Can Lightroom publish to Flickr while I'm away if my originals are on a NAS?
Asked 1/16/2016
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2 answers
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I keep my Lightroom catalog synced to Flickr using Jeffrey's "Export to Flickr" plugin. My original RAW files live on a NAS, and when I'm away from home I work from Smart Previews on my laptop.
I'd like to keep my workflow simple and ideally still publish to Flickr while traveling, without creating duplicate entries in the catalog. Is there a way in Lightroom to make a temporary local copy of selected originals on my laptop while keeping just one catalog record, then later point Lightroom back to the NAS copy?
If not, what is the cleanest workaround? I’ve considered using Smart Previews, exporting JPEGs before leaving, or temporarily moving files locally and reconnecting them later.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
2 Answers
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You can not export from smart previews, because there is nothing to export: you need the original files for Lightroom to create JPEG.
Lightroom can't work with multiple instances of the same image. However, you can use a few Lightroom supported features to get some of what I think you want.
First, if you want to temporarily take some of your Lightroom catalog and images with you on your laptop, you simply need to use Lightroom's Export as Catalog function. Choose the images you wish to take with you (presumably not the entire catalog), then select File>Export as Catalog. Choose to include the negatives, and give your Catalog a name, saving it to your Laptop. Lightroom will create a Catalog on your laptop, and put all the original images in a nearby folder. To use it, just double-click on the Catalog file to open Lightroom.
You can also import new images into this temporary Catalog on your laptop, even uploading them to Flickr. When you return home, you simply reverse the process: Open your NAS-based image Lightroom Catalog, then choose File>Import from Another Catalog. Choose the images, and all your metadata, edits, and the images will move to your main Catalog and NAS.
Originally by user4880. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user4880
10y ago
0
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Lightroom can edit with Smart Previews, but it cannot export/publish full JPEGs from them the way you want; publishing to Flickr requires access to the original files.
There also isn’t a built-in Lightroom feature that keeps one catalog entry while transparently switching between NAS and laptop copies of the same image.
The clean Lightroom-native workaround is to use File > Export as Catalog for the photos you want to take. Include the negatives so Lightroom copies the original files to your laptop along with a travel catalog. While away, work and publish from that catalog. When you return, merge it back into your main catalog.
If your goal is seamless offline/local availability without catalog juggling, that’s generally outside Lightroom itself and depends on file-sync/offline-storage tools provided by your OS or third-party software.
So in short: Smart Previews alone won’t solve Flickr publishing, and the cleanest Lightroom workflow is a temporary travel catalog with originals included.
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