Is there any way to copy/duplicate a photo? NOT a virtual copy.

[displaced7]

Is there any way to copy/duplicate a photo? NOT a virtual copy.

I have a new folder which I am adding photographs from years of shoots (on multiple drives) and I want copies of the photos there (not virtual copies).  I need to be able to access that folder in InDesign, Illustrator, etc., and want a single place that has this group of photos.

Is there any way to do this?  You'd think it would be super simple, but I can't find this anywhere.

[dj_paige]

There is no COPY in Lightroom Classic, other than virtual copies.

You could export the photo to the folder you desire.

[Bill Sprague]

Hoping to add to dj_paige's post, is that the Export routine has an "Image Format" choice of "Original".    Along with controls for folder choice, renaming and batch processing it should make what you want to do very easy.  

[dj_paige]

It isn't clear to me if @displaced7 wants to export a JPG with whatever edits he has made, or if the desire is to have the unedited photos in which case Image Format should be set to Original.

[displaced7]

My bad, looking at 'Original' now.  Maybe that's what I needed.  Ideally, there would be an easy way (drag and drop, right click and copy, etc., but this might work if cumbersome).

Thanks

[Bill Sprague]

My bad, looking at 'Original' now.  Maybe that's what I needed.  Ideally, there would be an easy way (drag and drop, right click and copy, etc., but this might work if cumbersome).

Thanks

By @displaced7

It is that easy!  Do one image and that sets up the Export dialog.  LrC remembers the set up.  Then select as many more images as you want, right click, hover your mouse over Export and the pick "Export with Previous".  That's three simple mouse clicks.  Or, you can elect to Export with Previous with a Ctrl+E shortcut.

[displaced7]

Not as easy as holding ctrl and dragging and dropping 😉  .  I did make a present, but it still has to 'export' the file, which takes time, at least compared to other apps.

Not a big deal, but cumbersome nonetheless.

[displaced7]

Yeah, I just don't want to re-export jpegs.  While the possibility of quality degradation is small, it's there (and unnecessary considering I just want to make an exact copy, not another export).  

Looks like Windows Explorer is the only way, unfortunately, but that's what I was assuming would be the case.  Hopefully Adobe addresses this at some point.

[Bob Somrak]

Export Original does not rerender the JPG.  It just copies it and adds the data to the header that would be in the XMP file for a RAW.  

I doubt this will ever be included as an operation in LrC.  Besides that, it is so easy to use an Export Preset for exporting as original.

[displaced7]

Just slower.  Not a big deal.  I was hoping there was a faster way.

[Bob Somrak]

Have you tried it?  If you are not reimporting into LrC it is close to as fast as OS copy.  A built in function that would add to the catalog would probably be slow too.

[displaced7]

Yes, I have.  It's not horribly slow, but it does take several seconds.  I am adding it to the library, so maybe that's why it's taking longer.

[D Fosse]

You can make a copy of the raw file - or any other format - in the operating system. Just copy/paste in the folder.

But no such function in LrC.

[JohanElzenga]

Is there any way to copy/duplicate a photo? NOT a virtual copy.

I have a new folder which I am adding photographs from years of shoots (on multiple drives) and I want copies of the photos there (not virtual copies).  I need to be able to access that folder in InDesign, Illustrator, etc., and want a single place that has this group of photos.

By @displaced7

If you want to use photos in InDesign, then I assume that you will want to use edited photos, not unedited originals. Because Lightroom Classic is a non-destructive editor, copies of your originals will be unedited. The best way to do this is to create a publishing service to your hard disk, because then Lightroom Classic can keep the exported photos in sync with any new edits. https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/help/export-hard-drive-using-publish.html

[displaced7]

I want to copy edited images to another drive and folder.  I don't want to be linking across drives (it'll just be a headache in a year when the links break).

I was just hoping there was a simple way, like Windows Explorer, that I was missing.  Doesn't seem to be, but not a big deal.

[JohanElzenga]

I want to copy edited images to another drive and folder.  I don't want to be linking across drives (it'll just be a headache in a year when the links break).

By @displaced7

'Edited images' do not exist in Lightroom. There are only original, unedited images, and their edits are stored in the catalog. So you will have to export (or publish, which is also exporting) the image in order to get a copy with edits applied to it, no matter where you want to store that copy.

[displaced7]

I don't think you are following me.  I simply wanted to make a copy - of any photography.

Apparently, Lr doesn't offer that functionality.  I'll work around it with the exporting.

[JohanElzenga]

I am following you and I do understand what you ask and why you asked it. I just tried to explain that if you could make a copy of the image, you would get an unedited copy because of how Lightroom operates. You must make that copy by exporting in order to get what you want. Exporting is not a 'workaround' because Lightroom lacks the functionality to copy images, it is because copying images would be useless because they would be unedited copies.

[displaced7]

My process:  Edit image, bring into Ps if necessary (and sync with Lr), export final edit to a separate folder.  It's that final, exported JPG that I want to copy.  There aren't any Lr edits attached to it.

Yeah, that seems to be the only option.   Thanks.

[JohanElzenga]

My process:  Edit image, bring into Ps if necessary (and sync with Lr), export final edit to a separate folder.  It's that final, exported JPG that I want to copy.  There aren't any Lr edits attached to it.

By @displaced7

There two ways to achieve that:

1: Export it twice. The first time to that separate folder, the second time to the folder where you would want to copy the exported image to. If you always use the same destination folders, then you can even do this in one action. Create two identical export presets, that only differ in their destination folder. Then use batch export and select both presets.

2: Simply copy the image using Windows Explorer.