I had an experienced digital tech tell me that it's better practice to create a new catalog for each shoot. To say this created absolute havoc on my system is a major understatement. I've been working in Lightroom since it was first introduced and lately I've switched to capture one for reasons I won't go into here. However I STILL want my Lightroom catalogs and they are a hot mess now. I cannot wait to try to do this and clean everything up. I cannot thank you enough! Excellent and very clear video.
Such a great instructor. This video was very helpful since I had a corrupt catalog and the back ups did not have all of the files in one back up. This is very helpful to build my catalog back.
Hey Terry - Thanks for all the tips you share. I have operated by Scott Kelby's "SLIM" model in keeping my LR catalog organised for years. ONE catalog and I love it. I can always find my files no matter how long ago. HOWEVER, I was looking into splitting (yes - my gosh) some segments into a separate catalog, because I keep having issues with LR working very slow when editing in particular. I had around 100.000 photos in mine and I can see you have over double up in yours and I understand you do not encounter problems with LR working slow? I know there can be a thousand reasons for my issues, my setting and computer etc. but it is very frustrating anyway.
That was really helpful. I lost some collections in my current catalog but noted they were still present in my previous backup so called that my 'master' catalog and imported my most recent one following your video. The only difference was my import found some "Changed Existing Photos". I wasn't to sure what to do with those - you didn't cover that option - but to be on the safe side I brought the metadata over and created virtual copies so i hadn't lost anything. Better to have too many than none at all? I noticed also that you had the LR/Instagram publish service in your Lightroom set up. Do you use that? I've never managed to get it to work.
Wonderful. Thank you so much! Great communication :D Like you, I have hundreds of thousands of images scattered throughout different catalogs (Some duplicate catalogs, while others are nearly a duplicate catalog with a 100-2,000 additional images, and other catalogs with entirely different events and such). Is there something I should do for different files with the same exact frame number/filename? Will Filename1234 from a Sporting event overwrite another image with the Filename1234 from a Corporate event? Not to mention 50 more other images with the same Filename1234? Or will the file-path dictate that?
I have multiples external drives that I have for many years and some of them with other catalogs but I would like to put all of those files in just one drive and 1 catalog, it will be the same process? Thank you so much for sharing very helpful 🙏
This video was so helpful, but I still have one question. I was able to combine my catalogs, but the published collections did not move over to the new catalog. Is there a way to do this? Specifically I have 4 galleries from my prior catalog that I want to "sync" with the new catalog. They have already been published to Smugmug, but now are not a part of the new catalog. Any way to do this?
Very good video on LrC Catalog management. But, I do have a question to ask. Many times I see the new versions of the same catalog. In such cases, what do we do with older versions? Can we just delete them or what else?
Thank you for the clear and concise explanation of how to do this! I have an important question, in my case anyway. If the same photos exist in different Lightroom catalogs and I combine the catalogs this way, will I have duplicate instances of these photos in my new catalog? I despise duplicates.
Thanks for sharing the process. Now i just have two questions. 1. If i combine or 'import from another catalog' to the new catalog won't the new catalog will be heavy with a large number of images/collections and make it slower like a large catalog? 2. I wonder how the catalog backup function will work while closing the new catalog with backup file option. Will it create three seperate backup for three individual catalog and another 1 for the new catalog? It will be great if you can shed some light on my questions.
1. You will have the new ONE larger catalog. I have close to 250K in mine and don't have any issue with it being "too large". YMMV. 2. the new catalog has no connection to the older ones. When closing any catalog set to backup upon close will only backup that one catalog.
Hi Terry Thanks for this great info! I am wondering, I have three external hard drives with pictures and separate catalogs I would like to merge into one, but don’t always have all 3 of the drives attached. Does this mess anything up to have only one catalog if one the drives is not plugged in?
No it doesn’t. The images would just show as offline until the drive is connected. I would recommend building Smart Previews for the images you always want to be able to edit.
Thanks for the great videos, but i was wondering how I would go about bringing a catalogs from my laptop over and adding it to my desktop catalog? Also If there was the same images on both would it cause issues or would it just ignore the image? What if they were same image with 2 different edits? Thanks a bunch
Terry can you continue a catalog on another External disc...ie from one year to the other... i do realize photos of pictures not on that disc would be missing if they are not on that disc
Yes, but when I merged the first catalog it came up with an unknown error - can this be due to the 5,000 unlinked files or to the fact that not all of my files have synced dispite a fast internet? the catalog is a mess but it doses pass the check catalog.
I need to store my Lightroom catalog on a new drive as my 1TB local system drive is running out of space. I tried running the catalog from a regular internal HDD drive but Lightroom speed suffered badly - the lag I got was a pain. I am purchasing a second SSD, this time 2TB. I have considered two options, however. i) Use the new 2TB drive as my new local system drive and also as my Lightroom Catalog location. And ii) install the 2TB SSD as a 2nd local drive dedicated exclusively to the Lightroom Catalog. So existing smaller 1TB SSD is for system files only and the new 2nd drive is Lightroom Catalog only. Would there be any loss in performance having a dedicated, in this case 2nd internal SSD, for the Lightroom Catalog rather than sharing the system drive with Lightroom?
Hey Terry! This video was great, I had been trying to figure out how to separate my personal photos from my business photos (they’re all in the same catalog). Now, I’ve done as you showed in the video and imported all of my personal photos into a new catalog, can I remove them from the original catalog so that only my professional photos remain? 🙂
Love your Teaching Terry you make things so understandable! So I have a ridiculously huge single catalog on an older version on LR. A couple months ago LR started losing random edits in different folders, not even the whole folder it seems to be edits on png files and all my presets went away. Curious I desperately need to upgrade LR but have been so nervous to do so with so much work, I need to convert all my work to the new interface. Could you use an older backup to do this to regain lost edits and then add the newer backed up work in a similar way? I so need help on this my catalog is 600,+ images. I would appreciate any suggestions
Mr. White, could you (or have you created) a video on how you store 26,000 photos and still access them in a single catalog. Or if you can use LRC with a NAS data system? Organization, data, and workflow for LRC 2023. Thank you!
Regardless of the catalog, if the drive is not mounted they will show as missing. Build Smart Previews while drive is mounted or once you have one catalog, move the images to one drive or NAS.
Quit LrC. Go to your catalog folder in the Finder and make sure that you change all the files to the same name so that your previews, etc still work. Changing the catalog name or moving it to a different location can’t be done in LrC so you have to do it in the OS
Thanks a lot for your video. To combine catalogues is one of my biggest worries and problems. Very often I get into trouble. About one catalogue. I agree to have one is really a nice way to handle the all photos. But the biggest problem is, a big catalogue eats all your RAM. I do have 1.5 mill photos in my catalogue and I do have 16 GB RAM. This is a big problem, because after launching it, all my memory is melting away and If I use other programs like photoshop (or other photo editing tools) same time, the OS has to work very hard to swap the memory around.
16GB of RAM is not enough for serious professional work. You’re expecting to run LrC and Ps on the bare minimum configuration. While having 1.5 million photos. That’s not a reasonable expectation.
@@TerryLeeWhite the last 7 years I was using 8 GB based on nearly same amount of photos. And everything is on an external SSD It's working. I'm using computer since 35 years and I belief the software today has lot of opertunity to get performed.
You're the man! You saved me a whole lot of unorganized catalogue anxiety!
I love your videos on Lightroom, Terry. Very pleasant to watch, the way you explain things, your voice, all is great!
I had an experienced digital tech tell me that it's better practice to create a new catalog for each shoot. To say this created absolute havoc on my system is a major understatement. I've been working in Lightroom since it was first introduced and lately I've switched to capture one for reasons I won't go into here. However I STILL want my Lightroom catalogs and they are a hot mess now. I cannot wait to try to do this and clean everything up. I cannot thank you enough! Excellent and very clear video.
Thanks Terry! You make things so simple, your videos are much appreciated!!!
Such a great instructor. This video was very helpful since I had a corrupt catalog and the back ups did not have all of the files in one back up. This is very helpful to build my catalog back.
Great stuff TLW as always. I only use 1 catalog but good to know for my other Lr friends in case they ever need help with this.
OMG! Thats was so easy. Thank you so much. Just what I was looking for 😊😊😊
Hey Terry - Thanks for all the tips you share. I have operated by Scott Kelby's "SLIM" model in keeping my LR catalog organised for years. ONE catalog and I love it. I can always find my files no matter how long ago. HOWEVER, I was looking into splitting (yes - my gosh) some segments into a separate catalog, because I keep having issues with LR working very slow when editing in particular. I had around 100.000 photos in mine and I can see you have over double up in yours and I understand you do not encounter problems with LR working slow? I know there can be a thousand reasons for my issues, my setting and computer etc. but it is very frustrating anyway.
Thank you Terry, you are awesome. You made this SO easy.
Thank you for sharing this information! I’ve been trying to figure out how to do this for a while. It’s sooo easy
That was really helpful. I lost some collections in my current catalog but noted they were still present in my previous backup so called that my 'master' catalog and imported my most recent one following your video. The only difference was my import found some "Changed Existing Photos". I wasn't to sure what to do with those - you didn't cover that option - but to be on the safe side I brought the metadata over and created virtual copies so i hadn't lost anything. Better to have too many than none at all?
I noticed also that you had the LR/Instagram publish service in your Lightroom set up. Do you use that? I've never managed to get it to work.
Thanks Terry! You save me, That was really helpful.
Wonderful. Thank you so much! Great communication :D Like you, I have hundreds of thousands of images scattered throughout different catalogs (Some duplicate catalogs, while others are nearly a duplicate catalog with a 100-2,000 additional images, and other catalogs with entirely different events and such). Is there something I should do for different files with the same exact frame number/filename? Will Filename1234 from a Sporting event overwrite another image with the Filename1234 from a Corporate event? Not to mention 50 more other images with the same Filename1234? Or will the file-path dictate that?
I have multiples external drives that I have for many years and some of them with other catalogs but I would like to put all of those files in just one drive and 1 catalog, it will be the same process? Thank you so much for sharing very helpful 🙏
Yes it will be same process. You’ll move the images once all the catalogs are combined.
Two questions: Do. you have your catalog on an external drive? If so what do you use. Thank you for the easy to understand video.
Many thanks for this video, I am going to try it now. Hopefully it will make my life a lot simpler
This video was so helpful, but I still have one question. I was able to combine my catalogs, but the published collections did not move over to the new catalog. Is there a way to do this? Specifically I have 4 galleries from my prior catalog that I want to "sync" with the new catalog. They have already been published to Smugmug, but now are not a part of the new catalog. Any way to do this?
Thanks Terry, very clear and very reassuring. Thanks
Spot on, excellent video and super simple.
Very good video on LrC Catalog management. But, I do have a question to ask. Many times I see the new versions of the same catalog. In such cases, what do we do with older versions? Can we just delete them or what else?
You can delete any catalogs that you no longer need or use.
Thank you for the clear and concise explanation of how to do this! I have an important question, in my case anyway. If the same photos exist in different Lightroom catalogs and I combine the catalogs this way, will I have duplicate instances of these photos in my new catalog? I despise duplicates.
As long as the images are in the same folders there should be no duplicates.
@@TerryLeeWhite Thanks for the additional info.
your a champ, straight forward. thank you
Thanks for sharing the process. Now i just have two questions.
1. If i combine or 'import from another catalog' to the new catalog won't the new catalog will be heavy with a large number of images/collections and make it slower like a large catalog?
2. I wonder how the catalog backup function will work while closing the new catalog with backup file option. Will it create three seperate backup for three individual catalog and another 1 for the new catalog?
It will be great if you can shed some light on my questions.
1. You will have the new ONE larger catalog. I have close to 250K in mine and don't have any issue with it being "too large". YMMV. 2. the new catalog has no connection to the older ones. When closing any catalog set to backup upon close will only backup that one catalog.
Hi Terry Thanks for this great info! I am wondering, I have three external hard drives with pictures and separate catalogs I would like to merge into one, but don’t always have all 3 of the drives attached. Does this mess anything up to have only one catalog if one the drives is not plugged in?
No it doesn’t. The images would just show as offline until the drive is connected. I would recommend building Smart Previews for the images you always want to be able to edit.
Thanks for the great videos, but i was wondering how I would go about bringing a catalogs from my laptop over and adding it to my desktop catalog? Also If there was the same images on both would it cause issues or would it just ignore the image? What if they were same image with 2 different edits? Thanks a bunch
Terry can you continue a catalog on another External disc...ie from one year to the other... i do realize photos of pictures not on that disc would be missing if they are not on that disc
THANK YOU. Very clear and helpful. Much obliged.
Hey Terry I have a Travel lap top that I do LR Edits on. But I wnat to Combine my Catalog with my Main PC catalog. DO I export and Import?
Yes, but when I merged the first catalog it came up with an unknown error - can this be due to the 5,000 unlinked files or to the fact that not all of my files have synced dispite a fast internet? the catalog is a mess but it doses pass the check catalog.
Hello Terry, how many photos can one catalog handle in Lightroom Classic..? Thanks, Terry H.
There is no set limit.
How do you deal with the scroll bar that disappeared after about 200,000 photos.
Amazing, thank you for this!
I need to store my Lightroom catalog on a new drive as my 1TB local system drive is running out of space. I tried running the catalog from a regular internal HDD drive but Lightroom speed suffered badly - the lag I got was a pain. I am purchasing a second SSD, this time 2TB. I have considered two options, however. i) Use the new 2TB drive as my new local system drive and also as my Lightroom Catalog location. And ii) install the 2TB SSD as a 2nd local drive dedicated exclusively to the Lightroom Catalog. So existing smaller 1TB SSD is for system files only and the new 2nd drive is Lightroom Catalog only. Would there be any loss in performance having a dedicated, in this case 2nd internal SSD, for the Lightroom Catalog rather than sharing the system drive with Lightroom?
As long as the catalog is on the SSD the performance should be the same in either scenario.
@@TerryLeeWhite Thanks so much. Really appreciated!!! Your RUclips channel is one of the very best for Lightroom. Wonderfully insightful….
@@ericlawrie7044 thank you!
Great. Thank you!
...but how can you delete those other catalogs since you chose to "import without moving the originals"?
Hey Terry! This video was great, I had been trying to figure out how to separate my personal photos from my business photos (they’re all in the same catalog). Now, I’ve done as you showed in the video and imported all of my personal photos into a new catalog, can I remove them from the original catalog so that only my professional photos remain? 🙂
Remove yes, delete NO!
Love your Teaching Terry you make things so understandable! So I have a ridiculously huge single catalog on an older version on LR. A couple months ago LR started losing random edits in different folders, not even the whole folder it seems to be edits on png files and all my presets went away. Curious I desperately need to upgrade LR but have been so nervous to do so with so much work, I need to convert all my work to the new interface. Could you use an older backup to do this to regain lost edits and then add the newer backed up work in a similar way? I so need help on this my catalog is 600,+ images. I would appreciate any suggestions
I would try the File - Optimize Catalog option first
Mr. White, could you (or have you created) a video on how you store 26,000 photos and still access them in a single catalog. Or if you can use LRC with a NAS data system? Organization, data, and workflow for LRC 2023. Thank you!
terrywhite.com/how-to-store-and-backup-your-photos-like-a-pro/
What do I do with the multiple catalogs I made into one? Can they be deleted? I have 5 catalogs that I made into one, what do I do with them?
Yes you can delete any catalogs that you’re no longer using.
Thank you sir!
I tripled checked even with don't move photos it does make a copy of all the photos. So filled up my 2 TB drive LOL double pictures
Thats a bunch , this will help me a lot , my Catalogs are a mess.
What happens when they are on a different hard drive? Then they just show up as missing. How do you solve that problem?
Regardless of the catalog, if the drive is not mounted they will show as missing. Build Smart Previews while drive is mounted or once you have one catalog, move the images to one drive or NAS.
Hi , I did notice It did NOT >>> import > folder colors <
someone knows how to resolve this ?
how do I rename a catalog? every tutorial I see you have to change a the name in finder! but you always say not to go behind Lightroom's back!
Quit LrC. Go to your catalog folder in the Finder and make sure that you change all the files to the same name so that your previews, etc still work. Changing the catalog name or moving it to a different location can’t be done in LrC so you have to do it in the OS
@@TerryLeeWhite thank you for your help I will go behind Lightroom's back this one time hahaha
Thanks a lot for your video. To combine catalogues is one of my biggest worries and problems. Very often I get into trouble.
About one catalogue. I agree to have one is really a nice way to handle the all photos. But the biggest problem is, a big catalogue eats all your RAM. I do have 1.5 mill photos in my catalogue and I do have 16 GB RAM. This is a big problem, because after launching it, all my memory is melting away and If I use other programs like photoshop (or other photo editing tools) same time, the OS has to work very hard to swap the memory around.
It is a huge and real problem!
16GB of RAM is not enough for serious professional work. You’re expecting to run LrC and Ps on the bare minimum configuration. While having 1.5 million photos. That’s not a reasonable expectation.
@@TerryLeeWhite the last 7 years I was using 8 GB based on nearly same amount of photos. And everything is on an external SSD
It's working. I'm using computer since 35 years and I belief the software today has lot of opertunity to get performed.
Thanks.
ur the best. thanks
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