Lightroom :: Can Update Catalog On Laptop And Then Transfer Updates To Master Catalog On Desktop
Jan 13, 2011
I don't want to have the original files on both laptop and desktop.
I want to make a copy of a Lightroom 3 catalog to put on my laptop so while on the move I can be geo-tagging and keywording to 8000 photographs. I don't want to drag an external drive with me. I just want to be able to work on the catalog metadata and have all the updates/changes stored there (on the laptop)(in the catalog) and then transfer the catalog back to the desktop (to the primary archive) and have all the updates/changes pushed back into the DNG's or the XMP sidecar files alongside the CR2's. These changes would be only keywording and possibly writing GPS data into them….NOT image edits (that would probally require access to the original image files)
As a test, I tried "exporting as catalog", TWO images (with the source images "unavailable"). I flash-drived the resulting catalog to my laptop. I opened the catalog in LR3 and made changes to the metadata. I tried both "saving metadata to file" and "updating DNG previews" (which would be useless anyway since I could not write data back to the missing originals) and also tried doing nothing and just closing LR, then pulling the flashdrive and plugging it into the DESKTOP.(knowing the changes are stored within the catalog itself only) I open the 2 picture catalog in LR and see the keyword updates. Hurrah!
I switch over to the master catalog. All I want to do is import the updated metadata (keywording, contrast, etc…) back into the master catalog and push the data into the original DNG or XMP. On import I select "replace: Metadata and develop settings only" (with or without "preserve old settings" checked) and click import. Voila! NOTHING HAPPENS and the updated keywords are NOT picked up.
I know that the metadata updates were carried out because they showed up when I opened it separately in LR! For some reason they don't seem to making through the import process to the master catalog…
I just purcgased an iMac (and installed LR3) after running LR3 on a MacBook for several months. Is there a straightforward way to copy all of my content (folders, collections and catalog) from the laptop to the desktop? I'm essentially trying to duplicate what's in my laptop LR3 on my desktop LR3.
I'm using Lightroom 1. I tried to merge catalogs by importing a catalog into a master catalog, but there were some problems. The one I noticed immediately was that the collections are not correct. It imported the collections, but for example one collection now has only 4 photos when the originbal had 140? How can I fix that? (Although not necessariy a problem, it seems to have the wrong number of photos imported too. It says the previous import was 3175 photos when it was more like 10,000.)
I have about 900 raw files on an external drive. I edited those files using my master catalog using a laptop while still travelling. When I got home, I copied the master catalog from the external drive to the desk top, then opened the master catalog on my desktop. I can see the edited images on the external drive. So far so good.
I want to copy (add) the edited images to my desk top. I tried to export the images as a new catalog and then import it into the desire location on my desktop drive. However, LR5 does not allow that. I get this message: "There is nothing new in the catalog you have selected. All of the catalog's photos are up to date in this catalog." Yes, but the edited images are not on my desktop.....
I also tried to Import from the external drive and then Copy the files to the desktop, but then I lose all of the work done in the develop module and the keywords.
I watched Kost's LR 3 video on merging catalogs, but she dodges the question of how to deal with this issue since the "merge" is within the same catalog.I'm using LR5 with Windows 7.
My old computer uses Win 7. My new laptop uses Win 8.1.
I backed up catalog to external drive to external directory PSE12-2014 using PSE12 backup process which took forever.
Went to laptop and attempted to restore from external drive, but PSE12 could not find the backup file. Checked manually and files have been copied to external drive and directory PSE12-2014.
I keep all my image folders in one Master Catalog on one disk.
My system of filing is to have a main folder, say "Airshows", with sub folders named "Original-RAW Files" and "Finished Files".
Each sub folder is then further sub divided into "Show 1", "Show 2", "Show 3", etc.
This system also enable me to duplicate my files in such a way that they can be accessed by programmes other than Lightroom.
I also like to make Collections of specific planes which appear and therefore the Collections can include images taken at any number of individual shows but as LR3 keeps the Folders and the Collections in different sections, this entails looking in two different locations for any images taken at Airshows.Another disadvantage is that I believe LR Collections cannot be accessed by other third party programmes should I wish to change from Adobe.
I would like maintain my current filing system (which suits my purposes), but wish to find a way to file say,"Spitfire" Collection as "AirshowFinished FilesSpitfire" so that all files are kept together.
Is there a way to achieve this without resorting to making duplicate image files ?
I just cloned my hard disk (named PI) to a new one named TAU. Now they both contain my enormous catalog of 800 GB of Lightroom catalog and files.
I removed my initial hard disk PI and put it in a safe location (just saying this so you know I have a backup)
I start Lightroom 5 and open the ircat file on TAU but all the pictures have an ! meaning they are missing (but the pictures are all there). How do I get Lightroom to recognize the new location?
In my catalog settings the path correctly points to the new hard drive and the folder where the photos and catalog are located, however within the application there is no way to navigate among the files and folders of my collection as there was before.
I have version 4.1 LR on both my home desktop as well as my laptop. I keep my desktop fairly well organized, and it is where I keep my image files for backup.....internal drive backed up onto an external drive.
My laptop is not so organized, and I am trying to clean it up. I use it primarily for a working system, when I'm not home.
My folder system on my laptop is different than the one on my organized desktop. Further, I may have image files on one system but not the other.
An example of what I do is as follows: when I am away from home for awhile, I like to try to save my pictures on the Compact Flash card until I get home. And, I also back them up onto my laptop and external portable hard drive as well. Before I get home, I often will use my laptop and LR to edit certain photos. I may in fact create new files when I create HDR images on my laptop.
When I get home, what I usually do is upload as soon as possible those original pictures from my Compact Flash card or external hard drive onto my home system so I have it there, with its backup. However, what I have not been doing is exporting any catalog settings file from my laptop and importing it onto my desktop.
My question is this: if I export a Catalog file from my laptop, without the negatives (images), and if there is a mismatch between the files on my laptop and my desktop, whether that's because of the file structure differences or whether that's because my laptop may have slightly different files on it than my desktop has, will the Catalog settings still transfer properly? For instance, if I have an HDR image on my laptop, along with any Catalog settings, and this HDR image is not on my home network, will a problem or error be created when I import the laptop Catalog file from my laptop without also importing that HDR file? I would think that the catalog settings for that laptop HDR file would be there, but because the HDR file is not being transferred over, perhaps there might be a problem?
I know I should probably get better on my workflow while away from home, but for now, I'm trying to clean up the existing problem that may exist.
I merged a small catalog with my master catalog and I am unable to open the master catalog. The error message reads "The Lightroom catalog named “master_catalog-2” cannot be opened because another application already has it opened.". There are no other applications running the catalog.
A small set of 36 images in a catalog of 12500 are behaving strangely and virtual copies do not appear to be linking to masters correctly.
Difficult to remember exactly the steps taken but including
- adding initial selection of 100+ masters to Quick Collection - adjusting selection using colour flagging, star rating, and rejected photo marking - creating virtual copies of 35 images 4 star picks - adding virtuals to other manual collection - apparent duplicate virtuals appearing when I don't THINK I asked for new virtuals in collection but must have done - flagging duplicate virtual copies as rejected - editing 1 image in photoshop twice - various other editing post process
Anyway I now see in the Library panel that 35 master photos, the 2 photoshop files, and 1 of the vitrual copies are indicated as being 1 of 38, 2 of 38, etc. The virtual copies of all but 1, which was added at a later stage, do not indicate being 1 of 2 although the file name is _MG_9999/Copy 1 or Copy 2 varying from image to image. The images are sequencing the 38 "linked" photos first, then the virtuals and that 1 late master when the sort sequence is Capture Time or File Name.
Every thing is there but the reported linkage is obviously wrong and this worries me and I'd like to correct it if I can. The catalog is backed up every time Lightroom closes but as I have been opening and closing several times a day and did not recognise when this corruption happened I don't really want to be loading up a succession of backups and losing post process changes or causing other damage. I have just realised that I do NOT have Automatically write to XMP checked in catalog settings although I was meant to have.
I did export the folder of 1413 that the masters were selected from to another catalog and resynched. Didn't expect much and didn't get anything.
I have created virtual copies of an image in Lightroom 4 and I am wondering what will happen to these if I delete the folder containing the master image and its virual copies from the LR4 catalog? Will the virtual copies be automatically deleted? If so, is this reversible in any way? Will i recover these virual copies if I add the folder back into LR's catalog later on?
Also will Adobe Bridge be able to read these virtual copies in both before and even after the folder has been removed from LR4? Or is the 'virtual copy' functionality specific to LR and that the only way to preserve it is to keep the original image within LR and never delete it?
I've been using Lightroom 4 on my Mac. My catalog is on my external hard drive that's been formatted to Mac (all my external hard drives are formatted to Mac right now, but as you know, those can be easily re-formatted).
Now I have a PC with Lightroom 5 and would really love to know how to safely transfer my catalog from Mac to PC?
The manual / instructions show an option to transfer a PSE catalog along with tags etc, to Lightroom, under the File dropdown. There is no option in my newly set up LR 4.4.
Lightroom 5. I have combined two catalogs into one "Master Catalog" per Julian Kosts tutorial ([URL]....) without incident. However, my presets are not to be found. Could there be other issues? How Do I properly get these presets into my Master Catalog?
How to transfer Lightroom settings from one catalog to another?
I primarily use LR on a win7 desktop. Several 100 gigs of images. I have a win7 notebook. I can't store the images because of disk space. But is it possible to have the catalog and previews synced to the notebook, so I could say show someone full screen previews? I know you can't go to the develop module. And until LR smart previews works with my existing catalog, I'd like to know how, and if I would be able to view full screen from the catalog not connected to a harddrive with the original files?
I recently purchased a new PC. I installed LR 4 on the new PC. I tried to transfer all my pics from my MAC to the PC. When I open up LR4 on the PC all I see are grayed out boxes where my pictures should be with a question mark in the top left. When I click on the question mark it say original file cant be located.
I would like to transfer my entire database from the MAC to the PC but cant figure out how to transfer it all.
I have several Lightroom catalogs from over the years, many of the from older versions and many of the catalogs contain develop settings from photos I have on my current catalog.
The thing is I have some picture folders with rates, develop setings and more things from an old catalog that I want to transfer to my new catalog from Lightroom 4.4. I want to transfer just the settings and rates, nothing else, i already have the photos, sometimes with many photos rated and developed.
Is there a way to transfer just the settings and rates of a certain set of photos from one catalog to another one?
After the latest update my catalog seem to be missing. My photo's are in Collections, but as soon as I want to work with them ; I get message Photo missing. (See attached.
If I try and find missing folder and check box - DON'T IMPORT SUSPECTED DUPLICATES - the tick goes away as if the photos are already imported. (See attached print screens.
Why does Lightroom not "see" the photos from my catalog since the latest update? Ever since the latest update it says file not found but I can open and work on the photos in other programs. How do I get the prgoram to "see" my photos again?
I will be managing a small portion of a client's overall image workflow by updating their web prescence on a regular basis with new work and retagging/uploading old work. I believe this requires the catalog and the image library to be housed on an external hard drive that can travel between the two of us. We are both working on PC's with LR 5.3.
The workflow would look something like this:
Client downloads new images onto external hard drive and imports into LR "ClientCatalog" is created Flags Picks and Creates a Collection from those Picks.Hard drive is handed off to me where I open "ClientCatalog".Make suggested edits to images add detailed tags and metadata upload to various social media sites and websites return hard drive to client
Is there potential problem with this workflow? My assumption is that if everything is housed on the external hard drive then there are no worries about the catalog containing all the latest updates. Are there any "safety protocols" you would add in to this workflow (besides mirroring everythign on another hard drive)?
I had to reinstall an OS in my computer due to a virus. As a result LR 3 in no longer installed. I still have the catalog on a backup disk and have just installed and updated to LR 4.4. What is the best way to merge the V3 catalog with V4 and are there any things I should expect or look out for?
i have an 8 giga LR4 catalog (about 300000 images).just installed the new LR5 and tried openning the LR4 cat in LR 5.it said it needs to upgrade, but in the middle of the prosses i had this messege: "lightroom encountered problems when trying to update the format of the catalog file and cannot use this catalog in this version of LR"
i saw that there is an option to export all my LR4 catalog as a new catalog and than import it into LR5.i haven't tried that yet since i'm worry that i might loose some info. will this process (of exporting and importing) keep all my LR settings? like develop user presets, keywords and collections?
I only want ONE cataglog. Today I installed and upgraded Lightroom from v. 3 to v. 4.3 which was OK.I wanted to upgrade my ONE and ONLY existing catalog keeping the same name.LR created a second catalog and added a - 2 to the name and it's a .ircat.
How can I return to having only ONE catalog and library?
How do you transfer a PSE 3 catalogue form an XP computer to PSE 8 or 11 on a new 7-64bit computer. I have not installed PSE 8 or 11 on the new computer yet. I need to have the PSE 3 catalogue transfered complete with groups and collections to the new computer. Should I install PSE 3 on the new computer then transfer or should I install PSE 8 or 11. I'm told that you can't transfer PSE 3 to PSE 11, but will PSE 8 work?
I have PSE 9 all organize now I upgraded to PSE 11 and I am having trouble transfering my catalog.I've tried to import it from my external drive but it's not working.
I want to transfer a catalog from a machine running PSE 5 (XP) to a new machine running PSE 11 (Win7 64 bit).
Is this posible and does the transfer/backup include the actual photos or just the relevant details? as I already have the photos copied to the new machine.
