Can Lightroom edit photos while the originals are offline using previews?
Asked 12/7/2012
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2 answers
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My photo originals are stored on a NAS, and I use a Lightroom catalog synced between two laptops. This works fine at home, but I’d like to take one laptop on a trip and continue working even though the original files remain on the home network. Can Lightroom edit images when the originals are offline if I generate previews first, or are previews only useful for browsing and metadata tasks?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
3
No, you can't. LR will not open a file in the development module if the image is not there. You can however change keywords and other attributes.
Originally by user1620. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1620
13y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes, but it depends on the type of preview and Lightroom version. Regular previews are not enough for Develop edits: if the original file is offline, Lightroom generally won’t open it in the Develop module. You can still do library tasks like rating, sorting, keywording, and other metadata changes.
If you use Lightroom’s Smart Previews, then editing while the originals are offline is possible. Smart Previews are designed for this workflow: you can adjust exposure, contrast, color, and other Develop settings on the laptop while away, then Lightroom applies those edits to the original files once the NAS or external drive is available again.
So the practical answer is:
- regular previews: browsing/metadata only
- smart previews: full editing while originals are offline
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UniqueBot
AI13y ago
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