LrC using existing XMP file when Importing

In the folders panel, select the folder they are in, right click, and select sync folder

I have photos which were previously edited by LrC 14.0.1 but are not in the current catalog.  I want to Import these photos into LrC and have LrC recognize that XMP files for these photos already exist.  How do get LrC to use the existing XRC files for edits?

By @SoCal Diver

There are two methods.

If you only have the images and XMP files, then import them into whatever catalog you are currently using. I think if Lightroom Classic finds XMP files on import they might be applied automatically, but if they aren’t, simply select the images in the Library panel after importing and choose Metadata > Read Metadata from Files. That will make Lightroom Classic look for external metadata for the selected images, and pull that metadata into the open catalog’s database, applying it to the selected files.

If you still have the catalog that was used to edit them to export those XMP files, you could simply import them from that catalog. Open the current catalog, then choose File > Import from Another Catalog, select the catalog containing the edits you like, and import the images with their edits this way. The difference is that not only will the images come in with their image-specific edits from that catalog, but their catalog-level attributes will also come over, such as their virtual copies, membership in collections, slide shows, print jobs, etc. XMP files don’t store those.

Assuming "existing XRC files" refers to XMP files; as written previously by LrC; still in the same folder as their respective image file; the image file is proprietary camera Raw not JPG or DNG; the base filename - everything but the file-type extension - of the XMP and the Raw files continues to match up - LrC will be looking out for any such XMP files and you don't need to do anything to have them automatically used at import.

So the edits and metadata found within that XMP file will set what is initially seen for that photo, once imported - and not the current processing defaults. This will include what Processing Version the image is to use, and what calibration Profile it is to employ, and so on - matters which may need some further attention after import.

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