Today’s Question: When traveling, it would be nice to have the same Keyword List, Develop Presets, and Metadata Presets in Lightroom Classic on my laptop as I have on my desktop computer. I know you can copy the Keyword List, but can you also copy your Develop Presets and Metadata Presets?
Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can copy the Keyword List, the Develop module presets, and your metadata presets to another computer so they are available in Lightroom Classic on both computers.
More Detail: You can export all keywords from the Keyword List in Lightroom Classic and then import that list into Lightroom Classic on another computer. To do so first export the Keyword List by going to the Library module and choosing Metadata > Keywords > Include Keyword Tag Options from the menu. In the dialog that appears navigate to a convenient location for saving the list, enter a meaningful name in the “Save As” field, and click the Save button.
You can then copy the exported file to your other computer and import the list into Lightroom Classic by choosing Metadata > Import Keywords from the menu. Navigate to the location where you saved the file, select the file, and click the Choose button. All keywords from the imported file will then appear in the Keyword List on the right panel in the Library module.
For the Develop presets you can export individual presets or copy the contents of the presets folder. To export individual Develop module presets right-click on the name of the preset in the Presets list on the left panel and choose “Export” from the popup that appears. The resulting XMP sidecar files can then be copied to the applicable folder for the Develop presets as outlined below.
To copy all Develop presets or to copy metadata templates first go to the Preferences dialog in Lightroom Classic by choosing Edit > Preferences on Windows or Lightroom Classic > Preferences on Macintosh. Go to the Presets tab, where you can click on the “Show Lightroom Develop Presets” button to open a window in your operating system where the Develop module presets are stored, or the “Show All Other Lighroom Presets” button to bring up a window for the other presets.
For the Develop module presets you’ll want to copy the “Settings” folder to transfer presets you’ve created directly within Lightroom Classic, and the “ImportedSettings” folder to transfer presets you imported into Lightroom Classic, perhaps having obtained presets from someone else.
For the metadata presets you’ll need to open the Lightroom folder that is highlighted in the windows that opened when you clicked the button in the Preferences dialog. You can then copy the “Metadata Presets” folder to your other computer.
On the destination computer use the same process of clicking the button in the Preferences dialog to reveal the preset storage location and put the folders into the same structure as they were on the source computer. Restart Lightroom Classic on the destination computer, and you’ll have your presets available.
