Skip to main content
U
ulrikteisner
Participant
March 14, 2017
Question

many catalogs same pictures. can I delete all but one?

  • March 14, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 515 views

I went through my catalogs and realised I had several catalogs from the last few year with the same pictures . I guess it happened after joining creative cloud.

My question is: can I safely delete the older catalogs with belonging preview data and just keep my newest catalog and its preview data without loosing informations from editing. Asked in an other way does all file editing done in earlier catalogs follow the new catalog as long as the picture file is in the newest catalog?

I want to make space on the hard drive. Each catalog is around 1 gb

Thanks ulrik

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

ManiacJoe
ManiacJoe
Inspiring
March 14, 2017

Much of this will depend on how and why the "newer" catalogs were created.

When you upgrade between major versions, say LR 5 to LR6, your old LR5 catalog gets migrated to a new LR6 catalog. Assuming you never use LR5 again, you can easily delete the old LR5 catalog and its preview folders.

If you are manually creating new catalogs on your own, then you do need to figure out what is where and if merging the catalogs is what you need to do.

    U
    ulrikteisnerAuthor
    Participant
    March 15, 2017

    Hi Maniac Thanks this make sense and a lot easier for me to know which one to delete without loosing edits

    john beardsworth
    Community Expert
    john beardsworthCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 14, 2017

    You can do so. But take care, and back everything up first, just in case.

    Editing done in a catalogue stays in that catalogue - though there are ways to move edits from one to another.

    U
    ulrikteisnerAuthor
    Participant
    March 14, 2017

    Thanks a lot. This means I should not delete old catalogs. Have you got links to who I can let the latest catalog inherit edits from the older ones?

    Thanks Ulriik

    JP Hess
    JP Hess
    Inspiring
    March 14, 2017

    One way is to choose the option to import from another catalog. The instructions on how to do this are in the Lightroom help file. Here is a link to the appropriate section:

    How to import photos from Photoshop Elements, other Lightroom catalogs, or apps such as iPhoto in Lightroom

    Importing from another Lightroom catalog is explained in the second section, so you will have to scroll down a ways to find that section.

    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices