Today’s Question: I have about one hundred photos in a Lightroom Classic catalog on one computer, and I want to move all the images into my main Lightroom Classic catalog on another computer. How can I go about this without losing any of my work?
Tim’s Quick Answer: Assuming these are two separate catalogs with no duplication in terms of the images involved, you can simply merge the smaller catalog into your main catalog using the “Import from Another Catalog” command.
More Detail: The first step in merging catalogs across two computers is to get the catalog and photos that you want to merge into your primary catalog available on the computer where that primary catalog is stored. If you had already been working with the smaller catalog and the related photos on an external hard drive, you can simply connect that external hard drive to your primary computer. Otherwise, you’ll need to transfer the files, which can be done with the help of the “Export as Catalog” command.
Start by going to the “All Photographs” collection in the Catalog section of the left panel in the Library module. Select the “None” option on the Library filter bar so all images are shown and then choose Edit > None from the menu so no image is selected. Then go to the menu and choose File > Export as Catalog. In the “Export as Catalog” dialog navigate to an external hard drive that has enough space for both the catalog and photos. In the “Save As” field enter a meaningful name. Make sure the “Export negative files” checkbox is turned on, so photos will be copied along with the catalog. I also recommend turning on the “Include available previews” checkbox. Click the “Export Catalog” button to initiate the process.
Once the export is complete, connect the external hard drive to the primary computer, and open your primary catalog in Lightroom Classic. Then go to the menu and choose File > Import from Another Catalog. Navigate to the folder on the external hard drive that contains the exported catalog, select the catalog (it has a filename extension of .lrcat), and click the Choose button. Make sure the “All Folders” checkbox is turned on so all images will be imported. From the File Handling popup choose “Add new photos to catalog without moving”. Click the Import button to start the merge.
Since this process will have imported the images where they are, they’ll appear under a separate heading for the external hard drive in the Folders section of the left panel in the Library module. You can then drag the applicable folders to the top-level storage location for your primary storage that contains all your other images, so all photos will be consolidated.
By following this process, you’ll have consolidated your photos into a single catalog, while preserving absolutely all the work you had done in the second catalog.
