Copy or move a catalog, Export a catalog – Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC User Manual
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Managing catalogs and files
Last updated 4/20/2015
• old catalog-2.lrcat
• old catalog Previews 2.lrdata
You can keep or delete these files.
Copy or move a catalog
Note: Before copying or moving a catalog and preview files, back them up.
1
Locate the folder that contains the catalog and preview files. In Lightroom, choose Edit > Catalog Settings
(Windows) or Lightroom > Catalog Settings (Mac OS).
2
In the Information area of the General panel, click Show to go to the catalog in the Explorer (Windows) or Finder
(Mac OS).
3
Quit Lightroom.
4
In the Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac OS), copy or move the catalog.lrcat, Previews.lrdata, and (if present)
Smart Previews.lrdata files to the new location.
5
Double-click the .lrcat file in the new location to open it in Lightroom.
6
(Optional) If Lightroom can't find folders or photos in the copied or moved catalog, a Question Mark icon appears
by folder names in the Folders panel and an Exclamation Point icon appears in photo thumbnails in the Grid view.
To restore folder links, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) a folder with a Question Mark icon and
choose Find Missing Folder. To relink individual photos, see
.
Export a catalog
You can create a catalog that contains a subset of a larger catalog by selecting the photos and exporting them as a new
catalog. This is useful when, for example, you import photos into a catalog on a laptop and then later add them to a
master catalog on a desktop computer.
1
Select the photos you want to add to the new catalog.
2
Choose File > Export As Catalog.
3
Specify the name and location of the catalog.
4
Indicate whether you want to export the negative files and previews, and then click Save (Windows) or Export
Catalog (Mac OS).
“Negative files” refers to the original files that were imported into Lightroom.
The new catalog contains links to the selected photos and their information. You must open the new catalog to view
it.
5
(Optional) To combine catalogs, import the new catalog into another. See
Import photos from a different Lightroom
.
To learn how to maintain a synchronized Lightroom catalog across multiple computers, watch the
tutorial (08:12) from the Learn by Video series. Although this video was produced for Lightroom 3, it is accurate for
newer versions of Lightroom.