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vwinklaar
Inspiring
October 12, 2023
Answered

Cannot import metadata and settings when importing from another catalog

  • October 12, 2023
  • 4 replies
  • 1955 views

Hello everyone,

 

I have encountered a problem when trying to import from another catalog.

My workflow is like this. I work on my copy of lightroom cc, and my friend works on his own. 

I save a shoot on my computer and catalog and then I give my friend the sd card to copy the shoot on his own computer and catalog. He edits the shoot and then exports the shoot to a catalog with non of the options selected. ( I am only interested in the metadata and the develop settings since I already have the images in my own catalog).

This used to work fine but now everything is greyed out.

I recently updated my version of lightroom cc but hew still is working on an older version since his macbook is old and will not allow him to upgrade his lightroom.

Could this be the cause ? eventhough lightroom tells me it will upgrade the older catalog? I used to have this before to and I upgraded the calaog and it worked fine but now it doesnt.

 

Thank you for the help or any advice

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer vwinklaar

    Thank you for your possible solution. I will try it.

     

    I find it strange thou, because my version sees his catalog as an older version and converts his cagtalgo version to my version. Will also try and import a catalog from a newer version of lightroom to see if that is the problem.

     

    I appreciate your and everyones help with this problem.

     

    THANK YOU!


    This is what I am seeing now:

     

    What I did is ask my friend to include the negative files in the export.

    I imported the new catalog into my catalog. So now I have 2 folders (different names) but with the same images in them.

    I deleted the edited images from my folder and moved those same images from the other folder into my folder.

    I deleted the remaining images from the 2 folder and removed the 2 folder from the catalog.

    I am left with my original folder with the edited images and the rest of the original non edited images.

     

    If I go now and tyr to import the original catalog of my friend, now the system show me New Photos (458 photos) and change existing photos (34 photos), so it still doesnt see the original photos in my catalog, but recognizes the 34 edited photos that I moved  earlier.

    4 replies

    V
    vwinklaarAuthor
    Inspiring
    October 13, 2023

    Hi Sorry for the confusion.

    We both work in Lightroom Classic. I work in V13, he is working on a much older version.

     

    I am including a screenshot.

    Rob_Cullen
    Rob_Cullen
    Community Expert
    October 13, 2023

    Whose [Import from a Catalog] dialog is shown in your screen-clip?

    "-v13-2" suggests it is your catalog, and the second time (-2) you have upgraded a previous version catalog (which could be a mistake!).

    Your friend will not be able to open a v13 catalog in their "much older version."

    You both need to be on a par with Version Numbers to share a Catalog by the Catalog Export/Import method.

     

    Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.0, Photoshop 27.0, ACR 18.0, Lightroom 9.0, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0 .
    JohanElzenga
    JohanElzenga
    Community Expert
    October 13, 2023

    @JohanElzenga , I did try and import, I do not get any of the edits that my friend did, I get a "problem importing from Catalog".

     

    I only want to get the edits that my friend has done to the images, not the files ( I already have the files in my catalog). Because of this when he is going to export, he unticks all the options. Are we doing something wrong here?

     


    Your screenshot shows that the images are imported as new images and that Lightroom should copy them to a certain location. It means that Lightroom does not recognise them as the same images that are already in your catalog. This could be related to the fact that your friend used a lower version of Lightroom, I just don't know. Copying them will obviously not work, because they aren't with the exported catalog, so Lightroom can't copy them. That is what the error shows.

     

    It should be possible to solve this in the following way:

    1: You must remove the images that you already had in your catalog from the catalog (but not from disk!). Next time do not import them at all, but wait until you received the catalog from your friend. 

    2: The imported images from your friends catalog should be in your catalog, but shown as 'missing'.

    3: Reconnect these imported missing images to the images on your disk. You can probably use the 'missing folder' method: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/lightroom-photos-missing-fix/

     

    -- Johan W. Elzenga
    Rob_Cullen
    Rob_Cullen
    Community Expert
    October 12, 2023

    And Lightroom-classic catalogs are not 'backwards' compatible.

    A v13 catalog does not work in v12.

    A v12 catalog does ot work in v11,  etc.

     

    Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.0, Photoshop 27.0, ACR 18.0, Lightroom 9.0, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0 .
    DdeGannes
    DdeGannes
    Community Expert
    October 12, 2023

    @vwinklaar , you stated "I work on my copy of lightroom cc, and my friend works on his own. ".

    If you are referring to Lightroom Classic please say so or use LrC to indicate. There is no Application known as Lightroom cc.

    Regards, Denis: iMac 27” mid-2015, macOS 11.7.10 Big Sur; 2TB SSD, 24 GB Ram, GPU 2 GB; LrC 12.5,; Lr 6.5, PS 24.7,; ACR 15.5,; (also Laptop Win 11, ver 24H2, LrC 15.0.1, PS 27.0; ) Camera Oly OM-D E-M1.
    JohanElzenga
    JohanElzenga
    Community Expert
    October 12, 2023

    What do you mean with "everything is greyed out"? Can you post a screenshot of how the catalog import window looks?

     

    -- Johan W. Elzenga
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