figure out how to do a backup before upgrading. Can you help? Thanks!
Go to Catalog Settings and there’s a backup frequency pop-up. Change it to Next time to Lightroom Exits and then quit Lightroom. Or just copy the lrcat file using Explorer/Finder.
Thanks for the speedy response! The only thing that I can access is the upgrade box that pops up when I open Lightroom. If I use your other option of copying the lrcat file through Finder, do I just copy/paste it to an external hard drive? Sorry if this is a stupid question. I really appreciate your help!
Yep, copy and paste will do fine as a backup. The upgrade only upgrades a copy anyway, so it’s just for extra peace of mind.
Thank you so much! This is a good reminder to stay caught up on my backups.
I have avoided upgrading from LR 8.4.1 and to MacOS Catalina because of all of the reported problems. Are they resolved now?
Victoria and I have both been using Classic (9.2.1 currently) and Catalina very happily for some time.
This has been the most USEFUL thread to read – I really appreciate that you answer all these questions. In my panic because I did not look at this before upgrading I fear that I have overwritten my catalog.
I have work and edits that I still need to export at different resolutions from work I did last year and in March this year before I put 9.2.1 on my mac.
I have done very little work during lockdown (focussing on 3 kids instead) and when I saw the library/catalog was not as it should be I just thought I would come back to it and easily work out what was wrong.
When I look at the time machine back-ups from BEFORE I put the 9.2.1 – they seem to be time stamped with 15May – which is probably when I updated Lightroom – why would this date be on a time machine backup from earlier.
Do you think I should uninstall and put 8.4.1 back on and try to restore the catalog from March?
Lr won’t have deleted the original catalog – as the log shows, it creates a new one from it. So, unless you deleted the ‘old’ catalog, putting 8.4.1 on will mean it will be able to use it. This blog explains how to roll back:
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/roll-back-update-previous-classic/
That said, what’s the issue with using 9.2.1 and the new catalog?
So should I keep the original catalog, delete it or combine the two?
Once you upgrade the old catalog won’t open in the new version. So, keep it for a while to make sure the upgrade went well, but then it’s just a backup, you can’t use it for the new version.
Hi! Maybe you can help me. I upgraded Lightroom to 9.2 (my previous version was 8.4.1 and it worked perfectly). After upgrade the import feature stopped working. It doesn’t see images on the card, it doesn’t see images anywhere on my mac. I’m on macOS Catalina 10.15.3. I contacted the support, but in the middle of our talk the support agent disappeared for an hour and honestly all his ‘solutions’ were useless.
So, here’s what I tried:
1. In the Preferences (Security and Privacy) I checked that Lightroom has all permissions under Files and Folders + Accessibility. All permissions were granted.
2. Then I also granted Full Disk access to Creative Cloud.
3. On one of the forums I found that deleting /Users/USERNAME/Library/Preferences/Adobe/Lightroom/9.2/Debug Database.txtsometimes helps. I did that, nothing.
4. Then I uninstalled Lightroom and used the Creative Cloud Cleaner. After that I installed Lightroom from scratch.
5. I checked the Camera Raw version (it was the latest) and whether my camera is supported (it is), still nothing.
Any other ideas how I could fix my import problem?
Hi Ira
That sounds odd. If it was all working fine on 8.4.1 on Catalina then it’s less likely to be a permissions issue. I’d suggest reset Preferences, that can be a cause of odd things happening:
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-do-i-reset-lightrooms-preferences/
I did the upgrade and now all of my user presets have disappeared. How do I get them back?
The most likely suspect is the Store Presets with This Catalog checkbox in Preferences.
I understand a catalog back up is a good thing to have before a major update is issued. I started with one catalog, now I have several with as many Lr cat zip files. Those are taking lots of space in my hard drive; can I delete these?
It’s good to have some backups irregardless of an update, as sometimes catalogs can get corrupt:
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/why-should-i-let-lightroom-run-its-own-backups/
How many should you keep? Depends on your aversion to risk, but most keep a selection, depending on how often you have the backup set to run. If weekly (assuming a lot doesn’t change from day to day) then one strategy is to keep the last 4 weeks, then perhaps a couple from a month / two months back. Maybe change the location of the backups is an idea so they don’t clutter your main drive:
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/where-should-i-put-my-backups/
Finally I found someone to ask this question. Since the upgrade something has changed. Before, when I would import a new folder of pictures into lightroom, it would organize them according to date in my destination folder on my external hard drive. Now even though the destination folder is still the same, and the import process seems to be going through (i.e. the status bar indicates progress) when it finishes, the new folders haven’t been created and the pictures aren’t there. Can you help me?
We’d need to do a whole lot more troubleshooting on that windy, so feel free to post on the forum.
This is not a good upgrade. My old catalogs are stored on a hard drive and I can’t access them. I can not add a new folder and edit new photos. I have always enjoyed the extremely user friendly aspects of lightroom, but this has created very complicated issues.
That sounds more like an operating system level issue. What happens when you try to access the old catalogs or add a new folder? And which operating system version?
Since accidentally upgrading to 9.0 from 8.4.1 some edits in Develop have been lost. If I want to roll back to the earlier version and open the old catalogue will the edits be in this previous version? Also, do I have to uninstall 9.0 first before rolling back, or can I just hit install on 8.4.1?
If they were lost in the upgrade, I’d just try opening the 8.4.1 catalog again in 9.1 and let it upgrade again to see if they come through this time. There have only been a couple of reports of data going missing during upgrade, but it’s possible.
Otherwise, yes, if the settings were there before the upgrade, they’d still be in the older catalog. Just hitting install on 8.4.1 should work fine.
It seems to have worked, thank you!
Oh dear – I have important work to do this morning. I have a large catalogue. Looks like this upgrade is going to take a very long time 🙁
Ha haaa… the status bar spent 5 minutes getting to about 3% – then jumped to 75% – then 10 seconds later it completed!!! 🙂
Excellent, thanks for the update!
Since I updated Lightroom Classic and let it create a New Catalog, I can’t reorganize the folders in Lightroom. I inadvertently stored by edit of one folder in another location. When I tried to move the Edits folder to the main folder, it says you cannot write to to this disc. The message pops up if I do additional editng on the existing DNG files in my libraries and re-xport as Jpeg copies. What went wrong here? Thank you.
That sounds like a folder permissions issue. Which operating system? And where are the originals stored?
This has happened to me. However, the upgrade failed with a message to choose another catalog. I tried my latest backup, which was 11/4, just before the upgrade apparently, but it also failed in the same manner.
There doesn’t appear to be a solution?
John, What actual error did it report? Did it actually create a -2 catalog?
Helo Mr McFarlane, I got this issue for the Lightroom v10.4, It opened the dialog like this article, when I launched the Lightroom app, It opened and closed immediately. I can neither choose upgrade the catalog nor do anything else. What can I do next ?
We need more information to comment. What version did you upgrade from? Did it actually run through the upgrade process? Drop onto our Forums with additional information so we can see how to help you.
Did you ever figure this out?