Newer catalogs don't work in older LR versions?

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So apparently a catalog that has been upgraded to LR Classic CC will not work in any older version of LR.

Therefore sharing catalogs from here on out that I've edited for others will no longer work if they haven't upgraded yet?
If that's true, that's a disappointment. If there is a way for a newer catalog to be compatible in an older LR, please let me know how to make it work.

Thank you.

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alice_0322

Participant

I'm encountering a similar issue. I use Lightroom Classic through a work account but our company is running Windows 10 so I can't upgrade from Lightroom 12 to Lightroom 13 and I need to work with a bunch of photos that were keyworded and edited through Lightroom 13: I was really hoping there was some way to open the Lightroom 13 catalog on my personal PC and re-export it in someway that would be backwards compatible. A company wide Windows upgrade is not in the cards 😞

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dj_paige

Legend

As stated in this thread above, a catalog created in newer version of LrC cannot be opened in older versions of LrC.

You can have LrC 13 write the keywords and edits to .xmp and then those should be readable by LrC 12 (provided that the LrC 13 edits did not use features that are not present in LrC 12).

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atbattson1

Known Participant

At work I have Lightroom CC Classic but at home I cannot afford the update (relentlessly paying $10 a month till the end of my life) for myself so I am still on Lightroom 6. I have found that in CC one can create the XMP sidecar files. Then copy and share those. Then in Lightroom 6 as long as I have the negatives/RAW files I can throw the XMP files in the same folder and have lightroom Sync the folder again. Then the XMP info is applied to the RAW file in Lightroom. Thank god. Although I imagine after reading this Adobe will make an upgrade to change some small part of the XMP file and make this work around impossible too. Hell bent on month payments me thinks.

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ManiacJoe

Inspiring

Older software always has problems with newer file formats.

The newer versions of LR always migrate the old format databases to the new format database. (4 to 5, 5 to 6, 6 to 7)

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JP Hess

Inspiring

The short answer to that question is that there is no way.

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K

ktankphotoAuthor

Participating Frequently

I was afraid of that. I can't imagine why that would be smart. Newer files in a variety of programs are compatible with older versions (within reason). This is another misstep for Adobe on this Lightroom upgrade in my opinion.

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JP Hess

Inspiring

This is not something unique to this upgrade. The catalog is a database. The engine that drives the database is updated whenever Lightroom is upgraded, and every new upgrade has required an upgrade of the catalog. It's unfortunate that you were unaware of this.

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