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fionngrosse
Known Participant
September 12, 2024
Open for Voting

P: Drag and Drop in to other modules

  • September 12, 2024
  • 2 replies
  • 289 views

Photos can be added to the library module via drag-and-drop, i.e. imported. However, if the development module is open, drag-and-drop no longer works. Which is a great pity. I would like it if it would work in all places of Lightroom Classic and the import dialog would always open when you drag photos into the program.

2 replies

johnrellis
Legend
September 21, 2024

Moderators, @Rikk Flohr: Photography, please merge with this existing Idea:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-ideas/p-open-with-should-launch-lightroom-classic-in-import-mode/idi-p/13255119

 

Oops, please don't merge with that other idea -- it's not the same.

johnrellis
Legend
September 21, 2024

Instead of drag-and-drop, in Windows File Explorer, you can right-click one or more files and do Open With > Adobe Lightroom Classic. That will open the Import window no matter which module LR is currently in.

 

On Mac, Finder's Open With doesn't fully work with LR Classic, though it does with Lightroom Desktop. LR Classic doesn't appear in the list of apps eligible to open the photo, so each time you have to painfully navigate to Open With > Other and browse to the application "Adobe Lightroom Classic.app".  But as on Windows, Open With will open the Import window no matter which module you're in.  

 

This is a simple, sloppy configuration bug in the LR Classic app that would be trivial to fix but Adobe has shown no interest over the years.

 

I prefer Open With over drag-and-drop with LR, not only because of the module issue, but dragging photos on a large high-resolution screen on Mac is fussy and slow and I often make mistakes.

 

I wrote an Automator Quick Action that works around the Open With Issue.  In Finder, right-click a photo and do Quick Actions > Import To Lightroom.  See here for details:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-ideas/p-open-with-should-launch-lightroom-classic-in-import-mode/idc-p/13869513#M19134