Lightroom :: How To Export Catalog File From Laptop Without Negatives (images)
May 31, 2012
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.
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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…
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Apr 7, 2014
I started scanning my film & transparency archive and the next step is to import the scans into LR5, but I don't know how to add additional folders into the catalog. So far I have 75 folders going back over 30 years. Assuming I should import the scans into folders by year they were shot and not by the scan date.how I go about importing these folders into LR.
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Mar 6, 2014
How do I move images from "Previous Export as Catalog into my pictures folder?
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Feb 8, 2012
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.
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Apr 21, 2013
What is the best way to back up my data?
I normal export the entire catalog about once every two months (I'm not a heavy user) to an external hard drive and the catalog file (lrcat) too. Pluse I also back up the catalog file (lrcat) about once a week to the internal hard drive.I am not sure if this is the right way to go about backing up.
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Jan 15, 2014
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)?
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Nov 12, 2013
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?
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Jun 16, 2012
I've been using lightroom for awhile on a desktop pc. I now have a new faster laptop that I've installed lightroom on. I want to leave the images on the desktop and use it as a server. How do I connect the laptop to the images on the desktop? Using Lightroom 4 on both pcs.
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Dec 8, 2011
i'm new to all of this and i've got a couple of questions. i'd like to export (from lightroom 3) a file of a little over 100 images for proofing by a client. a) i'd like them watermarked on the website i send them to --how do i do this? and b) how do i remove the watermark on the images that i have that i want to make prints from? i'm terrified of doing something that i can't take back and ruining the photos.
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Jan 15, 2013
I downloaded the Lightroom 4 trial program. After watching a tutorial on importing and organizing I imported a few photos from the hard drive on my laptop. All the functions of the program are working but the images of the photos don't show up.Do I need to uninstall and reinstall the program? Can I do that and still have the trial time of 30 days? Is there some other on/off thing I need to do to make this work?
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Oct 14, 2012
I use an external hard drive for my Lightroom images. When I travel I take that external (plus a second identical one for back-up) with me and use my laptop. When I return home, I use that external to view and edit my images on my desktop. Suddenly about 350 images show up as missing or offline when I view that external drive on my desktop. Nothing is seen as offline or missing. What can have happened? I use the same external, the same catalog and do not understand why the images are seen only on one computer and not the other. I am an Apple user but can't see what difference that would make.
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Jan 2, 2014
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.
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Aug 18, 2013
I'm working on a textbook that's a mix of new images and pickups from the previous edition. I've noticed that many of the new images I've created with transparent backgrounds and saved as PSD files in CMYK mode display as negatives in Bridge.
I just now made some edits to a legacy file that was displaying properly in Bridge. I added some layers, deleted other layers, and saved the file with no color profile, and as soon as it refreshed in Bridge, it was a color negative.
what's going on here? I'm using Photoshop and Bridge CS5.1 on a Mac running OS 10.8.4.
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Apr 6, 2013
Will exporting a catalog with DNG's allow me to re-import into lightroom if i so choose and show any changes that were made to the pictures (ie: the history for a specific file ; virtual copies) as well as include the originals even if i were to delete the ones i originally imported from my CF card.
I essentially want to create a master backup for each event i am photographing at, and export each event as it's own catalog.
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May 26, 2012
I am not sure if I am going about this the right way, but once of the frustrations I deal with is managing my portfolio of images.
What I have recently done is create a seperate catalog for my portfolio image seperate from my "working catalog". My question is, once I have identified an image from my "working catalog" how can I copy it to my portfolio catalog?
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Nov 21, 2012
I find that I edit files on my laptop but I want the files, with their edits to reside on my desktop computer also.
I had been exporting the folder as a Catalog, but can't think of shy I can't just copy the folder with both the RAW and XMP files and import the folder on the Desktop PC. This option seems to work just as well as the catalog option.
Any reason I should choose one way over the other? Using Lightroom 4.2?
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May 3, 2012
LR4 crashes each time I use the 'Export as Catalog' function.
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Mar 27, 2013
I'm sure this worked in earlier versions of LR (?), but it's been a while since I've required doing this. However last night I needed to export a Collection Set housing several Collections as a single Catlog to an external HD. The options I chose were to export the negative files and available previews.
I seemed to recall that if you Right-Clicked on the Collection Set name there used to be an option "Export Collection as a Catalog", but this option seems only available on Collections not Collection Sets.
Never-the-less I selected the Collection Set, then chose Export as Catalog from the file menu; This worked but only the first 4 collections within the collection set were exported. I repeated this again with the same response. So is this a bug?
I know I could export each Collection as an individual catalogs then combine them but the Collection Set houses 13 sub collections, so rather laborius.
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Feb 5, 2013
I’m teaching a college class and a couple of my students are shooting RAW. When they complete their assignment in Lightroom, they Export as Catalog, compress that folder and submit it to me through Dropbox. This worflow works great with students who shoot .jpg but the kids who are shooting RAW have files that are too large to upload.
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Sep 5, 2013
If you export a group of photos as a Catalog, does this export all virtual copies including their own repsective xmp data? I need to send a batch of RAW files to someone but need them to be able to see all the virtual copies as well.
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Apr 20, 2013
I've tried this several times, both with and without previews. I'm trying to make a copy of my masters with sidecars etc. so that I can examine the entire catalog on my laptop with an external hard drive.
On my destop PC I export all my images as a catalog to the external drive (it's a Terabyte drive ) and when done I cannot read the catalog on either the machine that created it or the laptop. I'm running Vista which seems to work ok with evertying else. I've tried both with and without previews thinking it would be a smaller amount of space by leving out the previews.
When opening the catalog from the file menu in LR 4.4 or by clicking on the saved .lrcat file it gives an error message that the catalog/library is invalid.
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Aug 8, 2013
I am on a Windows 7, 64-bit machine running Lightroom 5. I am having problems running certain Publish Services and also while trying to import from another catalog. On Publish Services - I am able to publish to a remote desktop but not to my own network. I have also been seeing issues with publishing to SmugMug (since before they updated their site).
Similarly, I am trying to merge some catalogs and when I import from another catalog, the process seems to hang about halfway through (I left it running all night long - the catalog is large but not THAT large!). The process did bring in what seems like most files so I wonder what I am missing.
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Dec 31, 2013
I want a new catalog with small jpgs and the hierarchical keywords. But I seem to be able to get each part of that individually but I can't seem to get them all at the same time.
If I select images and export them with "Write Keywords as Lightroom Hierarchy" checked, then import those new jpgs into a new catalog, my keywords are a flat list without the hierarchy. I tried exporting my keyword hierarchy as *.txt then importing it into an empty catalog so the hierarchy already existed. When I imported the new jpgs into that catalog, the keywords still came in as a flat list appended to the hierarchical keyword list.
I tried selecting the images and importing as a new catalog, which gives me a new catalog, but the new catalog has the original raw images.
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Oct 23, 2012
I recently installed LR4 on a maching that is running LR2.7. I would like to be able to view the LR2 catalog or images in LR4, but not necessarily convert all the photos to LR4. I have been told that I should not do a wholesale conversion of the images to LR4. I am not sure how to view the LR2 images in LR4 without converting the catalog. Is there a way to accomplish this without a wholesale conversion?
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Dec 7, 2011
I have recently moved my entire Lightroom catalogue along with the images to a new PC. I ensured all the paths were identical, and everything seemed to have gone smoothly except that now, when I import, Lightroom cannot correctly identify which images are already in the catalogue and will try to import duplicates.
For example, with the root image folder selected in the import dialogue, Lightroom will find the following: With "All Photos" selected, Lightroom identifies 13165 photos to import (this is what I would expect - my entire library plus a few new images).With "New Photos" selected, Lightroom finds 11537 photos - only slightly fewer than the entire library.With both "New Photos" and "Don't Import Suspected Duplicates" selected, Lightroom will find 5190 photos - just under half the entire library.The actual number of new photos is around 100.
As a test, I went ahead and imported one of the duplicated photos. The result was two identical images side by side in the library, both pointing at the same file (clicking "Show in Explorer" on each confirms this). The newly imported image has no develop history, although it still retains the develop settings from the xmp file.
I'm running Lightroom 3.5 on Windows 7 Home Premium. The catalog was originally created on a PC running Windows 7 Professional. I have successfully transferred the catalog previously with no issues and I'm not aware of having done anything differently this time.
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May 30, 2013
I deleted a set of images from LR 4.4 catalog, but did not delete from disk. Where are they? I can't find them and searching did not yeild any results.
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Apr 5, 2014
Is there any (easy) way to re-number in sequential order my 6000 images *without* changing the names of the individual files?
My setup:
LR v5.3
6000 images in a master Nikon file
About 40 sub-folders inside of that Master Nikon Folder..Just one catalog for all that's described above.My preferred view in the Library is Capture Order.
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May 6, 2012
I have been using Lightroom since version 1, it is my main editing software. LR4 is brilliant, however I it seems to run much slower then LR3 especially in the print module. I'm thinking this maybe due to the size of my catalog. How many images can a catelog hold?
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Aug 14, 2012
I have imported images from my Canon 5D markIII and somewhere along the way, I've made an error in the settings. The images are on my computer but not showing up in a folder in the LR4 catalog...how do I get them into the catalog? When I try to find them, they are all greyed out and I can't move them - a message says that it seems that duplicates are already on the computer (or something like that).
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Mar 13, 2014
When I am viewing my images in the catalog, I don't know why it takes so long for my edited pics to render. It takes about 5 seconds. Is this normal?
I have tried increasing my cache size, auto xmp is off, I have build standard previews, I have upgraded to a faster hard drive, I frequently optimize my catalog.
Ideally, I want to be able to flip through all my catalog images fast without waiting for the developed pics to show.
The only thing I can thing is maybe storing my cache and catalog folders on my external hard drive is slowing it down?
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