Operation Manual

167
Managing catalogs and folders
Last updated 11/30/2015
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.
Automatically Discard 1:1 Previews This setting specifies when 1:1 previews are discarded based on the most recent
access to the preview. 1:1 previews have the same pixel dimensions as the original photos, and show sharpening and
noise reduction. They are rendered as needed and can make the catalog preview file large, so it's good to discard
them periodically.
Smart Previews Indicates how much disk space is being used by Smart Previews. For information on using Smart
Previews, see
Smart Previews.
Import Sequence Numbers Specifies starting sequence numbers for photos as you import into the catalog. Import
Number is the first number in a series that identifies how many import operations are performed. Photos Imported
is the first number in a series that identifies how many photos have been imported into the catalog. See
The Filename
Template Editor and Text Template E ditor.
4 In the Metadata tab, select any of the following:
Offer Suggestions From Recently Entered Values When you start typing a metadata entry that resembles a previous
entry, one or more suggestions appear as you type. Deselect this option to turn it off. Click Clear All Suggestion Lists
to clear previous entries.
Include Develop Settings In Metadata Inside JPEG, TIFF, PNG, And PSD Files Deselect this option to prevent
Lightroom from including Develop module settings in the XMP metadata of JPEG, TIFF, PNG, and PSD files.
Automatically Write Changes Into XMP Select this option to save metadata changes directly to the XMP sidecar files,
making the changes visible in other applications. Deselect this option to save metadata settings only in the catalog.
For information on saving XMP changes manually, see
About metadata and XMP.