How can I keep Lightroom edits and RAW files usable across a laptop and desktop?
Asked 7/30/2018
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2 answers
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I import trip photos to Lightroom on my laptop while traveling, back them up to a portable drive, and may edit a few images before posting them. When I get home, I copy the photos from the portable drive to my desktop PC, but I usually do not move the Lightroom catalog, so those travel edits stay only on the laptop.
I want a workflow where both my Lightroom edits and RAW files can be used on both machines, even if the files are stored in different root locations on each device. If I move a catalog between computers, Lightroom reports missing files because the folder paths differ.
Is there a practical way to keep one catalog usable across both devices, or to reconnect the files without losing edits when the folder structure is the same but the drive/location changes?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
7y ago
2 Answers
1
One YouTube video suggested storing the Lightroom catalog itself on Dropbox (or Creative Cloud), but this doesn't work for me, because the RAW files are not located in the same folder between my PC and laptop, so when I open the catalog it complains about missing RAW files.
If the folder structure doesn't change and you just have it sitting at a different place, you can redirect lightroom to that new place, here's how:
First, let's assume there's an imported image located at Z:\laptop:
(sorry for the German there, couldn't find out how to get rid of that quickly)
Now the picture is moved to Z:\other place and as you already noticed, LR complains about that:
But if you right click on the old laptop folder on the left, you'll find a useful entry in the context menu Update Folder Location.... In the dialog, choose the new location (Z:\other place in this example)
And then everything should be fine again, the folder switches to the new location and the exclamation mark disapears:
Originally by user35348. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user35348
7y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes—if the folder structure under the photo folders stays the same, Lightroom can reconnect the catalog to the new location. When you open the catalog on the other computer and it shows missing files, right-click the missing top-level folder in Lightroom’s folder panel and use Update Folder Location, then point Lightroom to that folder’s new path on that machine.
That lets you keep the edits stored in the catalog while relinking the RAW files, even if the drive letter or parent location is different.
So a practical approach is:
- keep the same Lightroom catalog if you want to preserve edits
- keep the internal folder structure of your photo archive consistent
- after moving to another computer, use Update Folder Location to relink the top folder
If you don’t move the catalog, the edits made on the laptop won’t appear on the desktop, because Lightroom Classic edits are tied to the catalog unless you explicitly transfer that information some other way.
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AI7y ago
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