Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC - Manual (Page 98)

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Managing catalogs and files
Last updated 4/20/2015
Delete a catalog
Deleting a catalog erases all the work you’ve done in Lightroom that isn’t saved in the photo files. While the previews
are deleted, the original photos being linked to are not deleted.
❖ Using the Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac OS), locate the folder that contains your catalog and drag it to the
Recycling Bin (Windows) or Trash (Mac OS).
Important:Make sure that the folder you delete contains only the catalog files you intend to erase, and not additional
files.
To enhance performance, Lightroom builds a Previews folder next to the .lrcat file in the Explorer (Windows) or
Finder (Mac OS). It is safe to delete this folder as long as its name matches the .lrcat file name. If you delete a
Previews folder that’s still needed by a catalog, Lightroom will regenerate it when you work in that catalog, but it will
run more slowly until the previews are rebuilt.
Change the default catalog
By default, Lightroom opens the most current catalog at startup. This behavior can be changed to opening a different
catalog or to always prompting you to choose a catalog.
1 Choose Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Lightroom > Preferences (Mac OS).
2 In the General tab, choose one of the following from the When Starting Up Use This Catalog menu:
Load Most Recent Catalog Opens the most recent catalog you've been working with.
Prompt Me When Starting Lightroom Opens the Select Catalog dialog box at startup so you can choose.
A catalog in the default location Lightroom lists all of the catalogs in \Pictures\Lightroom (Windows) or
/Pictures/Lightroom (Mac OS) for you to choose.
Other Allows you to navigate to a specific catalog file (.lrcat) and select it as the default catalog to open at startup.
Customize catalog settings
You can specify many preferred behaviors for Lightroom catalogs in the Catalog Settings dialog box.
1 Choose Edit > Catalog Settings (Windows) or Lightroom > Catalog Settings (Mac OS).
2 In the General tab, specify any of the following:
Information Provides information such as the location, filename, and creation date of the catalog. Click Show to
view the catalog file in Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac OS).
Backup Lets you specify the frequency with which the current catalog is backed up. See Back up a catalog .
3 In the File Handling tab, specify any of the following:
Preview Cache Determines how Lightroom renders three types of image previews. All previews are stored in the
preview cache file in the folder where your catalog is located.
Standard Preview Size Specifies the maximum length, in pixels, of the long side of full-size rendered previews.
Choose a size that is equal to or larger than your screen resolution. For example, if your screen resolution is 1920 x
1200 pixels, choose Standard Preview Size > 2048 Pixels. If your screen resolution exceeds 2048 pixels, Lightroom
generates a 1:1 preview instead.
Preview Quality Specifies the appearance of the thumbnail previews. Low, Medium, and High are similar to the
quality scale for JPEG images.