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Can you delete the .lrcat file outside of light room. For example use Finder to delete the file
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Sure you can, why would you do that it would completely discard all the work you have made using the application.
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The .lrcat file is the catalog file where Lightroom stores everything it does, including all the image edits. If you delete the current catalog file, then the next time you start Lightroom it will show zero images and will have lost all the edits. Do not delete this file unless you know for certain that it's an old copy or a redundant backup copy! In that case you can delete it like any other file.
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Agreeing with the others, usually deleting the catalog is an extremely destructive thing to do, and not recommended.
Deleting backups are fine if they are old and you have more recent backups. Backups, of course, have a different file name than the working catalog (filetype is .zip).
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the catalogs wsere either old or duplicate catalogs. to completely delete libraey what files do i delete
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If the catalog name is my_catalog.LRCAT, then you delete this file, and also any subfolder or file in that folder which has a name beginning with my_catalog
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Perhaps John has multiple backups or copies or older versions of this document?
As others have stated, of course you can, but you don't want to unless you know exactly what you're doing and why.