Can Lightroom Classic automatically back up the catalog on exit without showing the backup dialog?

Asked 5/27/2017

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I want Lightroom Classic to back up its catalog every time I quit, but without prompting me with the backup dialog each time. On my Mac, that dialog can block automatic system restarts for updates. Is there a way to enable automatic backup-on-exit and suppress the prompt?

lightroom-classic macos backup catalog

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

9y ago

2 Answers

Short answer: You can't.

Setting an option like this is also not a very good idea for the following reason: Catalog Backup in Lightroom also means "Optimizing" the catalog for faster access on future usage. This is an operation that can take a long time. Almost certainly, if you want to reboot your macOS, it will ask to force-quit Lightroom, because it needs too much time to shutdown. If you do that, you risk a broken catalog.

IMHO your best option is to disable the automatic backup and do it manually from time to time.

Originally by user26144. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user26144

9y ago

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

No. Lightroom Classic does not offer a setting to always run a catalog backup on exit without showing the backup dialog.

Also, Lightroom’s catalog backup process typically includes catalog optimization, which can take a while. If your Mac is trying to restart for updates, Lightroom may still take too long to quit cleanly, and force-quitting during that process could risk catalog corruption.

A practical workaround is to turn off automatic backup-on-exit and run catalog backups manually at times that are convenient for you.

Can Lightroom Classic automatically back up the catalog on exit without showing the backup dialog?

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