Today’s Question: I’d like to move a file with Lightroom Classic adjustments to ImagePrint for printing, without having a duplicate TIFF file added to Lightroom Classic every time it is exported.
Tim’s Quick Answer: In this case you want to export the image with the normal export feature rather than sending it directly to other software, and you want to make sure the option to add to the catalog is disabled in the Export dialog.
More Detail: When you send a raw capture to software outside of Lightroom Classic, such as when editing in Photoshop or sending the image to a plug-in using an export preset, a derivative image will be created. In this scenario, the derivative image will always be added to the Lightroom Classic catalog. This can obviously lead to a bit of clutter with numerous derivative images if you’re sending images to other applications somewhat frequently.
To avoid having the derivative image added to the Lightroom Classic catalog, use the regular export feature rather than sending the file directly to another application. For example, don’t use the Photo > Edit In option from the menu, and don’t use the File > Export with Preset command.
Instead, simply click the Export button at the bottom of the left panel in the Library module to initiate the export. In the Export dialog you can configure the settings for the new file that will be created, such as to specify the file format and other details of the image to be created.
To ensure the new derivative image is not added to the Lightroom Classic catalog, make sure that “Add to This Catalog” checkbox in the Export Location section at the top of the Export dialog is turned off. Then export the image, and a file will be created that you can open in the applicable software (such as ImagePrint for printing in this case) without that image having been added to your Lightroom Classic catalog.
