How to view all of my catalogs (not collections) on left hand side of screen

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
June 19, 2023
3 replies
380 views

My Mother-in-law is a photographer, and she is able to go from one catalog to another quickly by selecting it under the "catalogs" tab on the left hand side when she is on the Library tab. I have Googled how to do that like crazy and I can't find an answer. She can't remember how she did it. Can anyone help me? I think it will help me so much! BTW she has a Macbook and I have a Windows computer running Windows 10.

Windows

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johnrellis

Legend

A full-resolution screenshot (not a phone pic) of her screen would be worth a thousand posts here, cutting to the chase.

J

jennab58540951Author

Participant

I wish! She doesn't know how to do that but I can see if I can get her to at least take a pic of her screen with her phone. I bet it was actually folders as someone else specified. All I remember is she was able to just jump from one catalog to another easily without closing and then opening.

Conrad_C

Community Expert

The Folders panel does allow jumping from folder to folder just by clicking, and also, jump from volume to volume if the currently opened catalog includes images from multiple volumes (such as both internal and external drives). But catalogs have never been listed, it’s always been necessary to close the current catalog before opening another one.

Is it possible that she was using different software? For example, before Lightroom existed, I organized photos in an application that let you keep multiple catalogs open at once, and it was easy to switch and search across open catalogs. But Lightroom Classic has never been able to do those things.

D Fosse

Community Expert

It has to be File > Open Recent.

In any case you can't switch to another catalog with Lightroom remaining open. The application has to close and then reopen to the new catalog.

There is the Folders tab in the left column, functionally a file browser - but only for imported image files. A catalog can't be "imported".

J

jennab58540951Author

Participant

Hmm ok I swear it said catalogs but maybe it was folders. I'll have to ask her. I am no longer around her as she is on her way back to her home.

Conrad_C

Community Expert

Lightroom/Lightroom Classic has never been able to list multiple catalogs in the application window itself. There has never been a “Catalogs” tab in the entire history of the application (since 2007).

However, it is very easy to switch between recently opened catalogs by choosing the File > Open Recent command, which happens to be on the left side of the screen. Maybe that’s what she means?

That is essentially similar to the File > Open Recent command found in many Windows and Mac applications, including Photoshop and Microsoft Word.

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