Today’s Question: When exporting some photos from Lightroom Classic recently, I noticed that there was a checkbox to the left of each preset name on the list, which I hadn’t seen before. I’ve always just clicked the name of the preset to select it. Am I supposed to turn on the checkbox instead? Why are there two ways of choosing a preset when exporting photos?
Tim’s Quick Answer: The checkboxes associated with presets in the Export dialog are a relatively new addition, and they enable you to export images using multiple presets at a time.
More Detail: If you export images for a similar purpose somewhat frequently, it can be very helpful to save a preset with the settings for the export to streamline the process. With a preset the process of exporting photos is as easy as selecting the photos, clicking the Export button at the bottom of the left panel in the Library module, choosing the preset, and clicking the Export button to initiate the export.
Thanks to the checkboxes, you can also export photos for more than one preset at a time. For example, you might export photos to share to social media and to submit for a photo contest, with each of these calling for different specifications for the pixel dimensions and other settings. To export for more than one preset you simply turn on the checkbox for all the presets you want to export for, and then click the Export button.
So, if you’re exporting for just a single preset, you can just click the name of the preset in the Export dialog and then click the Export button. If you’re exporting for multiple presets, you can turn on the checkbox for each of those presets and then click the Export button.
