Can I delete old Lightroom Classic v11 and v12 backup zip catalog files on Mac?

Question

I have old backups I want to delete (they just keep accumulating).

1) Will I damage anything if I do this?

2) What is the best way to do this - through Finder direct, or is there a Lightroom option (and if so, where is it)?

3) Is there an option somewhere to automatically delete after a set timeframe?

dj_paige · Answer

Can you delete them? Yes, of course, you can delete any of your own files on your computer that you want. Deleting backups does not harm Lightroom Classic in any way.

Should you delete them? This is more difficult to answer, it makes a difference how risk-averse you happen to be. I usually keep 3-4 months just in case. Probably that's more than most people, but I feel good about it, and the extra disk space doesn't bother me. I would say, at a minimum, you should keep the most recent 3 backups, and you can delete the rest, but again that is my opinion and that's accepting much more risk than I would like, but maybe its fine in your mind. You do this deletion in your operating system, manually. I'm sure you could create a script that runs in your operating system that deletes them automatically, but I can't really advise on that.

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