Ask Tim Grey

Today’s Question: Many of my images in Lightroom Classic show a symbol [indicating a metadata mismatch] at the upper-right of the thumbnails. I have enabled the “Automatically write changes into XMP” option in Catalog Settings. Why isn’t Lightroom Classic automatically saving the metadata? Is there something I’m missing?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The issue here is that images have been updated in some way outside of Lightroom Classic. As long as you’re sure that all important updates have been applied within your catalog, you can either ignore the symbol or choose the option to save updates to the source file.

More Detail: With the “Automatically write changes into XMP” checkbox turned on (which I do recommend), standard metadata as well as Develop updates applied within Lightroom Classic will be saved to the source image files on your hard drive. This will update an XMP sidecar file for proprietary raw captures and save metadata directly to the source file for other supported file types.

However, it is still possible for there to be a metadata mismatch if updates were applied outside of the Lightroom Classic catalog. This could have been as simple a matter as opening a raw capture directly from the operating system, causing it to be opened in Camera Raw via Photoshop. You might have also updated images using Adobe Bridge or other third-party software.

As long as you’re sure that all updates you actually care about were performed within Lightroom Classic, the metadata mismatch indication isn’t anything you really need to worry about. You could, for example, just ignore the icon.

If you do prefer to resolve the metadata mismatches, first make sure the source image files are currently available so the files can be updated. Then select the photo (or multiple photos) you want to update the metadata for within Lightroom Classic. Click the icon that indicates the metadata mismatch at the top-right of the thumbnail for one of the selected photos. In the dialog that appears, click the Overwrite Settings button. This will save the metadata updates from Lightroom Classic to the source file on the hard drive and resolve the metadata mismatch so the icon indicating this situation will disappear.

Today’s Question: You indicated that it is possible to have Lightroom Classic activated on two computers. But wouldn’t it be difficult or problematic to try to use Lightroom Classic on two different computers due to the catalog?

Tim’s Quick Answer: While it can indeed be difficult or problematic to try to use the same Lightroom Classic catalog on two different computers, it can also be relatively straightforward, such as by storing the catalog on an external hard drive that you move between more than one computer.

More Detail: By default, Lightroom Classic will store the catalog on the internal hard drive on your computer. This is perfectly fine in terms of convenience and performance, but it can become problematic if you want to use Lightroom Classic on more than one computer.

In theory you could copy the most recent version of your catalog from one computer to another, and then copy that catalog back to the first computer when you wanted to switch again. But as you can probably imagine, this can quickly create confusion about, for example, which copy of the catalog is really the most recent.

Therefore, if you want to use Lightroom Classic on more than one computer, I recommend storing your catalog (and the photos) on an external hard drive. The catalog can be opened from the external hard drive with Lightroom Classic on whichever computer is most convenient to use at the time, such as when using a desktop computer when at home and a laptop computer when traveling.

Having the catalog and the photos on an external hard drive is no problem at all, and performance can be on par with having the catalog on an internal hard drive, as long as the external hard drive is of reasonably good performance.

Of course, it is worth pointing out that this issue of managing the catalog in Lightroom Classic is one of the reasons some photographers have avoided Lightroom Classic. I talked about the differences (and similarities) between Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, and Bridge, in a webinar presentation about six months ago. A recording of the full presentation can be found on my “Tim Grey TV” channel on YouTube here:

https://www.youtube.com/live/BwpneG4y0nQ

Today’s Question: I just bought a more powerful computer. Do I need to buy a new Lightroom Classic subscription for the new computer? Is there a way to migrate from the old computer to the new one?

Tim’s Quick Answer: No, you do not need a separate license for the new computer. Migrating from the old computer to the new one can be as simple as copying the folder containing all catalog files to the new computer, depending on your overall configuration.

More Detail: When you get a new computer, you don’t need a new license for Lightroom Classic. You can use your existing license for an Adobe Creative Cloud plan for Lightroom Classic on the new computer. In fact, with Creative Cloud plans you can have Adobe applications activated on up to two computers at a time, though you can only use each application on one computer at a time.

As for migrating the catalog and photos, that can be quite simple depending on your configuration. If you have your photos on an external hard drive, for example, you can simply copy the folder containing your catalog files to the new computer, and make sure that the external hard drive has the same drive letter (Windows) or volume label (Macintosh) on the new computer.

To locate the folder that contains your catalog files, you can use the Catalog Settings dialog in Lightroom Classic. This can be found on the Edit menu on Windows or the Lightroom Classic menu on Macintosh. On the General tab click the Show button to bring up a window in your operating system showing where the catalog folder is located. That folder will be highlighted.

You can then copy the entire folder containing the catalog files to the new computer. You could, for example, copy the folder to an external hard drive, and then copy it into the Pictures folder on the internal hard drive of the new computer.

Once the folder containing the catalog files is copied to the new computer, as long as you’ve already installed Lightroom Classic you can simply double click the primary catalog file (it has a filename extension of .lrcat) to launch Lightroom Classic with that catalog. As long as the photos are still in the same location where they are expected, you can then use Lightroom Classic on the new computer just as you had been on the old computer.

Keep in mind that it is important to only use the “current” version of your catalog, not an older copy. For example, after copying the catalog to your new computer you would not want to work with the older catalog on the old computer, instead treating that copy as a backup that could eventually be discarded once you have confirmed Lightroom Classic is working properly on the new computer and you have backed up the catalog.

Today’s Question: Is there a way to build previews for all photos with Adobe Bridge?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can build previews for all photos in Adobe Bridge by browsing all photos and making sure the “Always Generate” option is enabled for previews.

More Detail: To build previews for all images in Adobe Bridge the first step is to make sure the option is enabled to “Always Generate” previews for images. This setting is found on the PathBar panel, so first make sure this option is enabled by choosing Window > PathBar from the menu. When the PathBar panel is enabled a checkmark icon will appear to the left of its name on the menu.

The PathBar panel appears toward the top of the Bridge interface by default, and on the left side shows the path to the folder you’re currently browsing. On the right side the second button from the left is an options popup. Click this popup and make sure the “Always Generate” option in the Preview Generation section is enabled, indicated by a checkmark icon to the left. Note that you can also adjust the settings for the size and quality of previews on this popup.

Once you’ve enabled the “Always Generate” option for previews you can have those previews generated by browsing a folder location. To build previews for all images on a hard drive, for example, you can select that hard drive from the Folders panel and then from the menu make sure the “Show Items from Subfolders” option is turned on from the View menu.

At this point Bridge will process all images in the location you’re browsing (including subfolders as long as you’ve enabled the option to show images in subfolders). This process can take considerable time depending on how many images are in the selected location and the resolution of those images. Once the previews are generated, however, as long as the full preview is within the size limit of the cache setting, you’ll have a much more fluid browsing experience.

actually browse all images. This can be a little complicated if you have your photos stored across more than one hard drive, but in this case you could also build previews for one hard drive at a time.

Regarding the cache, you can adjust the Preferences settings to help ensure previews are preserved, or at least preserved for as long as possible.

On the Cache tab of the Preferences dialog in Adobe Bridge the first option is the cache size. This determines how much hard drive space can be consumed by the previews cache. If you have considerable available space on the hard drive where the cache is being stored, you can increase this value to help ensure previews will be preserved for longer. Note that the location of this cache can be set in the Location section of the Cache Management tab in the Preferences dialog.

There are two other settings on the Cache tab of the Preferences dialog that can be helpful. The first is the “Keep 100% Previews in Cache” checkbox. With this checkbox enabled, performance will be improved for larger previews (such as when zooming in or using the loupe) as well as when playing a slideshow. However, leaving this option on can also consume significant hard drive space, so I prefer to keep it turned off unless doing so causes frustrating performance issues.

The other setting is the option to purge previews from the cache that are older than a set number of days. If you want to preserve previews as long as possible (even though it will consume additional hard drive space) you can turn this checkbox off. You can also increase the time limit by increasing the value from the default of 30 days.

The settings above can help ensure the previews from your images are preserved in cache as long as possible once those previews are generated. You’ll just need to be sure to browse the applicable storage locations with the “Always Generate” option enabled in order to build previews for all images.

Today’s Question: I’m pretty sure I recall you’re a Macintosh user. Is there any reason you don’t use or recommend Time Machine?

Tim’s Quick Answer: I am primarily a Macintosh user, and I also use and recommend Time Machine as a great backup solution, particularly for the system hard drive on your computer.

More Detail: I consider Time Machine to be a great backup solution, both as an incremental backup that enables you to recover a particular version of a file that has been lost or damaged, and as a remarkably simple way to restore your computer, such as when upgrading to a new computer. I maintain three individual Time Machine backups for the system drive of my primary computer.

I do not, however, use Time Machine to back up my external hard drives, in large part because this introduces a challenge in terms of having a hard drive large enough for Time Machine to store the data from my various external hard drives.

Therefore, in addition to using Time Machine to back up the system hard drive on my computer, I use GoodSync (http://timgrey.me/greybackup) to make an exact copy of the external hard drives that store my photos and other important data, and I use Backblaze (https://timgrey.me/cloudbackup) to provide an online (and therefore offsite) backup of all my primary storage drives.

Note that I addressed my backup workflow and recommendations in great detail in a series of presentations as part of my GreyLearning Ultimate Event on “Backing Up Your Photos” last year. The recordings of those presentations are available for purchase (and included at no additional cost in the GreyLearning Ultimate Bundle) here:

https://www.greylearning.com/courses/greylearning-ultimate-event-backing-up-your-photos-may-2023

Today’s Question: I have quite a few layered TIFF files created via Photoshop that I subsequently applied Lightroom Classic Develop adjustments to. How do I non-destructively incorporate those Lightroom Classic adjustments into the TIFF file without destroying the Photoshop layers, so that I’m not dependent on Lightroom Classic moving forward?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can’t, at least not with this specific workflow. You would either need to apply the adjustments entirely in Photoshop or export a flattened copy of the image to preserve the adjusted version beyond Lightroom Classic.

More Detail: Part of the challenge with a workflow that involves sending images from Lightroom Classic to Photoshop is that these two applications use an entirely different approach to how adjustments are applied. Fortunately, there is a bit of a workaround that enables you to apply the same adjustments you’ll find in Lightroom Classic using Photoshop.

When you send a raw capture from Lightroom Classic to Photoshop, a new file (either TIFF or PSD based on the setting in Preferences) will be created based on the source image and the adjustments you’ve applied in the Develop module. You can then use Photoshop to add new layers and apply various adjustments to the derivative image. If you then save and close the image, the layers will be preserved with the new file alongside the source image in Lightroom Classic.

You can apply additional adjustments in Lightroom Classic to that derivative image, but you can think of them as not exactly being compatible with Photoshop. In other words, if you send the image to Photoshop using the “Edit Original” option (so that all layers are preserved) the adjustments you applied in Lightroom Classic won’t be visible while you’re working in Photoshop. Those adjustments will appear again once you’re back in Lightroom Classic.

You could use the Camera Raw Filter (found on the Filter menu) within Photoshop to apply the same adjustments found in Lightroom Classic but using Photoshop instead. However, this would require that you create a new composite layer by selecting the top layer on the Layers panel and holding the Ctrl+Alt+Shift keys on Windows or Command+Option+Shift keys in Macintosh while pressing the letter N followed by the letter E on the keyboard.

You could also convert that composite layer to a smart object if you wanted to apply the Camera Raw filter as a smart filter, but doing so would further complicate the fact that you have now hidden your original layers below the new layer being used for the Camera Raw adjustments.

So, there really isn’t an elegant way to combine adjustments from Photoshop and Lightroom Classic in this way. Keep in mind, however, that at any time you could export a copy of the derivative file in order to have a file that includes the effect of all Lightroom Classic adjustments. However, this derivative image would not include any of the Photoshop layers from the original derivative.

Today’s Question: Every once in a while, when going to work on an image or export it I get message (to paraphrase) that the original is not found, and do I want to locate or work with smart preview. My question is, if I delete all smart previews will these images that can’t be located be lost to me without smart previews?

Tim’s Quick Answer: If the source image can be located, then deleting the smart preview is safe. If there is a chance the original file has been lost, then the smart preview should be protected as though it was the original.

More Detail: A smart preview in Lightroom Classic is a relatively high-resolution rendering of the source image. Smart previews can be used in place of the source image file within Lightroom Classic. For example, if you have built a smart preview for an image, you can still work with that image (via the smart preview) in the Develop module even if the source file is not currently available. You can even export or share copies of the photo based on the smart preview.

The answer to today’s question depends on the reason the source file is missing. If the smart preview is being used simply as a convenience, such as so you can continue working even when an external hard drive containing the photos isn’t connected, then the smart previews can be thought of as disposable.

However, if the source files can’t be found, then the smart previews suddenly become an important alternative to the originals. If the source files had been accidentally deleted, the smart previews can still be used, and therefore should not be discarded. The smart previews will generally have a lower resolution (at about 2500 pixels on the long side) compared to the original, but reduced resolution is better than no pixels at all.

Today’s Question: I have the opposite problem from the question about deleting previews [in Lightroom Classic]. I have many photos for which there is only a gray thumbnail, with no preview. They get built (slowly) when I browse each folder, but is there a way to simply build previews for all images in my catalog all at once?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can generate standard previews for any photos that don’t already have them by selecting them all and then using the “Build Standard-Sized Previews” command.

More Detail: While standard previews in Lightroom Classic will be built automatically whenever you browse photos that don’t have the previews already, that can slow down the process of browsing your photos. It can therefore be helpful to build previews for all photos in the catalog if you are in a situation where not all photos have previews.

To get started, first make sure that all photos are currently available, such as by connecting any external hard drives that have photos stored on them. Then navigate to the All Photographs collection in the Catalog section of the left panel in the Library module. Next, on the Library Filter Bar above the grid view display, choose the “None” option so that no filter is set. Select all photos by choosing Edit > Select All from the menu.

With the photos selected, you can then go to the menu and choose Library > Previews > Build Standard-Sized Previews”. Lightroom Classic will then set about the task of building previews for any selected photos that don’t already have previews.

Note that this process can take considerable time, depending on how many photos you have in your catalog and the speed of the hard drive(s) on which your photos are stored. It is quite common for it to take several hours to generate all previews, or even a couple of days if you have a particularly large catalog.

Today’s Question: I realized that my primary hard drive was almost full, and I found that I had a large previews file for Lightroom Classic. Within the folder that contains my catalog I have a Previews lrdata file that is 79.9 GB. I also have a Smart Previews file that is 5.2 GB. I know I can build previews when I need them so how can I delete these previews to provide free space on my hard drive?

Tim’s Quick Answer: The Previews file associated with your Lightroom Classic catalog can simply be deleted if you need to recover storage space. For the Smart Previews file, you can actually use a command in Lightroom Classic to delete the Smart Previews for all photos within the catalog.

More Detail: The primary Previews file for the Lightroom Classic catalog is essentially just a cache and can be safely deleted at any time if you need to reclaim hard drive space. Just keep in mind that previews will need to be built again when you browse your photos, and those previews can only be built if the source files are available. So, for example, if you deleted the Previews file and keep your photos on an external hard drive, you would initially be unable to view the images until you connect the external hard drive. Once previews are built again you’ll be able to see photos even if the external hard drive is disconnected.

For the Smart Previews you can use the “Discard Smart Previews” command to delete Smart Previews for any photos you’d like (or for all photos in your catalog). For example, you could go to the All Photographs collection in the Catalog section of the left panel in the Library module and make sure the Library Filter Bar above the grid view is set to “None” so you’re browsing all photos. Then go to the menu and choose Library > Previews > Discard Smart Previews. Click the “Discard All” button, and the Smart Previews for all selected photos will be discarded.

Of course, as you browse your photos after discarding the standard previews, new previews will be generated. This may cause you to wonder whether it makes sense to delete the Previews file, since it will just get created again. However, unless you specifically direct Lightroom Classic to build previews for your entire catalog, previews will only be built as you browse photos. Therefore, the Previews file will be much smaller than it had been previously, and it may not grow all that quickly depending on your habits in terms of browsing photos.

Today’s Question: At times I want to send an image to a publisher without including the metadata. Is there a way to delete all metadata from an image being sent from Lightroom Classic?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can exclude most metadata by exporting photos from Lightroom Classic and choosing either “Copyright Only” or “Copyright & Contact Info Only” from the Include popup in the Metadata section of the Export dialog. Similar options are available when exporting via Adobe Bridge.

More Detail: In some cases, you may want to exclude metadata when sharing photos, such as to prevent others from learning what camera equipment or settings were used, where the photo was captured, what keywords were assigned, or other details.

In the context of Lightroom Classic, you would typically create copies of images to share with others by exporting copies of the source photos. In the Export dialog you can configure the various settings, such as to make JPEG copies based on original raw captures. To limit the metadata that is included in the derivative images, choose an option from the Include popup in the Metadata section of the Export dialog. When you want to limit the metadata being included, you’ll likely want to choose either “Copyright Only” or “Copyright & Contact Info Only”.

For those not using Lightroom Classic there is a similar option to export from Adobe Bridge. First enable the Export panel if it isn’t already by going to the menu and choosing Window > Export. Drag selected images to the Custom Export option in the Export panel. In the Export dialog you can configure the settings for the copies of the photos you’ll be creating. In the Metadata section you can keep the “Include Original Metadata” checkbox turned on, but then choose either ” Copyright Only” or “Copyright & Contact Info Only” from the popup below the checkbox. Click the Start Export button when you’re ready to export the images.

Sharing images without the original metadata does involve creating copies of the source photos. But in most cases, that’s exactly what you would want to do anyway, such as to send a JPEG copy rather than an original raw capture. The key is to configure the appropriate option for excluding most metadata from the image, so the recipient will only be able to see the details you want them to be able to see.