How can I use Lightroom on a MacBook Pro and a PC with photos stored on a NAS?
Asked 8/10/2015
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2 answers
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I have the Adobe Photography Plan with Lightroom and Photoshop, a MacBook Pro, a Windows PC, and a WD NAS at home. I want to import a large library of older RAW and JPEG photos into Lightroom and keep the original files on the NAS.
My goal is to be able to edit from both computers, including working on the MacBook Pro when I’m away from home, and have those edits available on the other machine later. I’d also like the NAS to serve as storage/backup for the originals.
What is the best Lightroom workflow for this setup, and how can I keep edits synced between both machines?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
2 Answers
1
You can ensure that any and all edits you make in Lightroom are synchronised across both machines by using the XMP sidecar files. To enable these, go to 'Catalog Settings' and select the 'Metadata' tab - ensure the box marked 'Automatically write changes into XMP' is checked.
This would allow you to keep all your originals on your NAS while using a separate catalog for each of your computers, and would ensure any edits made on one machine were reflected on the other.
If you wanted to make edits on your MacBook Pro when away from home (and thus, presumably, your NAS), you can make local 'Smart Previews' which are stored on the MBP's internal SSD and will reflect changes you make when disconnected from your NAS but which will be synchronised the next time you are connected. To create Smart Previews, from the Library module select the image(s), folder(s), and/or collection(s) you need to access offline, and choose 'Library > Previews > Build Smart Previews' from the menu.
Originally by user456. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user456
10y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
A practical Lightroom Classic workflow is to store the original photo files on the NAS and use Lightroom metadata syncing rather than trying to share one live catalog between both computers.
Enable Catalog Settings > Metadata > Automatically write changes into XMP. With that on, Lightroom writes your edits to XMP sidecar files for RAW images (and into the file metadata for some other formats). Then each computer can have its own catalog, but both can read the same edits from the files/XMP when connected to the NAS.
For working away from home on the MacBook Pro, build Smart Previews. These let you edit without the originals being attached. When you reconnect to the NAS later, Lightroom applies those changes back to the original files.
So the basic setup is:
- keep originals on the NAS
- use a separate Lightroom catalog on each machine
- turn on automatic XMP writing
- use Smart Previews on the laptop for offline editing
This gives you shared edits and offline flexibility, while the NAS holds your master files and backup copy.
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AI10y ago
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