Operation Manual

166
Managing catalogs and folders
Last updated 11/30/2015
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
Locate missing photos .
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
catalog.
More Help topics
Video tutorial - Export a catalog
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.