Skip to main content
Mike Guilbault
Mike Guilbault
Participating Frequently
March 31, 2011
Answered

Should Lightroom import settings from disk or overwrite disk settings from the catalog

  • March 31, 2011
  • 3 replies
  • 40168 views

When the 'up' arrow appears in a thumbnail and comes up with the message:

The metadata for one or more of these photos has been changed by another application. Should Lightroom import settings from disk or overwrite disk settings with those from the catalog?

What exactly does that mean?  This seems to happen every time I export an image to PS (CS5) and return to LR.  What exactly has changed?  What settings are being imported if I choose 'import settings from disk'.

    Correct answer web-weaver

    Hmmm.. Ok, so the file that LR creates upon export doesn't have the PS edits applied, yet.  After I'm done editing in PS and save the file, the image appears in LR, I guess kinda 'over-top' with the PS edits applied, but it really hasn't applied them?  Is that it?  If so, then you would really want to import the settings from disk so that the file will take on the PS edits, right? 


    I think it would be better not to think in terms of that LR "applies" edits. Since LR stores changes in the catalog, the changes are "applied" to the image only on Export. I think it wouldbe better to use the term "display" instead of "apply".

    So then: When from LR you open a RAW image in PS the LR-edits done up to then are displayed in PS and then "applied" when you save from PS (remember PS CS5 opens the RAW image).

    If you do more edits in PS and save these, LR will display these edits - you will notice then on return from PS, LR will re-load the image. On "Save" PS applies (and here the word "apply" is correct) the edits by writing them into the image file. LR reads the saved file and displays it with the PS-edits.

    But the LR catalog settings are still in the state of the point in time before you opened the image in PS. This is so because PS writes the edits into the image file and not into the LR catalog. So now you have one set of edits in the LR Catalog and another set of edits in the image file.

    To describe this as "kinda 'over-top' with the PS edits applied, but it really hasn't applied them" doesn't fit the bill because LR "applies" only on Export. What LR does at this point is reading the image file with the PS-edits and displaying the image accordingly.

    But LR "senses" that what is displayed is not in line of what's in the catalog.

    This is the conflict that Lr wants to resolve by popping the message.

    You say " If so, then you would really want to import the settings from disk so that the file will take on the PS edits, right?  "

    Yes, if you want your PS-edits to override your previous LR-edits.

    I have now come to a workflow where I do not make edits in PS that I can do in LR - and I do not do edits in LR that PS is better at.

    Practically speaking: In PS I do cloning and also noise reduction when the LR-NR is not enough (for instance in noisy scans).

    I don't do any tonal or color adjustments in PS because it's easier in Lr and gives me better results.

    When the message in question appears, I select "Overwrite disk settings" - this preserves any Lr edits and does not overwrite the cloning.

    WW

    3 replies

    T
    thewags7
    Participant
    April 6, 2023

    I always use import settings from disk.  What I'd like to know is, is there any way to simply default to that answer without constantly waiting for LR to ask me? Sometimes it's quick, but often I wait 15 seconds for the question to show up, maybe more.  Very irritating when the answer is always the same in my workflow.

    Ian Lyons
    Community Expert
    Ian LyonsCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 6, 2023

    The answer to your specific question is no.

     

     

     

    BTW, You have added a question to an unrelated thread from 2011.

    areohbee
    areohbee
    Legend
    September 14, 2012

    I use the comparison feature of ChangeManager: 'Compare Catalog to Disk'  to get a complete list of all develop setting and/or metadata differences between xmp on disk and equivalent in Lr catalog, whenever there is a discrepancy that I don't understand / expect. Warning: Mac users will have to jump through a few hoops to get to the coveted list, but Windows users: not so much.

    [Link removed by moderator]

    Todd Shaner
    Todd Shaner
    Legend
    September 14, 2012

    Thank you, I agree with all of your responses and I rarely use ACR. The primary reason you would need to select 'Overwrite settings' when you get a metadata changed warning in LR is if you did use both ACR AND LR on a TIF file. I'm not suggesting that as a workflow method. You also might want to 'Overwrite settings' if you've changed the file's metadata and/or keywords externally using Adobe Bridge or another metadata editor.

    When working with Adobe Creative Suite in a graphic arts or publishing environment Bridge is a much better tool for keeping track of all your material, including camera images, scan images, Illustrator, InDesign, PDF, and many other file types that LR can’t import. So that is part of the dilemma in trying to use both LR and PS or LR and Bridge. That's where Rob Cole's ChangeManager would be helpful and the very point I was trying to convey.

    I’d rather work a little smarter and prevent the need upfront. What I am doing now is to do all non-destructive editing in LR (not ACR), including keyword and metadata changes. File types that LR can’t import are all edited externally, including metadata. So I have to use both Bridge and LR when searching for project collateral materials.

    This is where it gets confusing. I can sync TIF and JPEG metadata changes made in Bridge inside LR using 'Overwrite settings.  Is there a way to have LR write metadata (not develop settings) to both exported and imported TIF and JPEG files, so that the metadata will also appear in Adobe Bridge?

    web-weaver
    web-weaver
    Inspiring
    September 14, 2012

    trshaner,

    You write: " Is there a way to have LR write metadata (not develop settings) to both exported and imported TIF and JPEG files, so that the metadata will also appear in Adobe Bridge?"

    Yes, there is. You have to <Save metadata to file>, either automatically in >Catalog Settings >Metadata tab or by >Metadata >Save metadata to file (in the Library Module) or by >Photo >Save metadata to file (in the Develop Module).

    In case of a JPG this will write the metadata into the header of the file (but not into the image pixels!) and in case of a TIFF it will create (or write into an already existing) XMP-file.

    In both cases, Bridge will be able to read and display all the edits done in Lr, not only dvelop edits but all library metadata (keywords, stars, captions, titles, and color lables). For color labels to work, the description of the color labels has to be identical in Bridge and in Lr, down to upper / lowercase, hyphens, commas, etc.

    There are a few things that Bridge will not be able to display: Collections, stacking, virtual copies.

    In case you meant: Can Lr write only non-develop metadata to file? No, when you do <Save metadata to file> this includes all data for the selected picture(s), develop data and library data.

    web-weaver
    web-weaver
    Inspiring
    March 31, 2011

    When you "import settings from disk" then the edits that you did in PS will be imported into LR and previous edits that you did in Lr will be overwritten.

    When you "overwrite disk settings" then the LR edits take precedence over edits in PS.

    But this is only the principle. And this principle holds when you edit the same setting (for instance exposure or brightness) differently in PS than what you did before in LR . So for instance if you'd increase exposure in LR and the decrease it in PS then only one of the two can prevail - that's logical.

    But usually we don't do the same edits in Lr and in PS differently - that would make no sense.

    I regularly use PS if I have to make extensive use of the clone tool (and the patch tool) since the clone tool in Lr is OK for a few "splotches" but not for hundreds. After saving the clone tool edits in PS and returning to LR I receiove the message you are talking about. I always chose "overwrite disk setings". This has the follwing effect: Previous LR edits (for instance develop presets on import) will be retained but the clone tool edits done in PS will alo be retained (not overwritten , not un-done!). LR-overwrites do not change the pixel-based clone-edits of PS.

    So basically, as long as you don't edit the same "issue" differently in PS than what you did in LR select "overwrite settings" and you'll "have the best of both worlds".

    WW

      Mike Guilbault
      Mike GuilbaultAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      March 31, 2011

      But... if we export the image (typically a RAW file) from LR to PS, aren't the LR adjustments applied before it goes into PS?  And when we save it back (into LR) shouldn't those edits be still there along with the PS edits?

      I should maybe specify that I usually export a RAW file rather than "Edit In", however, if you use Edit In and 'apply LR adjustments', then the same should hold true, shouldn't it?

      So if I adjust, lets say, brightness on an image in LR - export it to PS for further editing (clone/heal/retouch) and then maybe tweek the brightness a little with a curves adjustment - and save it - shouldn't that whole workflow from LR to PS back to LR be preserved in that newly saved file?

      I can understand if you use Edit In with a tif or jpg file, you have to specify if you want to apply the LR adjustments or open the original, then the warning should appear.  But if you're starting with a RAW and ending up with a tif, for example, I would assume all the adjustments should follow the file.

      Or am I way off base?

      web-weaver
      web-weaver
      Inspiring
      March 31, 2011

      You wrote

      So if I adjust, lets say, brightness on an image in LR - export it to PS for further editing (clone/heal/retouch) and then maybe tweek the brightness a little with a curves adjustment - and save it - shouldn't that whole workflow from LR to PS back to LR be preserved in that newly saved file?

      No, LR saves all edits in the Catalog (and ONLY in the Catalog) whereas PS saves the edits in the image-file (in the pixels itself when you don't preserve the adjustment layers).

      LR now "perceives" that there are edits in its catalog and there are edits in the image file. I don't know if LR actually compares those two sets of edits (I think not) but it wants to make sure that there is no conflict and sends you the message in question.

      WW

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