Dragging photos from Lightroom into InDesign using Publish Services

Report · Mar 03, 2018

In Lightroom 5 (Mac) you can drag a photo from the Grid view in LR directly into InDesign for making a photobook. This action appears in InDesign as a loaded Place arrow, which I can deposit anywhere I want. This is handy because I can select from my extensive catalog of photos arranged in collections.

Of course, since LR is non-destructive, the image that is deposited in InDesign will NOT have any edits, crops, or color corrections. The usual fix around that problem is to Export the image out of LR into a folder, and then drag final images from that folder into InDesign. Now it will have the edits. But sadly that's a lot of extra clicks, and it makes updating images a chore since you need to reexport, etc. A workaround for this that does work is to first export the image back into Lightroom' catalog. So in the Export specification box, where you set the destination of the export, there's a small box to check below the destination "Put in Subfolder" a choice that says "Add to This Catalog." If you check this, your edited photo will be put back into Lightroom's catalog, so that you can see it in the Grid view. From there you can drag the photo into InDesign and it will retain all your changes. This makes it possible to drag photos from Lightroom grid view into InDesign and have it save your edits! (But this does add a genuine duplicate (not just a virtual copy) into your catalog.)

The only downside to this method is that I have 8,000 images I need to move into InDesign, all sorted into 3 or 4 levels of folders in Collections, in a structure I want to retain. This would be an ideal job for the Publish Services function. I made a Publish service under the Hard Disk option that sends (basically exports) photos in their final form (TIFFs) with all the edits to the designated folder, all visible in LR. When the images are dragged into the service panel, and then I hit the 'Publish" button they are rendered and moved to the Publish window. I can then drag the photos into InDesign..... But!

However -- and this is my question at long last! -- the image deposited this way does NOT retain the LR edits. It's weird because the actual files on the hard disk are indeed correctly exported changed files (that rendering works), and the images in LR in the Publish Service windows are indeed edited just as they look, but the image that is deposited into InDesign is not. The drag function is somehow grabbing the original file.

If anyone has a suggestion about a way around this, or whether this is a local bug, I'd appreciate it. Second choice is to use the Export->Catalog fix.

Report · Mar 03, 2018

Kevin22Kelly wrote
The only downside to this method is that I have 8,000 images I need to move into InDesign, all sorted into 3 or 4 levels of folders in Collections, in a structure I want to retain. This would be an ideal job for the Publish Services function. I made a Publish service under the Hard Disk option that sends (basically exports) photos in their final form (TIFFs) with all the edits to the designated folder, all visible in LR. When the images are dragged into the service panel, and then I hit the 'Publish" button they are rendered and moved to the Publish window. I can then drag the photos into InDesign..... But!
However -- and this is my question at long last! -- the image deposited this way does NOT retain the LR edits. It's weird because the actual files on the hard disk are indeed correctly exported changed files (that rendering works), and the images in LR in the Publish Service windows are indeed edited just as they look, but the image that is deposited into InDesign is not. The drag function is somehow grabbing the original file.
If anyone has a suggestion about a way around this, or whether this is a local bug, I'd appreciate it. Second choice is to use the Export->Catalog fix.

The Publish HD route is the one I have followed. Your problem seems to be that you are still dragging the originals. The originals, not the published TIF versions, are what the Published Photos section shows. It sounds like that is your mistake.

If you want to drag and drop files from LR, you will need to import the TIFs into the catalogue. The Publish HD can send the files to a folder called something like "For ID" with subfolders for chapters/sections - this makes it easy to move the folder without breaking the links in ID. When you drag and drop those files into ID, you would be selecting the TIFs from a folder in Folders panel or from a collection.

Report · Mar 03, 2018

If you want to drag and drop files from LR, you will need to import the TIFs into the catalogue.

As I mention in my query above I see how to put exported files back into the LR catalog using the Export function. But I don't see that option in the Publish Service mode. How do you put folders that you export via Publish into the catalog automatically?

Report · Mar 03, 2018

When you set up the published service, you have to point it to a folder. This becomes the parent folder for the TIFs, and the published collections will correspond to subfolders of that folder.

So publish some TIFs, then import them using the Add option. Assuming they were in a publish collection, you now see their subfolder. You may use the context menu Show Parent Folder to show the parent, and in subsequent publishing you would simply synchronize that parent/ folder.

Report · Mar 03, 2018

When you set up the published service, you have to point it to a folder. This becomes the parent folder for the TIFs, and the published collections will correspond to subfolders of that folder.

OK, I can do that.

So publish some TIFs, then import them using the Add option. Assuming they were in a publish collection, you now see their subfolder.

I don't see the Add option. Add what? Where? I don't see a way to import into the catalog from the Publish Service area.

Report · Mar 04, 2018

I did say "import" but appreciate that one would expect the Publish Service settings dialog to have Add to Catalog. It doesn't, so you need to import the TIFs. After you have imported the first time, the parent folder is then in the catalogue and you can then use Folder > Synchronize to bring in further batches of published TIFs.

Report · Mar 03, 2018

The originals, not the published TIF versions, are what the Published Photos section shows.

This is not exactly clear. What shows -- that is what is displayed -- in the Published Photos section of Publish are the edited versions. However what is behind the edited version when you drag them is like what is behind the edited versions when you drag an image in the regular Grid view: the original file.

Report · Mar 03, 2018

Put it this way, the Published Photos section shows the originals but with their edited appearance.

Report · Mar 03, 2018

Check the settings of the publishing service. You have to export as tiff (not as original, even though that happens to be a tiff as well), so a new tiff is produced with all the edits.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

Report · Mar 03, 2018

Yes, I have it so that it is correctly exporting in TIFF. The problem is that when I drag the image in Grid from the Publish Service panel, it moves the original version.

Report · Mar 03, 2018

Kevin22Kelly wrote
Yes, I have it so that it is correctly exporting in TIFF. The problem is that when I drag the image in Grid from the Publish Service panel, it moves the original version.

You shouldn't drag the images from the publishing service panel. That doesn't make any sense (why create a publishing service at all, if you don't use what's published?). The publishing service saves edited tiffs on your hard disk somewhere. It's those tiffs that you need to use In InDesign.

-- Johan W. Elzenga