Use LR 2.7 without catalogs and collections?

Question

I don't like to have LR or any programs making unused files from everything I do, I have a different way of working and find catalogs and collections extraneous. Can I turn them off permanently?

Answer 1

Hi Frank,
Maybe I can help here.  Please understand that I am not trying to talk you into using LR, but I came to LR recently having felt very much as you do, and I am now hooked on it.
Over the past couple of years, I looked at LR a few times (never tried it, just looked at it on adobe.com).  It looked complicated and the notion of having to import all of my images did not appeal to me.  I have my images organized in a folder structure that works for me, on both local and external hard drives.  I like the files where they are and mistakenly thought LR would require me to move them somewhere else and organize them according to how LR wanted them organized, not how I wanted them organized.  I did fine with PS, ACR and Bridge, along with Nikon Transfer, Nikon View and Bibble.  For my current workflow, the asset management features were not important to me -- after all, I like my current folder structure.
In early January, I embarked on a project to redo my website and settled on a program called SlideShowPro to make Flash galleries.  But guess what?  SlideShowPro is a plug-in for LR.  A friend agreed to show me his LR/SSP workflow, so I sat down next to him as he demonstrated how to import images, manage a Library, create Collections, Develop images and output Flash in the Web module.  We spent about 45 minutes together, after which I realized how stubborn and shortsighted I'd been in my previous appraisal of LR.  My "fear" of LR catalogs, libraries and collections disappeared, along with my misunderstanding of how LR organizes images (it does not require me to change my file/folder structure).  I now realize what a powerful tool LR is and it will likely replace much of my existing workflow.  It will not replace all of it, and what it does for me is irrelevant to you or others.  My point is simply this:  Give Lightroom a chance.  You may be surprised.
As others pointed out, LR does not make you copy or move your files anywhere.  They can stay just where you want them and had them in the first place.  (When you import, select "Add photos to catalog without moving.")  You can import all images in a given folder, or only some of them.  If you want to work on some files in LR and then delete them from LR, that's fine.  Those files will remain on your hard drive just where they were before you imported them into LR.  You are not working with dual copies of your files (one in LR, one not in LR).  LR simply "points" to your files as they reside where they do now in your file structure.  (If you do delete files from LR, you will of course lose your LR edits, but that might be OK for you.)
The one key element of the LR workflow that confused me at first was the difference between the Library and a Collection.  The key point to me that "unlocked" how the whole thing works is that you import into the Library then create Collections, drag files from the Library into your Collections and then work on them from within your Collections.  Sound complicate, but it isn't.  Give it a chance.
If I may suggest, go to Lynda.com and look at the intro LR videos.  Several of them are free.  They are excellent.
As Jeff pointed out, LR isn't going to change.  It may well not be the right program for your workflow, but please don't reject it for the wrong reasons.
You might wonder why in the world I'd take the time to reply here (I ask that myself sometimes).  I have no stake in Adobe or anything like that.  The subject of your post caught my eye and, as I said above, I came to LR feeling just the way you did, but I now understand and appreciate the enormous power of the program.  Give it a chance.
John
http://www.johnblaustein.com