Today’s Question: To rename a catalog in Lightroom Classic, is it really as easy as going to File > Rename Catalog and entering a new name? Do you turn on the “Rename parent folder” checkbox?
Tim’s Quick Answer: It is very important to check your overall storage structure before using the “Rename parent folder” option. But yes, renaming your Lightroom Classic catalog is as easy as entering a new name in the Rename Catalog dialog. I recommend leaving the “Rename parent folder” checkbox turned off unless you’ve checked the folder structure in advance.
More Detail: Renaming the various files associated with your Lightroom Classic catalog is now incredibly easy, thanks to the addition of the Rename Catalog command in version 14. However, if you enable the option to rename the parent folder that contains the catalog, you can potentially run into some serious challenges.
The risk here applies to those who have photos stored in folders within the same folder as the catalog itself. Some photographers have used this approach particularly when storing their catalog and photos together on an external hard drive that can be moved between more than one computer.
If, for example, your photos are all stored in folders within the same parent folder as your catalog, enabling the “Rename parent folder” option will cause the path to your photos to change, which in turn can cause every single folder and photo being managed by Lightroom Classic to suddenly appear to be missing.
If your Lightroom Classic catalog is stored in a standalone folder with no photos stored within that folder (including subfolders), then it is safe to enable the “Rename parent folder” option. And since by default the folder has the same name as your original catalog, it can be helpful to confirm your overall storage structure before enabling the option to rename the parent folder that contains the catalog.
