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Lightroom Classic not upgrading to version 15.4

Forum|Forum|13 days ago
July 9, 2026
6 replies
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I have upgraded my lightroom classic through creative cloud when I open Lightroom classic it is showing version 13.3 and no upgrade box popped up to upgrade. I went into system info and it is showing as 15.4, will add attachment. I have regulary upgraded lightroom when creative cloud has said it needs updating , but in hindsight I think this has happened before as i am on version 13.3 . I am using window 11 and am afraid that I am not very computer savy and am terrified of messing up my catalogue.

system info.txt

Correct answer Jim Wilde

The new bi-directional gradient tool is not yet available in Lightroom Classic version 15.4.1, it is only available in the Adobe Camera Raw version 18.4 plug-in to Photoshop. Hopefully it will arrive in Lightroom Classic at some point, but it’s not there yet.

I

idreanc60926822Author

Known Participant

Hi all, sorted thanks for the help.

johnrellis

Legend

[View this post in your web browser. It contains formatting and images that don't appear in email.]

the new directional gradient tool that's meant to be in masks.

While waiting for that to appear in an upcoming release of LR, you can use the attached Symmetric Linear Gradient preset. See here for details:

Symmetric Linear Gradient.xmp

I

idreanc60926822Author

Known Participant

Thanks, I was hoping I wasn't going to have to do that. Should I back up to external hard drive or is the basic backup you do when exiting lightroom good enough. Does that backup , backup the presets etc. As I said I'm a computer dummy.

Jim Wilde

Community Expert

No, read the replies from @Rob_Cullen and myself. There is no need to uninstall etc., you are already running the latest version, you just need to change the catalog name.

Jim Wilde

Community Expert

@Rob_Cullen is correct, you are already using the latest version.

Explanation for your confusion: back in LrC version 13.x, Adobe stopped automatically changing the catalog name to reflect the version number during a catalog upgrade. So every update you have done since that change has retained the same 13.3 name, but at the same time as that change was made Adobe also introduced the ability to do a catalog rename via the LrC File menu. To avoid subsequent confusion, use the new catalog rename option to rename the catalog to either remove the old 13.3 version number completely, or change the version number to reflect the current version number of the last catalog upgrade (which was 15.4). Using the latter option (which is what I do) will mean that you’ll have to rename again after every version change (but the rename option makes that very simple).

I

idreanc60926822Author

Known Participant

Thanks, but I don't have the new directional gradient tool that's meant to be in masks. That's what makes me think I don't have it.

Jim Wilde

Correct answer

Community Expert

The new bi-directional gradient tool is not yet available in Lightroom Classic version 15.4.1, it is only available in the Adobe Camera Raw version 18.4 plug-in to Photoshop. Hopefully it will arrive in Lightroom Classic at some point, but it’s not there yet.

Rob_Cullen

Community Expert

System Info says you have v15.4.1.

But if your catalog name includes 13.3 then that is simply a catalog naming issue and not a problem.

You can rename your catalog to anything you want from the main menu > File > Rename Catalog…

Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.4.1, Photoshop 27.8, ACR 18.4, Lightroom 9.4, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.3 .

A

AxelMatt

Community Expert

It seems there’s something going wrong with the installation.

I would do a reinstallation of Lightroom by following the steps below:

Backup all personal data, like templates, presets, catalog(s) etc.
Uninstall Lightroom including preferences, https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/uninstall-remove-app.html
Restart your computer (don't skip this)
Use the desktop app to reinstall Lightroom
Restore your personal data.

My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 25H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 9 - PureRAW 6 - Topaz Photo AI

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