Inspiring

Answered

Can I stop LR assigning and adding PSD edits to my library?

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
April 23, 2021
7 replies
2235 views

It happens all the time. I select, say, 5 images to edit. They open up in Photoshop. I edit them and save as PSD files. They automatically get added to my LR library as aditional files, bonded to each of the edited RAW file.

I don't want LR to add any new files in my library. How can I prevent that?

Thanks.

How to

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Correct answer ivframes

Yeah, thanks. I've been doing "find the missing files" for a while. Then LR would collect all missing (deleted) PSD files for me and I'd delete them in one take.

But I thought there was a command that would prevent adding in the first place. I see now it's by design, so ok.

DdeGannes

Community Expert

I did the following test on my system macBigSur 11.6.8 and LrC 11.4.1 and PS latest version.

Sellected three raw image files and did edit in PS with the option to save as PSD. The files were opened in PS as expected. I did an edit to each file, then saved as to my Desktop. After doing the save I then sellected close for each image separately. No image was saved to my Catalog and the PSDs were saved to Desktop as expected.

Regards, Denis: iMac 27” mid-2015, macOS 11.7.10 Big Sur; 2TB SSD, 24 GB Ram, GPU 2 GB; LrC 12.5,; Lr 6.5, PS 24.7,; ACR 15.5,; (also Laptop Win 11, ver 24H2, LrC 15.0.1, PS 27.0; ) Camera Oly OM-D E-M1.

Michael J. Hoffman

Community Expert

Agreed with Denis: since "Save As" to another location is something we often coach users not to do, as it breaks the round trip automation, it seems that this is a way to subvert the process - and prevent the images from being re-imported, on purpose, if that is your intent.

DdeGannes

Community Expert

Yes Michael, I use that often when I just require an image to share to a friend or send to print and do not require it in my Catalog.

Regards, Denis: iMac 27” mid-2015, macOS 11.7.10 Big Sur; 2TB SSD, 24 GB Ram, GPU 2 GB; LrC 12.5,; Lr 6.5, PS 24.7,; ACR 15.5,; (also Laptop Win 11, ver 24H2, LrC 15.0.1, PS 27.0; ) Camera Oly OM-D E-M1.

C

charmcat

Participating Frequently

I'm having this same issue and wish I could turn it off!

I use Lightroom to finetune the images I take of my watercolor illustrations. I have a lot more control over the RAW in LR than in the RAW pop-up in Photoshop and it's a heck of a lot easier to do bulk edits, apply my presets, etc...

But there are edits I cannot make in LR but only in PS.... like creating a transparent background. So I finish the workflow in LR and right-click into PS, finish edits, and save into the appropriate folder in the asset library. I don't want or need to see the final, flattened file added into LR.

Rob_Cullen

Community Expert

The easy way (given in answers above) is to EXPORT the edited raw with options-

-Specify FOLDER for the new file. (Anywhere in your computer. eg. a sub-folder of original)

-Do NOT add to Catalog. (The new file will NOT be in the catalog)

-Choose file type in the Export: PSD TIF JPG

-In the Post-Processing field: Choose [PHOTOSHOP.exe]

Save a PRESET!

So-

1) Export from LrC (WITH the SAVED PRESET),

2) edit in Ps,

3) [SAVE], (NOT 'Save As' because the file has already been created in the Export and you will want to Over-write it with the new Ps edits!)

Done!

Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.1.1, Photoshop 27.3.1, ACR 18.1.1, Lightroom 9.0, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.2 .

C

charmcat

Participating Frequently

I know that I can do that, it's just more steps that I don't want to mess with.

One more dialog box I have to go through, and then I have to delete the intermediate PSD file anyway (I don't keep those), so I'll just stick with the workflow I have and keep re-deleting the folders from my library.

Conrad_C

Community Expert

There may be one more workaround, but I think it only works on a Mac.

Instead of using the built-in Edit command, drag the files from Lightroom Classic and drop them on the Photoshop application icon anywhere you see it (in a Finder window or desktop, the Dock, Application Switcher, etc.), or drop it on the Photoshop application window. macOS will switch to Photoshop, and the files will open in Camera Raw hosted by Photoshop. Select All, then click Open and the files open as Photoshop documents using the current Camera Raw settings. You then save them wherever you want.

The power user version of that is drag from catalog grid, drop on Photoshop, (Command+A if there are multiple files), then press Enter/Return.

It’s only a little more work than choosing Edit In Photoshop (Command+E), but the big win is that you don’t have to do any cleanup afterwards, because Lightroom Classic doesn’t track images sent to Photoshop this way. At least in my testing, the resulting Photoshop versions don’t appear in the catalog unless you manually add them or sync the folder where you saved them.

D Fosse

Community Expert

I'm actually annoyed no end by this too, but I just resigned to the fact that I can't change it. Just adding my vote for an option to turn off whatever script that reimports the PSDs automatically.

I manage a 15+ TB archive at work, and to keep this system workable I have to keep raws and PSD masters separate. The raws are my own and I use Lightroom for the raw files exclusively. The PSDs go to a separate DAM system where they can be accessed by the whole organization. I don't want, or need, them to interfere in the Lightroom catalog.

It's not that they go into the same folder; they don't - but I want to keep them entirely off the catalog. I have other DAM software to manage the PSDs.

john beardsworth

Community Expert

There's already an option, Export.

D Fosse

Community Expert

Nothing beats the convenience of ctrl+E. I know there are workarounds, like Export, but they all involve moving your whole operation between folders. Sometimes speed and convenience matters.

gary_sc

Community Expert

I just tried something and it seemed to solve your problem: if you do a Save As... in PS to some other location on your computer system, after you close the document it does not fall back to LRC.

But as John said, leaving it to fall back to LRC, it's still part of your controlled images. After all, why spend time with the image if you do not plan on keeping it within your collection?

I

ivframesAuthor

Inspiring

Thanks everyone for trying to solve this for me.

Well, my workflow is a bit different. I don't keep PSD files. Since I work for a stock agency (GettyImages) I keep editing a PSD file until I'm satisfied with the results. Then I save a JPG that goes to the agency. PSD file gets discarded as soon as the file is accepted by GI.

I keep RAWs in different folders than final JPG images. And PSDs go into another.

I made two Actions - Save as PSD and Save as JPG. Both are done using "Save as" and are still added to LR?

gary_sc

Community Expert

I believe the issue is that PS and LRC are linked so that the file is automatically saved to its source location. To fix your action, can you create a perminent folder on your (say) Desktop so that all images are saved to this DIFFERENT folder and that should circumvent the image returning to LRC.

And one other option for you is to not use LRC, but rather Bridge and Adobe Camera Raw. That combination doesn't care where the images are located and will not try to return the image to the catalog becuase there is no catalog. The big negative to this is that you do lose all of the DAM capabilities of LRC. Oh, wait, if you do need the DAM features, you can import the images into LRC after processing them in ACR.

All just thoughts...

Ian Lyons

Community Expert

The behaviour you describe is as designed. However, it's fairly simple to remove them from the Library (i.e. select images, right-mouse-click to activate context menu, then choose 'Remove from Lightroom'). Don't choose 'Delete from Disk'

I

ivframesAuthorCorrect answer

Inspiring

Yeah, thanks. I've been doing "find the missing files" for a while. Then LR would collect all missing (deleted) PSD files for me and I'd delete them in one take.

But I thought there was a command that would prevent adding in the first place. I see now it's by design, so ok.

john beardsworth

Community Expert

Adding them to the LR catalogue keeps them under control. It's part of LR's role managing your pictures.

If you want to avoid it, then export and set PS as the post processing step. You can also duplicate the document in PS, save the duplicate and dump the other file.

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