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Laurence12
Laurence12
Participant
July 9, 2015
Answered

Can I split a catalogue into two

  • July 9, 2015
  • 3 replies
  • 16559 views

I have 126K images in one catalogue, what I want to do is split the catalogue with all images pre 2015 in one catalogue and all 2015 in another. My problem is that I've worked on loads of the images and don't really want to start on them again.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer D.A.R

    ‌Yes you can split the catalog easily.

    Theres a couple ways you can do this.

    1. Duplicate the catalog and previews files on your hard drive to a new location. Rename the files accordingly "2015...." (Your choice)

    open the original catalog and select all the images you don't want in it and remove them from the catalog with the delete key-  be sure to select remove.

    Open the duplicate catalog files and remove the images (the opposite selection from the original catalog) in the same manner.

    OR

    2. in the original catalog, select the files you want in a new catalog then from the file menu choose export as catalog. Uncheck "include negative files" or you will duplicate the number of images on your drive.

    Choose a a location and name for the catalog.

    THen em remove the same files from the original catalog in the same manner as above - making sure you select "remove"

    3 replies

    B
    boknows
    Participant
    July 6, 2017

    Works great. Thanks.

    D.A.R
    D.A.RCorrect answer
    Legend
    July 9, 2015

    ‌Yes you can split the catalog easily.

    Theres a couple ways you can do this.

    1. Duplicate the catalog and previews files on your hard drive to a new location. Rename the files accordingly "2015...." (Your choice)

    open the original catalog and select all the images you don't want in it and remove them from the catalog with the delete key-  be sure to select remove.

    Open the duplicate catalog files and remove the images (the opposite selection from the original catalog) in the same manner.

    OR

    2. in the original catalog, select the files you want in a new catalog then from the file menu choose export as catalog. Uncheck "include negative files" or you will duplicate the number of images on your drive.

    Choose a a location and name for the catalog.

    THen em remove the same files from the original catalog in the same manner as above - making sure you select "remove"

      Laurence12
      Laurence12Author
      Participant
      July 10, 2015

      Unfortunately neither of these options has worked. I've upgraded to Lightroom 6 and of course the catalogue has changed. The systems takes hours then I just get a message stating that Lightroom has stopped working and that Windows will close it.

      D.A.R
      D.A.R
      Legend
      July 10, 2015

      Well clearly taking hours to open a catalog regardless of version is a bigger issue than the original question.

      Do you have any backups of the version 5 catalog you can open (with v5)? Once open you can split a described above then convert each to v6 catalogs.

      ssprengel
      ssprengel
      Inspiring
      July 9, 2015

      You can select a group of images, in your case a large group of images, and use File / Export as Catalog, which will copy all the LR adjustments to a new LR catalog, then you can delete them out of the current catalog.

      I’d make a backup of your current catalog before you split it just in case you delete too many.

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