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maury71
Known Participant
August 11, 2020
Answered

Catalog on LR... find?

  • August 11, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 766 views

Hi!

I have made some mistakes at first creating catalogs incorrectly.

I would like to know if there is the possibility to find all the catalogs scattered on the PC and delete them in order to create new catalogs positioned in a single position and better structured.

If it is possible, how to delete catalogs?

 

Thanks!

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer dj_paige

If you are a beginner to Lightroom Classic — use one catalog. This makes everything so much simpler — and even if you are not a beginner, there really are very very few reasons to have multiple catalogs anyway. Do as suggested by WobertC and merge your catalogs into one.

2 replies

D
dj_paigeCorrect answer
Brainiac
August 11, 2020

If you are a beginner to Lightroom Classic — use one catalog. This makes everything so much simpler — and even if you are not a beginner, there really are very very few reasons to have multiple catalogs anyway. Do as suggested by WobertC and merge your catalogs into one.

M
maury71Author
Known Participant
August 12, 2020

Thanks! 

I read that creating a single catalog would lead to having LRC slowed down in the presence of many photos.

So I wanted to make a "2020" catalog where to insert sub-catalogs by topic (eg Macro, Landscape, Fauna .... etc ...) to keep LRC fast.
You tell me that instead it is better to make a single generic catalog and then create collections by topic (eg Macro, Landscape, Fauna .... etc ...)? 
Thanks so much!

Rob_Cullen
Rob_Cullen
Community Expert
August 12, 2020

Here is something else to read-

"You can put an insane amount of images in your catalog. In fact, Adobe knows of users that have single Lightroom catalogs with literally millions of images, including one that has over six million images and it still runs like a champ, so I guess at this point nobody knows exactly what the limit is (or if there even is one), but we know this — the roof isn’t six million."  CATALOG LIMITS (S Kelby)

And from a Lightroom Guru-  CATALOG LIMITS (J Beardy) 

A 'large' catalog may slow down LrC when opening and Backing up, but its more likely the computer system, esp the hard-drive & ram, that can have an effect on speed of developing.

This link is a couple of years 'old' but still relevant today- Lightroom Performance -Optimizing Speed 

 

 

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 .
    Rob_Cullen
    Rob_Cullen
    Community Expert
    August 11, 2020

    Do not create 'new' Catalogs! Read on ***-

     

    Catalogs are database files with the file-type suffix of  {.LRCAT}

    Use a file browser to search all drives for {?.LRCAT} files.

     

    If you hold down the [Ctrl] key before, and all the time that LrC is starting up, it will start with a screen that shows all the catalogs that LrC knows about.

     

    Or- If you have one catalog open and working- the MENU: File > Open Recent,  will also give you a list of Catalogs available.

     

    ***If you do have several Catalogs- you would do better to 'Merge' them into one catalog with all photos referenced by this one 'master' catalog. 'Merging' is done by a process called "Import from another Catalog"  See- Merging Catalogs - The Overview | The Lightroom Queen 

    By merging Catalogs you will not lose any of your work ever done- All Editing, Keywords, Collections, Print Templates, Slideshows, Books, etc, etc. AND, importantly- your restructuring will be done in the ONE master catalog.

     

     

    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 .
    M
    maury71Author
    Known Participant
    August 14, 2020

    Thanks a lot!

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