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Participating Frequently
July 17, 2023
Question

Exit Catalog

  • July 17, 2023
  • 5 replies
  • 1513 views

Hey guys. How do you exit a catalog and go back to being able to view all your photo folders under folders.

Lightroom classic defaults to opening the catalog you had been working on. I do not use catalogs all the time so I just want to be able to exit the catalog and just work in lightroom with access to all folders.

Thanks

John

5 replies

jessicanicole81
Participant
April 17, 2025

John, I had the same issue today after being asked to create a new catalog in imagen ai because according to the app my LR files were not in LRcat format. 
How did you resolve the issue. Did you get your previously edited files back?

Participating Frequently
July 18, 2023

Thanks to everyone for helping with this.

Cheers.

John

JohanElzenga
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 18, 2023

Just a piece of advice. Do not create a new catalog for each import! The Lightroom catalog is like an address book. It contains information of the images and their 'address', not the images themselves. Creating a new catalog for each import is like buying a new address book for each new address you want to add. If you do this, then your new address book only contains that one new address, not all the addresses of friends and family you collected earlier. With Lightroom Classic catalogs it's the same. If you create a new catalog for each import, then that catalog will only contain the images of that import, not any previously imported image.

 

-- Johan W. Elzenga
Participating Frequently
July 18, 2023

Thanks for the tip. I have started to use Imagen AI which requires you to create a new catalog for the files you want to apply AI to. 

Thanks again.

John

JohanElzenga
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 17, 2023

I think you confuse the Lightroom Classic catalog (which -as others said- Lightroom Classic always uses) and certain views in that catalog. You can view an individual folder, or collections like the last import, or all images by selecting that in the left panel. There is a sub-panel called 'Catalog' with some of these standard collections, and so I think that is what confuses you. To view all your photos click on the 'All Photographs' collection. This collection is always in the 'Catalog' sub-panel, never in your folder panel. To view a particular folder, click on the name of that folder in the folder panel.

 

BTW, Lightroom Classic should not default to the 'All Photographs' collection. It should come back to where you were when you last quit Lightroom Classic.

 

 

-- Johan W. Elzenga
Michael J. Hoffman
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 17, 2023

You cannot work with Lightroom in this way. Lightroom requires you to bring specific photos into the catalog by importing them, and its fundamental role as a digital asset management tool is designed into the program. 

If you just want to browse folders randomly, you might be better off using Bridge and Camera Raw (or one of the competing products that doesn't manage photos). 

dj_paige
Legend
July 17, 2023

In Lightroom Classic, you are always using the catalog, you cannot do anything without using the catalog.

 

I just want to be able to exit the catalog and just work in lightroom with access to all folders.

 

Do you mean the Folder panel on the left of the Library Module? Otherwise, I really don't understand this, can you show us a screen capture of what it looks like when you "work in lightroom [sic] with access to all folders"? Please use the "Insert Photos" icon to include your screen capture in your reply.

Participating Frequently
July 17, 2023
Yes Lightroom classic.

No you can import a folder from your internal HD and edit photos and export
them without creating any catalogs.

I did it for years.

Currently I can only access catalogs and not existing folders.

Thanks for your help do.
dj_paige
Legend
July 17, 2023
quote
Yes Lightroom classic.No you can import a folder from your internal HD and edit photos and exportthem without creating any catalogs.I did it for years.
By @John311271430c5e

 

No, you didn't do it for years, because it is impossible to use Lightroom Classic without a catalog. Or you are describing it wrong.