One of the questions we’re most frequently asked is ‘How do I move Lightroom to a new computer?’ It’s one of those scary moments when you know all your precious photos and edits rely on getting the move right, and unfortunately there’s plenty of conflicting instructions and bad advice to be found. For example, do… Click to continue
Which Lightroom files do I need to back up?
Whether you’re backing up Lightroom ready to move to a new computer, upgrade your operating system, or you’re just double checking your main backups, you’ll need to know which Lightroom files to include in your backups. There’s a fair number of locations, so it’s worth checking every so often that your routines are up-to-date and… Click to continue
How do I clean up duplicate photos?
Over time, you may have ended up with a load of duplicated photos that you need to clean up. Merging catalogs can introduce duplicates, but so can importing photos with Don’t import suspected duplicates unchecked, importing exported photos or using the catalog on more than one device can also clutter your catalog with duplicate photos. Whatever… Click to continue
How do I rearrange existing photos into a new dated folder structure?
Last week, we discussed how to create, rename and delete folders, and how to move photos between folders. If you’re moving to a dated folder structure, Lightroom won’t create the folder structure automatically, but it can help. Here’s how: Create your new dated folder structure in the Folders panel. Month folders inside of year folders… Click to continue
How do I reorganize my Folders panel?
Lightroom only automatically organizes photos (for example, into dated folders) while importing, but if your existing folder structure is a mess, you can tidy it up manually by creating, moving, renaming and deleting folders and photos. While Lightroom doesn’t care where the photos are stored, it does make it easier to back up and move Lightroom.… Click to continue
How do I copy metadata or edits between photos?
In last week’s post, we identified all of the duplicate photos in your catalog and deleted many of them. There may still be some duplicate photos left, whether these are real files on the hard drive or virtual copies created during the merge process, with edits you don’t want to lose. For example, you may… Click to continue
Merging Catalogs – Stage 4 – Cleanup
In the last few posts, we’ve been merging multiple catalogs into a single new Master catalog. Once the photos are all in a single catalog, you can finish cleaning up. Fix Missing Photos If any photos are still marked as missing, now’s the time to track down the originals and relink them. It’s important to… Click to continue
Merging Catalogs – Stage 3 – Using Import from Another Catalog to Merge
In the last post, we finished gathering information about the catalogs and created a plan of action. With all of the information to hand, you’re ready to start merging catalogs. Open Lightroom and go to File menu > New Catalog. This will become your new Master catalog, so give it a sensible name and choose the location… Click to continue
Merging Catalogs – Stage 2 – Prepare Catalogs for a Clean Merge
In the last post, we figured out which of your multiple catalogs you want to merge into your new Master Catalog. There’s a little more preparation work to do, which will help to avoid problems later, and then we can go ahead with the merge. Stage 2 – Prepare Catalogs for a Clean Merge Based on… Click to continue
Merging Catalogs – Stage 1 – Identifying Catalogs
In the last post in the series, we gained an overview of the process of merging multiple catalogs into a single Master catalog. The first task is to identify which catalogs contain metadata you want to keep. The easiest way to do this is to make a list or spreadsheet of all the catalogs, something like this: (Click… Click to continue
Merging Catalogs – The Overview
Some weeks ago, we discussed the arguments for and against multiple catalogs. Perhaps you’ve unintentionally ended up with multiple catalogs, because you opened a backup catalog and continued working in it, or you’ve started a new catalog each time you’ve upgraded Lightroom. If you have metadata and edits scattered across multiple catalogs, you won’t want to lose all of… Click to continue
Should you have one catalog or multiple catalogs?
Since version 1.1, Lightroom has been able to create and switch between multiple catalogs, but the question is, just because you can, should you? There is no ‘right’ number of catalogs. As with the rest of your Lightroom workflow, it depends on how you work. So should you use a single main working catalog*, or… Click to continue
What is a Lightroom catalog?
There are basically two different types of image management software – databases (catalogs) and file browsers. So what’s the difference? Let’s compare to a physical library of books to illustrate. A file browser looks at the files directly on the hard drive and organizes photos by folder. This is like walking straight into the library and… Click to continue
Lightroom Catalogs – Top 10 Misunderstandings
Lightroom has two primary functions – organizing your photos and editing them. Although its organizational tools are powerful, they’re also the most misunderstood, so over the forthcoming weeks, we’ll discuss the best practices for using catalogs, folders, collections and keywords, and then we’ll discuss how to tidy up your existing catalog, if you wish to… Click to continue
Lightroom Performance – Previews & Caches
Lightroom uses numerous kinds of previews and caches for different purposes. Having a basic idea of their usage can help you pick the right ones for your needs. The main ones you need to know about are rendered previews and smart previews. To fully understand the Library & Develop preview loading logic to optimize your… Click to continue