Since Adobe rebranded Lightroom, many photographers are confused about which version they’re using. So how do you check which Lightroom version you’re using?
The easiest way to figure out which Lightroom version you’re currently using is to open Lightroom and go to Help menu > System Info.
If you can’t open Lightroom right now, there are a few other clues that help to identify your Lightroom version…
(click to open diagram in a new tab if it’s too small)
So what’s the difference?
- Lightroom 6 and earlier stored your photos on your hard drive, and they were sold as perpetual licenses. This means you paid a one-off fee (plus optional upgrades). It carried on working until an outside change, such as an operating system upgrade or a connection to an external web service, broke it. Lightroom 6.14 was the last perpetual version, released in December 2017.
- Lightroom Classic is the latest version of that traditional folder-based Lightroom for Windows/Mac. It stores your photos on your hard drive. It’s available as part of the Photography Plan subscription along with Photoshop, and it’s updated every 2-4 months.
- Lightroom (previously known as Lightroom CC) is the cloud-native family of Lightroom apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, iPadOS, Android and ChromeOS. It stores your photos in the cloud so they can be accessed from all of your devices. It’s available as part of the Photography Plan subscription (only 20GB of cloud space) or as a Lightroom subscription (with 1TB of cloud space). It’s a more recently developed program, so it doesn’t have all of Lightroom Classic’s features, but it’s easier to learn.
If you’re not sure whether you’d be best with Lightroom Classic or Lightroom (Cloud version), there’s a feature comparison here.
For extensive information on Lightroom Classic, see Adobe Lightroom Classic – The Missing FAQ.
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!
Originally posted November 14, 2018, updated May 2021 for Adobe’s latest rebranding.
Two questions: How do I get the last update of LR mobile app? Is it automatically updated?
How will I know if LRclassic 13.3 is debugged before I install it? Thanks. Larry
Yes, it’ll update automatically or you can go to your App Store and search for Lightroom and it’ll have an update button. The mobile app stores do roll out slowly so it might not be available yet.
We’re updating the top of this post with bugs as they’re reported, so check back here. So far it’s looking very stable with no huge bugs. I’d give it a few more days as some things don’t turn up immediately.
Help, running LR6 perpetual on Mojave and want to update to Catalina. All my 32 bit apps are Adobe.
Adobe Desktop Service, Adobe CEF Helper,AdobeIPCBroker,adobe_licutil,adobe_licutil,dynamiclinkmanager,Adobe QT32 Server,UpdaterStartupUtility,Adobe CEF Helper EH,Creative Cloud,AdobeUpdateDaemon
What happens if I upgrade? Does LR6.8 and Camera Raw 9.8 stop working?
See answer to the above post.
Hi, I’m using LR 6.14 on an iMac OS 10.14 – Mojave.
I haven’t upgraded to a new OS since learning that Adobe discontinued upgrades to LR 6.
I don’t want to upgrade to Classic or CC at this time mostly due to cost and concern about having work on photos preserved.
-Will 6.14 work if I upgrade to the iMac latest OS (12)? Optimally?
Thanks.
Lightroom 6 has generally been reported to continue working if you upgrade to later OS, although you can’t install fresh (or uninstall) as the components for that are 32-bit and, as you appreciate, Apple changed from Catalina to only support 64-bit applications. It can’t be guaranteed of course, Lightroom 6 hasn’t been supported since October 2017 and there are a number of parts of it that no longer function.
Optimally? Not sure what you’re expecting, Lightroom 6 was optimized for the hardware and OS of it’s age.
I think I read something from you that said your newer book included updated info for those of us 6.14 sore-users. Do which book do you recommend please?
The Lightroom 6 book is the one for 6.14. The eBook has notes on updates from 6.0 up to the final ones in Lightroom 6.
Hi. I am on Lightroom 5.7.1 installed on my iMac running El Capitan 10.11.6, with a large many year old catalog. So scared of upgrading, but the Fuji XT2 is not supported and I’ve just bought one.
I’m so confused! I’m leaning more towards CC, but am paranoid about messing anything up!
Hi Amy, main things to consider are:
1. Is your internet fast enough to upload all of your photos?
2. How much space do all those photos take up?
3. Does cloudy have all of the features you need? https://www.lightroomqueen.com/lightroom-cc-vs-classic-features/
You may find that Lightroom Classic is a better choice for you at this time, as the interface will be almost identical to the one you’re used to.
Either way, it’s time to upgrade your computer’s operating system, as none of the current versions are compatible with El Capitan. If you upgrade macOS in the next month or two, you’ll get Mojave, which is close to the end of its life cycle so it’s fairly bug free. The next OS, Catalina, will be out in a couple of months and has much bigger changes, so I’d get it done before then.
I’m using lightroom 6 on windows 7. When I upgrade to windows 10, will I still be able to use lightroom 6? I read your post that said lightroom 6 could ‘brake’ if my operating system changes.
Yep, everything in Lightroom 6 is working ok on Windows 10 at this point, with the exception of the Map module which broke due to a change at Google.
I’m getting used to Lightroom Mobile, and I’m finally editing faster on mobile than I did on the desktop. Through the winter it was great. But now that summer is here, and I’m doing multiple jobs, I keep running into space issues with Lightroom Mobile. This laptop has a 500gb hard drive. There is nothing on it but a few apps. I have syncing paused because I don’t want to clog up internet bandwidth or slow down speeds for the gamers in the house, but every time I import a new set of photos into Lightroom Mobile, C drive gets larger and larger. I’m importing from a 1tb SSD and not trying to store local copies. The space on the SSD doesn’t change a bit.
I’m now in the red in C drive and can’t import last night’s wedding without “freeing space” on C drive…. but I literally see nothing to delete. What is taking up space on my laptop? This machine is JUST to cull and edit without being glued to a desk. I’ve never had a C drive bloat like this before.
🙁
Which LR version are you using on your laptop Angela? Classic or Cloudy?
Personally this never bugged me at all. I found it didn’t take much to figure this out last year. There were multiple forums to ask if unsure. I think people just don’t like change and I’m one of them. Not just software. We get into our comfort zone. Also I think when Adobe announced Classic or LR7 would no longer be available in standalone that really kicked the anthill, which didn’t help. My main concern was did I have to use cloud storage with Classic and bit more research answered that.
Hi Victoria
I currently hold my photos and the LR catalogs (LR 6) on a detachable HD (non solid state) and then can switch from desktop to lap top at my convenience. I have decided to take the leap and (a) subscribe for the monthly Photography Plan, including PS which is new for me, and want to use LR Classic which I am used to (b) move to a position where I only have my photos and LR on my desk top – so migrating both the photos and LR stuff from my detachable HD to the desk top and (c) set up a back up plan for the new approach (at present, I just copy and paste both my photos and LR catalogs to my desk top and a 2nd HD as back ups.
I am slightly worried about all the things that can go wrong on this seismic shift. Can you point me to any previous blogs/info the cover the issues involved here? Anything in particular to be worried about or focus on?
One thing I am not sure about is what order to do things and how to re-link my photos and the catalog as I move from the detachable HD to the Photography Plan and photos on the desktop.
Thanks for any help you can offer
Hi Peter. You’re sensible to think it through before jumping.
Here’s how to move the catalog to another drive: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/find-move-rename-catalog/
Here’s how to move the photos: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/move-photos-another-hard-drive-leaving-catalog/
Either order will work.
And you’re really wise to think about backups too. I’d suggest looking at proper backup software that can handle that for you. That way it can back up your whole desktop’s hard drive and be sure it’s not missing anything important like presets etc.
Thanks for the links – I’m on with it all! Fingers crossed.
I think Johnnina is using Yosemite on a Mac, not Windows 10. Upgrading the OS should be done before upgrading to Classic.
Oh well spotted Linda. You’re absolutely right.
Want to store photos both on my disk and in the cloud. Which version of Lightroom do I use for that?
I like editing on my iPad Pro 12.9” and backing up the photos on my hard disks. I thought Adobe only stores Smart DNGs in the cloud instead of full DNG sizes, what is Adobe storing in the cloud for full DNGs?
You can use both Lightroom Classic CC (“old Lightroom”) and the new Lightroom CC. If you use the latter, all your originals will live in the cloud and sync to all your devices (if you chose so), otherwise Smart Previews will sync. If you use Lightroom Classic CC and have a subscription, you can still sync to the cloud but it will only be Smart Previews. If your use is basic, I would recommend Lightroom CC for the best hybrid desktop-mobile experience.
Summary; if you use both Lightroom Classic CC and Lightroom CC, import in Lightroom CC and sync to Lightroom Classic to get full DNGs on iPad. Only downside is that you don’t get to chose how the synced photos are sorted in folders on your desktop (default is by date and this is automated by the software).
What would have you called it.
Gerrit’s solution will work. Or if you don’t need the Classic features, you can just use CC everywhere and set CC desktop to store a copy of all images on your hard drive as well as in the cloud. You can then back up that folder on additional hard drives too.
Lightroom version: 3.6 [795620]
Version: 10.10 [5]
Application architecture: x64
Physical processor count: 8
Processor speed: 2.8 GHz
Built-in memory: 16384.0 MB
Real memory available to Lightroom: 16384.0 MB
Real memory used by Lightroom: 239.1 MB (1.4%)
Virtual memory used by Lightroom: 2574.3 MB
Memory cache size: 13.6 MB
Displays: 1) 1280×800
What book should I buy? I would like a hard copy since my computer is always telling me that I have little space on the hard drive..
I would like to upgrade, but I am afraid I will screw up and look my pictures… LOTS of pictures. Suggestions in the book????
Ooooh, I haven’t met anyone using Lightroom 3 for a while. Is that Windows 10 you’re using? If so, you should be fine to upgrade to Lightroom Classic. You might want to back up first for peace of mind (https://www.lightroomqueen.com/backup-lightroom-files/) but then you simply install the latest version, and when it asks permission to upgrade your catalog, say yes.
You might want to figure out why your computer says it’s so low on space. It’d probably run faster if you can (safely) move some files off to an external drive.
Definitely make a full backup of your library and photo originals. Buy a (cheap) extern hard disk… 4TB is like $90 nowadays, 1TB goes for like $40 if you get a good deal. Peace of mind!
Once you have done that update your OS and then update Lightroom if you have the license for it.
Adobe has no one to blame but themselves for this marketing 101 blunder. Having a product called Lightroom CC for years and renaming that Lightroom Classic CC, while renaming a new product Lightroom CC is asking for confusion, more so because the new product is by all means not ready to replace the old product (in that case it would have made sense). And also because CC is also the overall naming for all their apps in the subscription.
If you search for Lightroom CC (new cloud version) books and videos all you find is all the old books for previous Lightroom Desktop version.
The Premiere team did a better job. (or perhaps learned from Lightroom’s mistake).. Premiere in the cloud is called Premiere Rush CC. Lightroom (Cloud Sync) CC should have had similar naming to prevent any confusion.
Sorry for the rant but I find this incredibly stupid on Adobe’s behalf.
I doubt most of the Lightroom team would argue with you there. Marketing guys gone wild.
Mr. VanEck, you are so right. I appreciate you putting this out there. Very frustrating. you would’ve thought someone would have caught this. If I may ask, what is premiere? a program similar to LR?
v/r William
Premiere Pro & Rush are Adobe video editing software.
Agreed – you have to wonder what calibre of people are employed at Adobe.
Lightroom Classic CC (hard drive based) has a box with sharp, rectangular corners. Lightroom CC (cloud based) has a box with rounded corners.