14 Lightroom Classic Issues That Make My Daily Workflow Harder
I have been working in Lightroom for about 8 years, and for the past 2 years as a professional photographer. I’m a supporter of minimalism and customizing everything to fit my own workflow – without limitations.
Many things in Lightroom are possible, but many are simply cumbersome. I finally decided to write this post because I’m seriously considering whether to look for an alternative.
If you agree or disagree with me, please leave a comment or advice on how I can deal with these issues.
Here’s a list of problems that annoy me or I don’t know how to solve:
Table of Contents
Editing photo order – random lock-ups
Export via CPU – file order chaos
Performance – no real improvement in years
Label colors – 6 is not enough
Interface – wasted workspace
Star ratings – unclear and poorly placed
Zooming photos – too many clicks
Sliders – narrow, inconvenient, redundant titles
Settings synchronization – only in Develop
AI Denoise and cropping sync – bugs
No smooth scrolling
Previews – not rendering properly
No “opacity” slider for sections
Unnecessary UI elements – no hide option
1. Editing photo order – random lock-ups
When arranging a custom photo order in a folder (usually in Grid view), Lightroom will sometimes randomly block any further changes. A message appears saying that a custom order cannot be set. The only fix is to restart the program.
With large projects, for example 200 photos, I sometimes have to restart Lightroom 2–3 times. You can bypass this by entering (N) mode, but then:
There’s a limit on how many photos can be shown at once.
It’s an extra, unnecessary step.
2. Export via CPU – file order chaos
When exporting via CPU, Lightroom renders several photos at once, but doesn’t finish them in the same order it started. Example: I export files 1, 2, 3, 4, and the third one finishes before the first.
Result? In Google Photos (which sorts by creation date) I get a complete mess – 3, 2, 1, 4 instead of the correct sequence. Even exporting by filename doesn’t help, because the CPU works in a random order.
GPU export is much slower for me, but it renders one photo at a time, so the order is preserved.
3. Performance – no real improvement in years
After buying new hardware, I expected a big performance jump. Unfortunately, the program works almost the same as when I had an RX 560. I still have to use “tricks” – for example, switching between Library and Develop to change photos 2–3 seconds faster than just doing it in Develop.
Performance is random, and VRAM can fill up in a second (at 8 GB). I know that’s not much today, so I plan to move to 16 GB, but still – it’s excessive.
4. Label colors – 6 is not enough
Lightroom only gives you 6 label colors. For larger projects, that’s far too few. Why can’t I set 10 or more, or create my own? Capture One can do this – Lightroom can’t.
5. Interface – wasted workspace
The top bar in Lightroom is overloaded: catalog name, File/Edit menu, empty bar, Adobe account panel, filter… and that’s just the top of the screen, not counting the rest.
I understand the design, but workflow ergonomics and performance should matter more than “window-style” separators. Full-screen mode (Ctrl+Shift+F) is nice, but it’s another unnecessary step and still doesn’t remove all the redundant elements.
6. Star ratings – unclear and poorly placed
Star ratings are always in the bottom-left corner of the thumbnail and are so small that it’s hard to see them clearly, especially when you quickly review many photos.
On top of that, there are extra dots showing “how many stars you can still add” – which makes no sense visually. It would be much better to make the stars larger and place them in a consistent position, regardless of image crop.
7. Zooming photos – too many clicks
Switching between zoom levels (e.g., 50% and 100%) requires clicking on tiny arrows in the Navigator panel. This slows down reviewing and selection.
There should be a faster, more intuitive way to switch zoom levels without precise mouse targeting.
8. Sliders – narrow, inconvenient, redundant titles
After the first few uses, I already know which slider controls which function – I don’t need to see the titles all the time. These titles take up space that could make the sliders longer or give more workspace.
The sliders are also very narrow. Yes, you can resize the side panels, but that’s not the same. It would be better if they could be made wider for more precise control.
Also, the “fine adjustment” mode should work when dragging anywhere on the slider, not just by clicking on the small numeric value to the right. Sometimes clicking there triggers text edit mode instead, which is frustrating.
9. Settings synchronization – only in Develop
Why can’t I synchronize settings in the Library module? I have to go into Develop, which often takes extra time and causes lag. Synchronization is part of daily work for most photographers – it should be available everywhere.
10. AI Denoise and cropping sync – bugs
AI Denoise often doesn’t synchronize correctly to other photos. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, and occasionally it turns itself off. In some cases, Lightroom shows it as enabled, but the noise is still there.
Cropping with “Auto Align” has the same issue – it syncs based on the first photo instead of individually for each one. This forces me to go through each image manually, which is time-consuming.
11. No smooth scrolling
Scrolling through photos in Lightroom is unpleasant – there’s no smooth scrolling, everything jumps in steps. Even non-technical people have noticed it. Other programs have had this for years – why can’t Lightroom?
12. Previews – not rendering properly
After applying a preset to a large number of photos, previews (1:1, smart, standard) don’t actually update until I open each photo in Develop or force it onto the main screen.
This defeats the purpose of building previews for faster selection. Even when I rebuild previews after applying a preset, nothing changes – only the images currently visible on screen are rendered properly.
In my 8 years of use, I’ve never noticed a real difference between minimal, standard, 1:1, or smart previews
13. No “opacity” slider for sections
It would be very useful to have an “opacity” slider for each adjustment section, similar to Photoshop layers.
For example, if I like my tone curve but it’s a bit too strong, I currently have to adjust each point manually instead of reducing the overall effect with one control.
14. Unnecessary UI elements – no option to hide them
Examples:
Adobe Profiles (in Develop: Standard, Color, etc.) – in 8 years, I’ve never met anyone who changes these regularly. Why not allow hiding them?
Cloud sync icon – I’ve never used it; it just takes up space.
Face detection – works poorly and clutters the UI.
Red-eye removal – obsolete; I’ve never needed it.
Most of these elements have never been useful to me or any photographers I know. The option to disable, hide, or remove them would be a huge improvement.
Conclusion
I use Lightroom professionally every day on a powerful machine with a legal subscription, and while it’s a capable tool, many aspects of it feel outdated, inconsistent, or unnecessarily cumbersome.
Some of these issues have existed for years without improvement, and they slow down real-world workflows for photographers who work with hundreds or thousands of images at a time.
If you’ve experienced similar problems, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
If you have workarounds, plug-ins, or tricks to make these tasks faster and smoother, please share them.
And if anyone from Adobe is reading this — please take this feedback seriously. Many of us want to keep using Lightroom, but it needs real improvements to match the way photographers work today.
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