Lightroom catalog maintenance question.
The Lightroom catalog is a convenient feature that allows changes to photographs without making changes to the original picture.
I have had problems when I have to reorganize folders and files in Windows. If I rename a folder in Windows I damage the path to the pictures and I lose the Lightroom catalog.
I have a very dynamic set of image files that have to be created and filed away (deleted) very frequently and the stability of the Lightroom catalog seems to be in the way. Maintenance of the Catalog feels like an extra burden.
What is the best way to repair (modify) the Catalog links to the Windows files when they have been deleted or renamed?
Thanks in advance.
Al
You can change the links via
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr2_find_folder/find-folder.htm
I have a very dynamic set of image files that have to be created and filed away (deleted) very frequently and the stability of the Lightroom catalog seems to be in the way.
Most people don't delete photos once imported into LR, and everything works very smoothly. Once the photo is imported, leave it in Lightroom. Saves you some work.
Furthermore, the idea of importing the photos to a certain location, working with the photos and then moving the photos somewhere else might make sense in your operating system, but in Lightroom this is an extra step with no obvious benefits (in my opinion). Better would be to import the photos to their destination, and not perform the two-step Move to Folder A followed by Move to Folder B.
By the way, I hope you understand that if you delete photos from Lightroom (but not from your hard disk), your edits may not stay with the actual photos. By default, the edits and other metadata are not stored with the photo files.
And as John said, an organization scheme that uses keywords and other metadata will be far superior in the long-run than moving photos from folder to folder and location to location.
Similar Messages
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Technical question:
Is it possible to work on the same Lightroom catalog across two computers and have the catalog sync? If so, how??
Here's a little more information on what I am trying to do.
I have a desktop computer with 4tb worth of pictures that has Lightroom and Photoshop on it. I also have a laptop with Photoshop and Lightroom. I would like to be able to edit those same pictures with their current edits that are currently on my desktop on my laptop. If this can be done, I'm sure I need to be on the same wifi network for my laptop to be able to access my desktop's photo library. I am technically savvy enough to map a network drive, but how do I get my two Lightroom catalogs to sync when I make a change on one of my computers? Would i be working only on one catalog? Or two separate catalogs that would need to be manually synced to the other computer? Would it be beneficial to put my lightroom catalog on something like dropbox?
I'd appreciate any information or tutorials if someone knows how to do this.I do this by having my LR catalog and photos on an external drive that I swap between the two computers. I am on Windows and have the same drive letter assigned to the drive on both computers.
Because the photos are on a portable drive I back up the portable drive to another hard-drive every night or after important work, because portable drives are susceptible to damage or loss. -
Hey guys, a few quick LR questions...
1. Can a Lightroom catalog see folder structure? (If for example, I asked it to reference files already on my hard drive, could I see the folder structure that existed, and navigate to it from within the program?)
2. Would those files remain accessible via Finder?
3. If I ADDED a photo to the folder via the finder, could I update the catalog so Lightroom knew it was there?
4. If I Moved/Deleted a photo from a folder, could I make Lightroom update the catalog with the new info?
5. If I added an extra FOLDER, could I make Lightroom see it? Would I need to add it via Lightroom, or the Finder?
Thanks!1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes
5. Yes, you have to add it in your operating system first, and then add it to LR
Having said all that, I point out that Lightroom is NOT a file browser. It only knows about photos (and the folders that contain them) that have been imported into LR, and so you have to alert Lightroom properly of any changes that are made outside of Lightroom. -
hi,
i need advice on the issue i encountered with importing a catalog into LR 2.5 and LR 2.6.
i recently deleted a catalog file from a laptop hard drive. i used laptop on my recent trip and upon return transferred all the photos to my desktop machine where i run LR2.6. i forgot to transfer catalog file from the laptop. later i cleaned up laptop hard drive. when i realised what happened (about 3 months of hard labor of processing pictures) i used a recovery software (iCare Data Recovery) to recover deleted catalog.
catalog file was found and supposedly recovered to hard drive.
however, when i try to open this catalog (file-->open catalog) i get an error message "The Lightroom catalog "catalog name" is corrupt and cannot be used or backed up until it is repaired".
i am given an option to Repair Catalog and upon selecting this option an error message comes up "The Lightroom catalog "catalog name" is corrupt and cannot be repaired at this time".
any thoughts on this issue?
thank younop, did not work.
i guess there is one positive consolation out of this disaster - i get to relive the wonderful holiday experience once again, although only in pictures
thank you Victoria -
Can I move the Lightroom Catalog from one location to another?
Lightroom by default, places the Lightroom Catalog in the Pictures folder on my PC. My image library though, is located on an external hard drive. I've read that it is better to have the Catalog at the same location to avoid disconnected images, which sounds reasonable. Is it feasable to move the Catalog over to the same drive as my image library, or will that cause a problem? In other words would I need to start over again and create a new Catalog on the external drive? I know this sounds like a dumb question, but I've learnt to my cost that the obvious solution isn't necessary the correct one.
For better performance it is preferable to have the catalog located on an internal hard drive. By default the catalog and the preview files have to be located in the same folder since there is continual read/write taking place while working in Lightroom. Lightroom does not make any changes to the original files so its fine for them to be located on another hard drive internal or external. Lightroom loves lots of hard disk space to operate so if your catalog is on an internal drive make sure it not starved for disk space.
However its ok for your catalog/previews files to reside on an external HDD with your original photo files.
Your photo files can reside on a HDD conected to a network but your catalog and preview files cannot be located on a network.
e.g I have my catalog / previews on the main HDD with my operating system with over 50% free disk space. My Photo files are on a secondary internal HDD with over 75% free disk space. I back up to external HDD. -
Combine Lightroom catalogs with the same name.
Newbie, be easy on me. This will probably end up being a dumb question, but here goes anyway. I have 2 lightroom catalogs named (Lightroom 2 Catalog.lrcat) What is the easiest way to combine those 2 into 1 catalog (Lightroom 2 Catalog.lrcat). Thank you in advance!
ScottHi Scott
I'd open one of the libraries, and rename it "catalogue2" and then open the other one and import the "catalogue2" into the 1st one
alternatively, find where one of the catalogues is and rename is thru explorer or finder, and open that one and then import the other catalogue.
All the import is in File Import
import from catalogue,
from chip from disk etc
Hope that helps
Cheers
Hamish
hamishNIVEN Photography -
Lightroom catalog backup find missing file location- please help!
Hi,
Before I start, if anyone can answer this question I would be so grateful. I would cry!
Ok, so let me start.
Recently I cleared my whole entire mac and backed up everything on a hard drive. when I reinstalled lightroom on my clean mac, I also imported the catalog that I backed up. It all worked fine, and this post isn't about a lost catalog, or accidentally deleted photos.
So, what is hapenning is. When I imported my catalog I got an error message, for all the photos and folders. this:
So I found re-finding the folder, or finding the "missing file location" (which is so annoying because I wished Lightroom just backed up the pictures along with the catalog). But when I found the folder, only some photos showed up and some still displayed the exclamation mark.
Now I do have all the photos with the exclamation marks in folders on my backup hard drive, BUT they are all unedited raw versions. I honestly cannot go back and edit 2000 photos, especially after me having to clean all of the photos when my camera had over 30 spots of sensor dust on the photos. So those backup photos are what lightroom backed up, but I want to know how I can recover the photos in the lightroom catalog with the edits APPLIED.
May I PLEASEE get help on this. I am SO STUCK and do not want to mess up ANYTHING at all!
I would appreciate so much for ANY help! PLEASE!
Kind regards,
JoshPlease post on the Lightroom Forum.
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why do i get the following message when i attempt to open my backup file for lightroom cc? "Lightroom cannot use the catalog named "Lightroom Catalog" because it is not writable and cannot be opened". This message just started coming up after downloading lightroom cc (previously using lightroom 5)...am i backing up properly or not???
Open Pictures folder and move the files named lrcat-journal and lrcat.lock to Desktop.
Make sure that , they are not inside Pictures folder any more and try to open backup from Lighrtroom and check..
Any LRcat file with .lock extension , move it to Desktop. -
please help I need to open my my lightroom to edit and it says lightroom catalog cannot be opened bc another application already has it opened.... I went to download the update but computer went dead when came back on it was gone so I reinstalled. now wont open but ps will help birth session to edit
Make sure you don't have another copy of Lightroom actively running on your computer. If not, find your catalog file in Finder/Explorer. Look for a file with the same name, but with a .lock extension. delete that file. Now Lightroom should open the catalog again.
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I have a new Mac Pro computer and have migrated my files from my older computer to the new computer. In trying to open a Lightroom catalog on an external hard drive I keep on getting the message "lightroom cannot use the catalog named " " because it is not writable and cannot be opened. I have fixed all the "permissions" and yet it will still not open. How do I fix this?
Hello Forum Members,
I figured it out. You have to select the actual logo of the Lightroom catalog and then click on "get info" and allow what ever your new user name to "read and write". That worked!
Henri Silberman -
I have a new computer. I wish to uninstall Lightroom5 and photoshopCC on old computer and re-install on new computer. How do I do this. Also, Lightroom catalog is currently on external drive. Will Lightroom recognize it on new computer
Hello Francinera,
please have a first look here: Activation & deactivation help >>> http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/policy-pricing/activation-deactivation-products.html.
Please come back if necessary.
Good luck!
Hans-Günter -
Lightroom/photoshop workflow question
I have a scenario that I can't seem to get working the way I want.
Scenario: I edit a file in photoshop with multiple layers (.tiff or .psd). I then add that file to my lightroom catalog and would like to have it automatically updated in lightroom when making changes in photoshop. I know this is possible when using the "Edit in Photoshop" option but I can't seem to get it working when I had the file in photoshop first.
If I import the file into lightroom and then make changes in photoshop the changes are not applied in lightroom. If, in lightroom, I choose "edit in photoshop" then I get a flat image generated from the lightroom file that does not have all my previously created photoshop layers.If you have an image imported into LR then any changes to that image in, for example, PS will automatically be reflected in LR. Aside from being able to see previews in Library, all your Develop adjustments will still apply to the updated image too.
There are two concepts that need to be understood here. Firstly, LR does not support editing in layers, it was never designed to do this, but neither does it destroy them if they exist. It simply processes whatever Develop adjustments you have to the whole image as if it were flat. Secondly, it is a non-destructive editing platform, which means that all adjustments made in LR stay in LR unless you export the image. Then the adjustments are used to create a new file and, bringing in concept one, this file would not have layers.
So if you Edit In > Photoshop > Edit a copy with Lightroom Adjustments, then you’ll end up losing your layers.
If you can put up with not having your Lightroom adjustments when you need to make pixel-level edits, then simply Edit In > Photoshop > Edit Original. Once you have finished your editing, save and overwrite the file and when you go back to LR, you will automatically have your new pixel-level edits + all your existing LR develop adjustments all in a file that retains its layers
What’s more, there’s no reason why you can’t edit the file outside of LR. Because it’s already linked in the LR catalog, when you next open LR it will recognise that the image has changed and update the preview automatically. Using this method invariably means that some metadata changes. LR does not update externally modified metadata automatically but instead prompts you with an arrow in the top right of the grid and filmstrip previews. Clicking on this give you options on how to manage the metadata conflict. -
Files missing in Lightroom catalog after import?
I've got an external HD that has 7712 pictures in a single folder. All the files are either .JPG or .CR2 files taken from the same camera, a Canon EOS 5D. After importing the pictures into Lightroom the catalog only shows that 6712 pictures were imported. So there is a difference of 1000 pictures between what is in the folder on my external HD and what was put in the Lightroom catalog. Is there an easy way to determine which of the 1000 files did not get imported into Lightroom?
It might be that some Raws and Jpegs shared the same base filename, and Lightroom treated them as one Raw+Jpeg.
Check if your "treat jpegs and raws as separate files" option is selected in Preferences. If it is not, select it, and reimport your folder. Synchronize folder might work too. -
In this Episode of The Complete Picture Julieanne demonstrates how to combine individual Lightroom catalogs into a single, “Master” Lightroom catalog to simplify a photographers workflow and enable multi-shoot searching.
http://adobe.ly/ytQLSLWhat if I'm one of those disorganized folks who made the mistake of having the same images in multiple catalogs, some with and some without edits? How would I fix that mess?
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I use Lightroom exclusively for my photos. I initially used it with my desktop Mac (PowerPC G5) and then started using it also on my laptop (Macbook Pro). Both computers have all photos on external drives. There is a separate Lightroom catalog on each computer corresponding to each computer with it's individual external drive. You can imagine my problem now, I'm sure. I have, effectively, TWO Lightroom catalogs, each with unique images, but also I've copied some photos over between them. The problem is growing exponentially.
Here's what I'd LIKE to do. I'd like to install a shared NAS drive (perhaps an Apple Time Capsule drive) on my central hub in my house (my whole house is wired for Ethernet so that's not a problem), then put all photos on that single hub, thereby using a single Lightroom catalog and with it's images from either computer. If I have to travel somewhere and take some photos with me, I can deal with that because that it is typically the exception, not the rule.
Has anyone tried to do this? I don't need to nor expect to hit the shared catalog from both computers at the same time. I'll be using one or the other, but not both. But I'd like to bring these two environments together.
I'd love some insight from forum members who've attacked this problem and solved it. I just don't know if Lightroom will allow the catalog to be on a shared drive, thus accessed by either computer. If it will, then I imagine the work I need to do is:
1) create a large shared NAS drive.
2) copy all images to that drive.
3) pick one of the two Lightroom catalogs and make that the master and somehow point it to the NAS drive.
4) import the remainder of the photos on the NAS drive to Lightroom.
5) make sure that both computers reference the Lightroom catalog on the NAS drive.
or maybe not. Maybe there's a better way. I'd like your input.
if this won't work, then has anyone successfully merged two Lightroom catalogs together. One of my catalogs has about 80,000 images, and the other about 35,000 images. At least 50% of all images are keyworded and I'd really hate to lose my keywords and collections that I've created.
anyway, insight is welcome. Tell me if I'm nuts too.
Thanks in advance.
DennisThe closest think to this that will work is to put all the images on a large Firewire 800 drive with the LR catalog on the same drive, possibly in another partition. And alternately plug the drive into one machin or the other.
It is Networked drives where one can't put a Catalog, as John says.
Don
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