Today’s Question: With a recent update to Lightroom Classic I’m not longer able to turn off a section of adjustments in the Develop module. The toggle switch that used to appear to the left of the section headings has been replaced by an eye icon. If I click that eye, the adjustments are disabled, but as soon as I release the mouse the adjustments are turned back on. Is there no longer a way to turn off a section of adjustments?
Tim’s Quick Answer: It is still possible to turn off a section of adjustments on the right panel in the Develop module in Lightroom Classic. A recent update just changed how this feature operates.
More Detail: In previous versions of Lightroom Classic there has always been a toggle switch to the left of the heading for all sections except “Basic” on the right panel in the Develop module. These toggle switches enabled you to turn off all adjustments in a given section, which could be helpful for a “before and after” review or for simply turning off adjustments you decided you don’t want to have applied to an image.
With a recent update those toggle switches have been replaced with an eye icon to the left of the heading for all sections on the right panel in the Develop module. If you click on the eye icon the adjustments in that section will be disabled for a “before” view, but as soon as you release the mouse the section will no longer be disabled so you’re back to the “after” view with all adjustments enabled.
However, you can get the previous toggle switch functionality by simply holding the Alt key on Windows or the Option key on Macintosh. While holding the Alt/Option key, the eye icons to the left of each heading will change to the previous toggle switch. While holding the Alt/Option key you can then click on the toggle switch for a section to disable the adjustments in that section.
Note that while there is an eye icon for the Basic section, enabling you to use a “before and after” view for that section, the toggle switch option is not available for the Basic section. In other words, it is not possible to permanently disable the adjustments in the Basic section, since they represent the fundamental adjustments for interpreting an image.
