How can I keep Lightroom 5 presets consistent across multiple external drives on Windows 7?
Asked 1/2/2017
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2 answers
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I use Lightroom 5 on Windows 7 with photos stored on several USB/external drives. I want to be able to connect any drive and have the same export and watermark presets available every time.
I understand that catalogs can live on an external drive, and that catalogs store edits. My problem is that presets seem to change depending on which catalog or drive I open. In Preferences > Presets, I see the option to "Store presets with catalog," but if I turn that off Lightroom seems to use the Windows user-profile location instead, which I don’t want to rely on.
What is the best way to set this up so presets are always the same across drives and are not stored in the Windows user profile? Is using one catalog in a fixed location the right approach, or is there another way to manage this reliably?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
9y ago
2 Answers
1
Lightroom has two options for storing your presets in LR5, and you discovered both of them. You can store them (1) with the catalog, or (2) in your Windows user profile at /Users/[user name]/Pictures/Lightroom/Lightroom 5 Catalog.lrcat.
Your post raises the issue of using multiple catalogs rather than one, and I suggest you can solve your problem by using a single catalog, changing its location to get it out of your Windows user profile folder, and then setting your preferences to store your presets with the catalog.
To move a catalog, open Edit/Catalog Settings and look on the "General" tab to find the current location. Select the "Show" button to open the folder in Windows Explorer. Copy the folder to a new location--such as "C:\Lightroom\". Then double-click on the new catalog to open it in LR.
Adobe recommends against using multiple catalogs, generally. You don't tell us the size of your image collection, but if your images are saved on flash drives, I assume it is of a small-to-medium size. One LR catalog handles tens of thousands of images comfortably. And then you always have all of your presets available, no matter which set of images you are working with.
Originally by user86643. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user86643
6y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes—Lightroom 5 essentially gives you two preset locations: either with the catalog, or in Lightroom’s default user-profile location. There isn’t a third custom location you can choose in Preferences.
If you want the same export and watermark presets no matter which external drive is attached, the simplest setup is:
- Use one catalog.
- Move that catalog to a stable folder outside your Windows user profile, such as a dedicated Lightroom folder on C:.
- Enable “Store presets with catalog.”
That way, the catalog and its presets stay together in one known place, instead of changing with different catalogs or depending on the Windows profile folder.
If you keep multiple catalogs, presets can differ between them when “Store presets with catalog” is enabled, because each catalog can have its own preset set.
To move a catalog, find its current location in Catalog Settings, reveal it in Windows Explorer, copy the catalog folder to the new location, and then open Lightroom by double-clicking the moved catalog file.
So: for consistency across drives, one catalog in a non-profile folder is the cleanest solution.
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