Disable auto creation of Smart Collections Set (and default Smart Collections) in new catalog

Thanks for testing.  Everyone agreed it's a bug now?

That's odd. I just tested this to make sure, and all of a sudden I do indeed get the default smart collection set if I export a selection of images as new catalog! That must be a new bug, because that is definitely not as it was before...

The point is that 'Export as catalog' should not add these default smart collections again. They are only added when you create a brand new catalog via 'File - New Catalog'. I remember having seen such a problem as well, a long time ago. It had something to do with regularly switching between languages. I managed to fix it years ago and haven't seen it since. Go to C: \ Users \ [your username] \ AppData \ Roaming \ Adobe \ Lightroom \ Smart Collection Templates and check that you do not have these multiple collections in there.

I'm asking for the option for that "Smart Collections" Collection set not be present in new catalogs.  I still want to use smart collections if I create them, I just don't need the bloatware of a bunch of random smart collections in every new catalog.

It's not a workflow killer, so right now I just delete the "Smart Collections" collection set when I see it (often when I import the smaller catalog back into my main one).  It just seems like a weird default behaviour to have smart collections for things like "Coloured Red" or "Past Month" in every new catalog for no particular reason.

I've attached three screenshots for anyone confused by what I'm seeing:

1 - My main catalog as it is now

2. What a new catalog, created by "Export as Catalog" looks like

3. What my mina catalog looks like when I import that new catalog back into my main catalog

Export As Catalog exports just those collections containing the exported catalog but it appears to export all the smart collections.

So to test my understanding, you're asking for an option in Export As Catalog to disable the export of the smart collections?

The technique of creating a template catalog and copying that wouldn't save you any effort in this case.  It would be easier just to open the exported catalog and delete the smart collections.

Hi Johan - you've either misread or misunderstood my post. From the OP:

"I often share a collection or folder as an LRCAT with my business partner or a retoucher (export folder or collection as catalog). "

Your suggestion is exactly what I do, and the main Catalog of 500k images (from which I'm "exporting as a Catalog") does not have the "smart collections" collection set. The new Catalog (whether created from a folder, collection or a selection of images) absolutely does have that collection set.

My business partner has the same issue on a machine that's several hundred KMs away and we're not sharing any settings between our catalogs.

To build on Johan's reply, doing Export As Catalog / Import From Another Catalog is usually the easiest workflow for sharing photos and edits.

But if that doesn't meet your needs for some reason, please provide more details.  One technique some people use is to create a template empty catalog with all the settings, initial keywords and collections, etc they prefer. Then to make a new catalog, they make a copy of that template catalog folder and rename it.

How do you share catalogs? The default smart collections are indeed created when you create a brand new catalog, but that is not a very effective way to share catalogs. To share catalogs, select the images you want to share and then use 'Export as catalog'. That should not create the default smart collection set again. It should only contain those (smart) collections that contain at least one of the exported images.

See the attached screen shot - a brand new (empty) catalog.  This collection set gets created with any new catalog I create - same with my partner.

Smart collections are based on rules you design, until you setup a smart collection, none exist. What default smart collections are you referring to?