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Soozee74
Participant
July 21, 2018
Answered

How to sync Lightroom Classic on Desktop & Laptop?

  • July 21, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 4424 views

Hi! I've was mostly using my Apple laptop the past 2 months. I am now back to using my desktop (apple), too. 

My desktop is using "Lightroom Catalog-3.lrcat", but my laptop is using just "Lightroom Catalog.lrcat".
So I have different catalogs open on each, and they won't sync because of that.


How do I fix this?

And am I right that Lightroom Classic can sync from my laptop to desktop? Or can Lightroom CC only do that?

Thank you!

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer dj_paige

    Soozee74  wrote

    Thank you dj_paige!

    If I do the second option (merge laptop results into the desktop catalog)...can I make changes on one device and then see the changes on the other device, just by syncing in the Creative Cloud?

    No. There is no such syncing of catalogs from one computer to another with Lightroom Classic CC.

    Or is an external HD necessary for Lightroom Classic, between devices?

    As stated you can store the combined catalog on an external HD and then move the external HD back and forth between computers. This allows both computers to always know the changes made to the catalog, regardless of what computer made the changes.

    Or is that type of “syncing” only available in Lightroom CC?

    Lightroom CC allows both computers to see the same changes, in close to real time (depends on your internet speed).

    1 reply

    dj_paige
    dj_paige
    Legend
    July 21, 2018

    I don't know if "sync" is the right word, it implies you want the catalogs to be identical in their entirety on both computers. If that's what you want, then you would need to merge the catalogs, and then keep the new merged catalog on an external HD and move this external HD back and forth between computers.

    However, if you want the laptop results to be merged into the desktop catalog, that's easy. On the laptop, open Lightroom, select all photos (or just the desired photos) and then use File->Export as Catalog (and check "Export Negative Files") give a file name, click OK, and let it work. Then copy everything to the desktop, and in Lightroom on the desktop use File->Import from Another Catalog and select the catalog file transferred from the laptop.

    S
    Soozee74Author
    Participant
    July 21, 2018

    Thank you dj_paige!

    If I do the second option (merge laptop results into the desktop catalog)...can I make changes on one device and then see the changes on the other device, just by syncing in the Creative Cloud?

    Or is an external HD necessary for Lightroom Classic, between devices? (I have 1TB of Cloud Space, which is plenty).

    Or is that type of “syncing” only available in Lightroom CC?

    Thank you.

    dj_paige
    dj_paigeCorrect answer
    Legend
    July 21, 2018

    Soozee74  wrote

    Thank you dj_paige!

    If I do the second option (merge laptop results into the desktop catalog)...can I make changes on one device and then see the changes on the other device, just by syncing in the Creative Cloud?

    No. There is no such syncing of catalogs from one computer to another with Lightroom Classic CC.

    Or is an external HD necessary for Lightroom Classic, between devices?

    As stated you can store the combined catalog on an external HD and then move the external HD back and forth between computers. This allows both computers to always know the changes made to the catalog, regardless of what computer made the changes.

    Or is that type of “syncing” only available in Lightroom CC?

    Lightroom CC allows both computers to see the same changes, in close to real time (depends on your internet speed).

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