converting to new lightroom from lightroom 6

Question

I'm pretty much a beginner and have no real idea of where to go with this. I tried Adobe's chat line but I could phrase my questions in a way they could understand. Can someone out there clear up a few questions for me.

A few years back I moved all my pictures from Apple Aperture (which they abandoned) to Lightroom 6. I’m now trying to move from Lightroom 6 to one of Adobe’s newer plans and I’m very confused.

Some background. When I moved from Aperture to LR6 it was a major job, I put all my existing 16,000 pictures into a new folder in my iMac Pictures folder. I called that file ‘Lightroom Catalog and Folders’ and in it I have 70 plus subfolders based on all the projects folders I had in Aperture, so I now have my Lightroom 6 organized by Year - Event like, 1975 - Wedding, 1984 - Trip to Canada, 1984 - Trip to Paris, 2010 – Sugarland.Each time I take a new set of pictures I create a new folder in my Lightroom Catalog and Folder file with a date and event name.All my pictures are sorted like this and I do not want to lose this basic structure when I move. This might not have been the best way; it was just a way I understood when I made the move from Aperture.In addition, in Lightroom 6 I have also created some Collections like Best Grandkid Pictures, Best Pet Pictures, Best Roadside Signs, but by no means do I have every picture in a Collection.

Now some questions.

I downloaded from Adobe a plan called Photography Plan (20GB). It includes a number of programs that I may never use but It contains two that confuse me. On the plan site it calls one ‘Adobe Photoshop Lightroom’ and one ‘Lightroom Classic’. When I get to the download page under desktop apps there are two Lightroom Apps, one called Lightroom, the cloud-based photo service and one called Lightroom Classic, the desktop focused photo editing app. I’m assuming that the cloud based Lightroom is the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom although there is also a separate Photoshop download. At this time, and maybe never will I use Photoshop so that is probably immaterial to me. So, first question is Lightroom Classic the same as the Lightroom 6 that I have on my computer now?

2. If it is the same, I probably don’t need to download the Classic, but if it is different will downloading the Classic overwrite my existing Lightroom 6?

3. If it overwrites my Lightroom 6 will it keep my existing file structure? And if it doesn’t overwrite and installs a separate Lightroom Classic program is there an easy way to move my existing photos with their file structure in tact to the new program? I read on the web, which was an older article, that moving to Adobe’s newer Lightroom programs would not keep my file structure and that I should convert all my subfiles to Collections before doing anything. Anyone have thoughts on this?

4. I eventually want to get ALL my photos stored in one place ON my desktop computer with the ability to add more photos in a similar structure and the ability to edit them. I would then like to take a small subset of all these photos, maybe 1500, and place them somewhere that I could view them on my iPhone, my wife’s iPad and another iMac I have at a different location. I assume that requires the other program just called Lightroom, the cloud-based photo service, or does this cloud-based system do everything I just described wanting to do the Classic and I only need to download just this program?

dj_paige · Accepted Answer

You want to use Lightroom Classic, and not what is today named Lightroom. The program Lightroom Classic is the direct successor to your Lightroom 6, and although Lightroom Classic has new features, there is no difference in the user interface compared to Lightroom 6, you should be able to use 99% of the features in Lightroom Classic the same as you used them in Lightroom 6.

2. If it is the same, I probably don’t need to download the Classic, but if it is different will downloading the Classic overwrite my existing Lightroom 6?

As explained above, you want Lightroom Classic and NOT the new Lightroom.

3. If it overwrites my Lightroom 6 will it keep my existing file structure? And if it doesn’t overwrite and installs a separate Lightroom Classic program is there an easy way to move my existing photos with their file structure in tact to the new program? I read on the web, which was an older article, that moving to Adobe’s newer Lightroom programs would not keep my file structure and that I should convert all my subfiles to Collections before doing anything. Anyone have thoughts on this?

Your Lightroom 6 catalog (and of course the photos) will not be overwritten. They still exist on your computer, exactly where you left them, and unchanged. The first time you launch Lightroom Classic, it should ask you if you want to upgrade your Lightroom 6 catalog, and you should answer yes or whatever the affirmative is. There are no other steps to get your photos into Lightroom Classic. Within a few minutes, after the upgrade completes, all of your photos will appear, and they will be in the exact same folder as they were in Lightroom 6. So whatever you read is completely and utterly and 100% wrong.

Convert subfiles to collections? That's a meaningless statement. Whatever it means, don't do it. Whatever you were reading was written by a lunatic.

Look, some people think Adobe programmers are diabolically evil and they want to make tasks like upgrading as difficult and confusing and time consuming as posible. Why would anyone believe this? This of course, is not reality; the Adobe programmers have done very smart things to help the user, and upgrading to a new version is unbelievably simple and effortless.

And just to be sure, DO NOT IMPORT PHOTOS. This is so important, I am going to say it 12 more times.

DO NOT IMPORT PHOTOS. DO NOT IMPORT PHOTOS. DO NOT IMPORT PHOTOS. DO NOT IMPORT PHOTOS.

If this isn't clear, please ask more questions before you import photos (which you shouldn't be doing). Did I mention that you should not import photos?

4. I eventually want to get ALL my photos stored in one place ON my desktop computer with the ability to add more photos in a similar structure and the ability to edit them. I would then like to take a small subset of all these photos, maybe 1500, and place them somewhere that I could view them on my iPhone, my wife’s iPad and another iMac I have at a different location. I assume that requires the other program just called Lightroom, the cloud-based photo service, or does this cloud-based system do everything I just described wanting to do the Classic and I only need to download just this program?

The new program named Lightroom will allow most of this, but as far as I know, you can't limit the photos used by the new Lightroom program to just 1500, it will want to upload all of your photos to the cloud. Anyway, within Lightroom Classic, you can share specific collections to the cloud, and allow people on other platforms to view these images, and you yourself can edit the images on your iPad or iPhone or other mobile device.

mumme44 · Answer

Sir......I committed the awful sin:  I "imported photos!"  Now what?  I'm hopeful I'm not the only dummy that has done this and there is a solution...........I did not see your post before I installed Lightroom Classic.  I couldn't find my catalog, but I did find the "import button."  YIKES!  I hope you'll be as patient with me as the above participant.......

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