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sarahm5770272
sarahm5770272
Participating Frequently
February 16, 2022
Question

Lightroom smart previews from catalog back up missing on desktop

  • February 16, 2022
  • 1 reply
  • 230 views

Why, when I quit LR and backup to external hard drive the smart previews file is included in the ZIP file but when I do exactly the same step (i.e. re-open LR from external hard drive back up just saved) and save the back up to the desktop, the ZIP file does not contain the smart preview file?? The smart previews were definitely present at back up. I can drag and drop the ZIP file from the external hard drive to the desktop and the smart previews are there when I open the file from the desktop but once the external hard drive is disconnected and I do edits on the smart previews, the new LR backup will not save those smart previews to the desktop. Help!!

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    1 reply

    Rob_Cullen
    Community Expert
    Rob_CullenCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 16, 2022

    First confirm which version, and number, of "Lightroom" that you are using.

    The Lightroom-Classic Backup 'ZIP' that occurs when you 'exit' the app will only contain two files-

    1) The Catalog:    Your Catalog.LRCAT

    2) The Masking Edits:   Your Catalog.LRCAT-DATA

    It does NOT include any Previews. (Standard, 1:1, Smart.)

    And I am having difficulty understanding what you are trying to achieve. Please explain.

    ZIP backups of the Catalog are only designed for recovering your Catalog after a total system failure or Hard-drive failure/corruption.

     

     

    Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.3, Photoshop 27.5, ACR 18.3, Lightroom 9.3, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.3 .
      sarahm5770272
      sarahm5770272Author
      Participating Frequently
      February 16, 2022

      Lightroom Classic

      V11.2

       

      Ultimately, I want to edit the smart previews on a laptop without having to attach hard drives. Then when reconnecting hard drives, sync the updated smart previews with catalog on hard drive. The catalog with smart previews won't save to a desktop for some reason so that means I then can't sync my edits to the hard drive later. The screen shot shows the smart previews file in the ZIP folder on hard drive. I can drag and drop this to my desktop and access it without connecting hard drive but can't then save it directly back to the desktop after I've done edits. The backup ZIP then only contains 2 files as you mention even when I ask LR to save smart previews.

      sarahm5770272
      sarahm5770272Author
      Participating Frequently
      February 17, 2022

      I'm starting to think maybe the only way to edit smart previews without hard drive is to export the catalog (rather than doing a back up), import catalog, do edits, export the catalog again and re-import it with hard drives attached and it should sync?

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