How do I safely merge several LR catalogues into one.

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
October 23, 2024
2 replies
8509 views

I have been using LR Classic since version 1, but have not studied the nature of LR catalogues until now.
As new versions of LR Classic appeared, new catalogues have been created automatically, and, sadly, I have been ignorant of this. I now want to merge them all into one catalogue, as per the recommendation in your help text.
Presently, LR Classic catalogues and data files are located as seen in the attached document "LR-Classic_Catalogues and Data Locations.pdf".

I will prefer to have the resulting single catalogue and related data located on the external harddisk, with the original picture files. This is to save space on my laptop's harddisk.

I will be very happy to receive advice on how to go about this in a safe way.

LR-Classic_Catalogues_and_Data_Locations.pdf

Windows

This topic has been closed for replies.

JohanElzenga

Community Expert

There is nothing to merge. These 'automatically appearing' catalogs are not really new (different) catalogs, they are upgraded catalogs. That means they are newer versions of the same catalog. Obviously the older versions won't contain your latest images or latest edits, but your current catalog will contain everything.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

Jonas LundeAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thank you for the reply. I am, however confused by the fact that, looking at the file sizes of the catalogues, the latest, current catalogue (Lightroom Catalog-v13-3-2.lrcat) does not seem to contain all the older ones - ref. the attachment to my original post. I am nervous that I may have muddled up something in some of my earlier "manoeuvers". Or, is this not a case of simple arithmetic?

D

drtonyb

Legend

@Jonas Lunde

This is what I would do:

Create a new, empty catalog with a meaning full name, like "Lightroom Catalog Master", in the location you want it to be.

Use File > Import from Another Catalog to import your catalogs, one by one. If you are asked to upgrade, then choose the first Upgrade option (Discard Upgraded Catalog After Import) - you won't loose the catalog that you are importing, it just won't keep an upgaded copy.

Start with "Lightroom Catalog-v13-2.lrcat". When that is done, then import "Lightroom Catalog-v13-3.lrcat". If there are photos already in your new catalog (duplicates), they won't be imported.

Repeat with "Lightroom Catalog-v13-3-2.lrcat", then "Lightroom Catalog-v13-4.lrcat".

Continue with earlier catalogs, "Lightroom Catalog-v13.lrcat", "Lightroom Catalog-2-v13.lrcat", etc. until they are all done.

When finished, you still have all your current catalogs as they were. You might find that you have deleted or moved images over the years; locate these in your new catalog in the Library using Library > Find Missing Photos and do what ever is necessary.

It could be a big job, so good luck.

dj_paige

Legend

All you have to do is open one catalog, then File->Import From Another Catalog, and select the second catalog. Repeat until all catalogs have been imported into one.

There are some options when you do this, you can read about them here (scroll down to "Import photos from a different Lightroom Classic catalog")

Best to save space is to Import your Photos to the external HD straight out of the camera — don't put photos on the internal disk. You might also want to move the photos to the external drive (instructions)

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