Last week, we discussed the options for using your catalog on more than one computer. When you open your catalog on the second computer, however, you may find that your presets are missing. These include Develop presets, Metadata presets, Import presets, Print templates and so forth.
By default, your presets are stored in your user account on your computer, but if you’re using your catalog with multiple computers, you can choose to store them with the catalog by checking the Preferences dialog > Presets tab > Store presets with this catalog checkbox.
Before you rush off to check the checkbox, there are a few warnings to note, as this checkbox causes as much confusion as it solves:
- Lightroom doesn’t move the presets to the new location automatically, so we’ll step through how to do that in a moment.
- If your presets ever seem to have ‘gone missing’, that checkbox is probably to blame.
- When checked, the presets are only available to that specific catalog, so don’t check it if you need to use multiple catalogs (unless you want different presets with each catalog).
- Some settings are always stored in the user account, regardless of the Store presets with this catalog checkbox state. These include default Develop settings, custom point curves, lens and camera profiles, and email account settings, which are always tied to a single machine.
- (There is a way of using Symbolic Links and Dropbox to sync presets, which is covered on pages 426-428 of my Adobe Lightroom Classic – The Missing FAQ book.)
- In most situations, this checkbox causes unnecessary confusion, so I’d recommend leaving it unchecked unless you have a specific reason for using it (such as using a single catalog on multiple computers or requiring different presets in different catalogs).
Checking or unchecking the Store presets with this catalog only changes where Lightroom looks for presets and stores new ones. It doesn’t copy any existing presets to the new location, so you need to manually copy them. To do so:
- Go to and uncheck Store presets with this catalog and press the Show Lightroom Presets Folder button.
- An Explorer (Windows) / Finder (Mac) window opens, showing the presets in your user account.
- You can also navigate to this location manually. The full path is:
- Windows—C: \ Users \ [your username] \ AppData \ Roaming \ Adobe \ Lightroom \
- Mac—Macintosh HD / Users / [your username] / Library / Application Support / Adobe / Lightroom /
- You can also navigate to this location manually. The full path is:
- Keep the Explorer/Finder window open in the background and switch back to Lightroom.
- Check the Store presets with this catalog checkbox and press the Show Lightroom Presets Folder button again.
- A second Explorer (Windows) / Finder (Mac) window opens, showing the catalog-specific Lightroom Settings folder.
- Drag (or copy/paste) your presets from the user account folder to the catalog-specific one (or vice versa, depending on where you want the presets stored.)
I think you need some additional comment on when “Store presets with this catalog” is useful and when it is not. For instance, having the presets with the catalog is useful for a portable catalog on an EHD that might be used with multiple instances of LR, Having the presets with the catalog is not so useful it you use multiple catalogs and not a single master catalog. In this instance presets stored with each catalog are almost always going to be out of sync.
You don’t think this says enough?
“In most situations, this checkbox causes unnecessary confusion, so I’d recommend leaving it unchecked unless you have a specific reason for using it (such as using a single catalog on multiple computers or requiring different presets in different catalogs).”
It was enough for me! 😉
You described my situation exactly (one catalog and a desktop and a laptop both running LR CC) so I opted to “Store Presets with Catalog” and couldn’t have worked it out without your column. Next I may consider the Dropbox sync option but I’m up and running! Thank you.
Well done Patti!
show “lightroom presets folder ” do not understand this window is this to be cleared out then eliminate the beach ball ? but what folder? there abut 9 folders. with weird names attached to them , this comment is part of the PREFERENCE DIALOG COMMENT I MADE.
Store presets with catalog has nothing to do with beachballs. I’ve replied to your comment on the preferences post.
Victoria, I currently have a large primary (my only) catalogue containing over 100k images. What I am trying to do is export some folders into a separate folder so that editing/culling can be faster in LR. Still on the same PC. However I can’t see any other way of taking my presets with me other than store presets with this catalogue option OR reinstalling all of them. Please help!
You shouldn’t really need to do to split them off T, as 100k isn’t really that big in terms of catalog size. It might be worth posting on the forum if you’re seeing notable performance problems.
But since you’re on the same PC, any catalogs on that PC will see presets stored in the global location without you having to do anything.
Hello,
I would like to use a different folder to store my presets than the default one. How do I do that?
Any help would be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance,
Gabor
I’ve replied on your forum thread: https://www.lightroomforums.net/threads/how-to-relocate-the-os-folder-containing-my-presets.30139/
Hello. I’ve been following your advice on getting everything (photos, catalogs, presets) moved from my iMac to an external hard drive for use also with my new macbook. I just followed this information and checked the “”store presets with this catalog” on the iMac, ejected the hard drive, plugged hard drive into macbook, opened LR and LR does not see my presets. Should the “store presets with this catalog also be checked in LR on the macbook? Please advice if I am missing a step in order to see the presets (now on the hard drive) on my macbook. Thank you!
Yes, you’d need to check it on both machines, as the checkbox tells LR where to look for the presets.
It won’t allow me to uncheck it. It crashes everytime I attempt to uncheck it.
That’s an odd one. It sounds like a permissions problem in the global location. If you go to Help menu > System Info, which LR version does it say you’re using, and which operating system?
For whatever reason Lr won’t let me unclick this button. When I unclick it, Lr acts as though it’s trying to do something, but then nothing happens. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
That sounds like there’s some kind of permissions issue for the main preset folders, so it’s trying to copy the files but can’t. Which OS?
When I click on the Lightroom Settings folder on my c drive where my catalog is stored, there are no other folders in it. I know I need to put my presets in the Develop Presets folder and my brush presets in the Local Adjustment folder within the Lightroom Settings folder, but those folders are just not there. Any advice on why they are missing. I’m running LR 8.4.1
What’s the status of the Store Presets with This Catalog checkbox in the Preferences > Presets tab?
Thank you for the information I have been looking for.
Hi. Selecting “Store Presets with This Catalog” works as advertised, but I only want it to apply to one specific catalog (catalog B, say); however, having checked it for catalog B also leaves it checked when I open my main catalog (catalog A, say) and I have to go to preferences and uncheck it – which then leaves it unchecked when I open the previous catalog B, etc. I’m assuming I should be able to have it checked for catalog B and unchecked for catalog A (without changing the preferences every time)? Any help you can provide to remedy this would be appreciated!
No, it’s a Preference (rather than a Catalog Setting) so it applies to all catalogs, sorry.
I uncheck the ” store presets with this catalog” button but it won’t stay unselected. I can see my presets reappear but as soon I close out the window they go away, won’t stay unchecked?? I have no apply button or save button once I unselect.
Make sure you’re hitting the Enter key or OK button, and not just closing the dialog. If it still won’t stick, reset preferences: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-do-i-reset-lightrooms-preferences/
Once I have stored my presets with my Catalog, is there any way at a later date to back out and export all my presets back to xmp files?
The presets will still be XMP files, it’s just the location you changed. So, they can be manually copied to the regular locations if desired.
Awesome. I thought they would get injected into the lrcat file.
Thanks for the quick reply, Paul!
very helpful, thank you!