Develop Preset Panel not reflecting updated presets

Report · Sep 30, 2023

Running Lightroom Classic 12.5 release on Mac Monterey AND Ventura. I have updated the names of several user presets to better organize them in the Develop Module Preset Panel. I deleted the old presets. I rebooted. Then I copied/pasted the updated presets into the Settings folder that the catalog draws from and rebooted. However, when I relaunch the catalog, it shows the old preset names. VERY FRUSTRATING. Does anyone know why/how to get the panel to reflect the names of the .xmp files? I hate the way Adobe hides and makes presets so impossible to manage (including an inability to nest within subfolders). I have tried this on both my iMac and on my M2 air. I ran the Fix Presets plug-in. That didn't resolve.

I even created a new catalog and imported the new presets. They didn't show up after reboot.

Why is this so unnecessarily difficult?

Report · Sep 30, 2023

The names of presets, like the groups containing them, are stored in the presets' .xmp files. To rename a preset outside of LR, exit LR and edit the .xmp file. Change this field:

   <crs:Name>
    <rdf:Alt>
     <rdf:li xml:lang="x-default">Test Preset</rdf:li>
    </rdf:Alt>
   </crs:Name>

Restart LR.

As you discovered, Fix Presets doesn't handle the case of making presets' internal names match their file names -- it only helps you change the folder and group structure.

Report · Oct 01, 2023

Thank you, John. I couldn't figure out how to edit the xmp metadata -- I see that this can be done in Bridge, apparently, but how wasn't clear to me -- so just renamed all within the LR panel.

Any ideas as to why when I imported presets to a new test catalog, they wouldn't display in the panel even after restart?
Appreciate you weighing in with your knowledge here.

Report · Oct 01, 2023

"I couldn't figure out how to edit the xmp metadata"

Sorry, I meant to say edit the .xmp in any text editor, e.g. Mac Textedit or Windows Notepad.

Report · Oct 01, 2023

"Any ideas as to why when I imported presets to a new test catalog, they wouldn't display in the panel even after restart?"

The detailed design of LR's preset UI has many rough edges that Adobe has never bothered to smooth down. First things to check:

1. The Presets panel will be empty until the catalog has at least one photo.

2. In the original catalog, do the presets appear in the group User Presets or some other group? If the latter, you'll need to click the + button in the upper-right of the Presets panel and click Manage Presets.

Report · Oct 01, 2023

1. The Presets panel will be empty until the catalog has at least one photo.

That was it! Thank you!

I still have some presets that I deleted from all locations showing up in the preset panel, with limited right-click pull-down options. Showing up in new catalog, as well. Can't figure out how to 86 these, since celete isn't an option and they have been found/trashed from the Develop Presets folders.

Report · Oct 01, 2023

Those undeletable presets are probably stored in a system location. Years ago, users were advised to manually install presets, and some of that advice was wrong, and sometimes users made mistakes. See here for how to find them and delete them with Finder:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/undeletable-old-user-presets/m-p/138346...