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juergenb84151248
juergenb84151248
Inspiring
July 9, 2022
Answered

How to migrate ACR edited files from Bridge into Lightroom Classic

  • July 9, 2022
  • 1 reply
  • 475 views

Hi

currently the files are being managed by Bridge, mostly jpeg files. All of them have a basic edit, done with Adobe Camera RAW (ACR), some even more.

I want to migrate these files into Lighroom Classic, including the edit information, so that ideally the files are being shown the same as in Bridge, without loosing the edits.

Same would also apply to metadata, e.g. names, places, or rating.

I thought all edit data is being stored with or in the file, so that Bridge or LrC can read but does not touch the original file?

Thanks for your help in advance 🙂

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer gary_sc

Hi Juergen,

 

Ah, excellent question. To answer, let me briefly mention XMP files. Also known as sidecar files, these hold all ACR's changes. They are called sidecar files because you cannot change a raw image; you can only change how it looks. That is, if you opened up a raw image and turned everything within a green colorcast, and closed the image, there would now be a very small xmp file sitting in the same folder as the image. When you open up that image again, ACR would look around that folder, find the xmp file (that will have the same name as the original file), and provide that data to ACR to view the (now) green file. JPG images, as well as TIF and DNG images, are all container files. Instead of leaving the xmp file in the folder, they store the xmp data inside the image file. That is, these files act like folders. 

 

To test this, take one of your jpg images, do something drastic, and make it all green, for example. Send that jpg image to someone you know who does not have any Adobe software. When they open up that image, it will not be green; it will appear as if it's not seen ACR because ACR can only see that data.

 

When you import these files into LRC, LRC will see the xmp data, and all changes will be visible.

 

However, LRC and Bridge do not shake hands with ratings or labels. I've not played that much with this kind of transfer myself, but from what I've read in these forums, I do not expect much. I suggest you take some images and write down their labels, ratings, rejections, etc. Import them into LRC, and see what happens. As I recall, the labels will all turn white because they have different names, and since they do not share the same attributes, they use "white" to indicate that the file has a label but does not understand what that specific label represents. 

 

If you could share your results here, I'd be curious. Thanks

1 reply

gary_sc
Community Expert
gary_scCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 9, 2022

Hi Juergen,

 

Just import them into LRC, that will do it. Any ACR adjustments you made will be read and presented by LRC with no issues.

 

If you're new to LRC, some words of experience (don't ask me how I know).

 

During the importing process, you can "Copy," "Move," or "Add." The first "Copy," means that the original images will remain where they are and a copy will be placed in a new folder that LRC knows about. "Move," means that they will change their location to a new folder (of your choice) that LRC knows about. "Add" means that the images will stay in their current location and LRC knows about that location. (There is a 4th option of "Copy as DNG" which mostly is used when you have raw images on a camera card and are converting them into DNG format images while copying the images to their new location. Since your images are JPG, that's not an issue.)

 

The reason why I go into all this is that the LRC environment is a closed system. If you move images from one folder to another within LRC, all is good. LRC's database knows what you did and remembers that. However, if you move files around in the Finder or Explorer, LRC has no idea where those files are located and the next time you go to look at those images, you'll see an exclamation point "!" on the thumbnail letting you know that LRC does not know where that image is now located. This obviously, is very different from moving images around in Bridge because Bridge is NOT a database and doesn't care where the images are located, it's just a browser. 

 

So, as you import, just do it methodically and any folder structure you think you may want/need, just do it accordingly. You can always change it later (within LRC of course).

 

For more information on how to use LRC, check out https://www.lightroomqueen.com and sign up for her newsletters (there are not many). You will also get a free PDF on how to use LRC.

 

I have over 100,000 images in my LRC catalog and I still use both LRC and Bridge almost daily. 

 

Good luck!!

juergenb84151248
juergenb84151248Author
Inspiring
July 9, 2022

Hi Gary,

 

many thanks for your anwser. If the ACR adjustments will be imported, does that apply to the 'metadata' such as rating (starts, color badges) or rejection flags too?

Thanks 🙂

gary_sc
Community Expert
gary_scCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
July 9, 2022

Hi Juergen,

 

Ah, excellent question. To answer, let me briefly mention XMP files. Also known as sidecar files, these hold all ACR's changes. They are called sidecar files because you cannot change a raw image; you can only change how it looks. That is, if you opened up a raw image and turned everything within a green colorcast, and closed the image, there would now be a very small xmp file sitting in the same folder as the image. When you open up that image again, ACR would look around that folder, find the xmp file (that will have the same name as the original file), and provide that data to ACR to view the (now) green file. JPG images, as well as TIF and DNG images, are all container files. Instead of leaving the xmp file in the folder, they store the xmp data inside the image file. That is, these files act like folders. 

 

To test this, take one of your jpg images, do something drastic, and make it all green, for example. Send that jpg image to someone you know who does not have any Adobe software. When they open up that image, it will not be green; it will appear as if it's not seen ACR because ACR can only see that data.

 

When you import these files into LRC, LRC will see the xmp data, and all changes will be visible.

 

However, LRC and Bridge do not shake hands with ratings or labels. I've not played that much with this kind of transfer myself, but from what I've read in these forums, I do not expect much. I suggest you take some images and write down their labels, ratings, rejections, etc. Import them into LRC, and see what happens. As I recall, the labels will all turn white because they have different names, and since they do not share the same attributes, they use "white" to indicate that the file has a label but does not understand what that specific label represents. 

 

If you could share your results here, I'd be curious. Thanks

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