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skilled_impression4105
Participant
Jul 15, 2026 5:21 PM UTC
Question

There is no left side menu in Lightroom anymore.

I seem to have two versions of Lightroom on my desktop. One doesn’t have the left side menus from which I could export or Edit in Topaz, etc. It’s the one that I open from my programs menu on my Windows computer. The other, opened from the Creative Cloud, has the menus. They BOTH say Lightroom, but no distinction between web based, desktop or mobile. Neither one is nested within a browser window, as I would expect a web based program to be. So how can I always get the version with the menus on the left?

    8 replies

    Claire H.
    Community Manager
    Claire H.Community Manager
    Community Manager
    Aug 20, 2026 3:05 PM UTC

    Hi ​@skilled_impression4105, I'm just checking in to see if any of the suggestions helped or if you are still running into this issue? Let us know how things are going. Happy to keep troubleshooting with you if needed. Thanks! ^CH

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    Rob_Cullen
    Community Expert
    Rob_CullenCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    Jul 20, 2026 5:25 AM UTC

    It is weird that you cannot solve the differences in UI.

    My next suggestion is to create a new ‘Shortcut’ for the .exe program file that you should find in-

    "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Lightroom CC\Lightroom.exe”

    Delete the current icon for Lr from the Windows start menu and replace it with the new Shortcut.

    Other than that I don’t have any other suggestions.

    If you copy and post the system info from the Lightroom Menu > Help > System Info…  then there might be others with suggestions.

     

     

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    Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.6, Photoshop 27.8, ACR 18.7, Lightroom 9.4, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.3 .
    Rob_Cullen
    Community Expert
    Rob_CullenCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    Jul 17, 2026 9:40 PM UTC

    You can Hide/Unhide the side panels by pressing the [Tab] key.

    However there are options in Preferences that will change the actions of the [Tab] key-  Have these two ‘Accessibility’ options turned ‘off’:

    Also Function key 11  [F11]  will also hide the side panels.

    Keyboard [F] will give an entirely full-screen view of a selected photo.

     

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    Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.6, Photoshop 27.8, ACR 18.7, Lightroom 9.4, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.3 .
    skilled_impression4105Author
    Participant
    Jul 20, 2026 12:59 AM UTC

    None of those ideas worked. I’ve tried them before, having gone to extreme lengths with AI answers and suggestions from elsewhere. Why the hell does Adobe have to make things so complicated?

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    skilled_impression4105Author
    Participant
    Jul 17, 2026 12:00 PM UTC

    I opened the program from the same location as I always have, but now it doesn’t have that left side menu as it does when I click the IDENTICAL ICON from the program menu. Why is there no distinction between these two very different versions of Lightroom? And I’m not talking about Lightroom Classic, but the cloud based Lightroom, which I use in the field. You can see the differences in the screenshots I’ve attached. 

    I have no extra time to edit my photos these days, but when I do, I have to update my drivers on Nvidia, Lightroom, Photoshop, Topaz-- everything associated. All I do it update. I have a very fast internet connection, but it still takes a long time. I have to walk away to prevent myself from interrupting. But the programs interrupt my work all the time, crashing, etc. I have what should be plenty of RAM, processor and GPU should be good enough, but man, these programs are hard to deal with with all the maintenance they require. I added a screen shot of my system information. 

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    skilled_impression4105Author
    Participant
    Jul 15, 2026 9:56 PM UTC

    No, I’ve been using Lightroom, not Lightroom Classic, for quite a while. I also have Lightroom Classic, but I learned how to work with Lightroom, so just prefer it because I don’t know what I don’t know. But all of a sudden, Lightroom doesn’t have the menus on the left on the program as opened in Creative Cloud, but it does when I select it from my program list in the Windows Programs. It’s the damndest thing. . . 

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    Claire H.
    Community Manager
    Claire H.Community Manager
    Community Manager
    Jul 16, 2026 3:50 AM UTC

    Hi ​@skilled_impression4105, That is peculiar 🤔 Would you mind sending screenshots of what you’re seeing? That would be very helpful! ^CH

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    Anshul_Saini
    Community Manager
    Anshul_SainiCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    Jul 15, 2026 8:10 PM UTC

    Hi @skilled_impression4105,

    Thank you for writing in. This is a really common source of confusion, and I'm happy to clear it up. From your description, it sounds like you may have both Lightroom (the cloud-based app) and Lightroom Classic installed.
     

    The cloud-based Lightroom has a different interface and does not include the left-side panels or features such as Edit In for third-party editors like Topaz.
     

    Open the Creative Cloud desktop app > Find Lightroom Classic (it will say "Classic" explicitly) > click Open

    Once it's running, right-click its icon in the Windows taskbar > select "Pin to taskbar"

    From now on, always launch from that pinned icon.
     

    Also, the app's icon will say LrC instead of Lr (which is Cloud-based). This is the one you need to select and pin to the taskbar or as a desktop shortcut.

    I hope this helps.
     

    Best,

    Anshul Saini

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