Lightroom Classic saved identity plate location?

[marklSanDiego]

I have a series of saved identity plates in a LC library:

1.  Where are these saved? Can I edit them outside of Lightroom (it would be easier to work with them).

2.  I exported the library to move it to a different disk and the saved identity plates seem not to have been included

How do I transfer them?

Thanks

[richardplondon]

Identity plates are effectively the same as Watermarks, and like so much else in LrC are defined in text files - listing a series of parameters and providing a value for each one. Because this is user configurable they are kept by default in the user files area for your computer login. Details differ on MacOS and Windows but in both cases you can access this location from LrC Preferences, Presets tab, click "Other presets" button. This takes you to a user storage folder called 'Lightroom' and inside that is, among other good stuff (it is worth having backup of this), a subfolder called 'Watermarks'. 

The ".lrtemplate" files do fully describe any text based watermark (assuming the font file referred to is present) but only link to the location of any graphics being used for image based watermarks. Those graphics - such as a PNG file - continue to be looked for wherever they were initially when that watermark was first set up. 

Incidentally the other button in this same Presets tab can take you to the user CameraRaw folder where Develop presets, camera defaults, etc live - which are also worth having a backup of. 

There is an option in LrC Settings, presets tab to "store presets with this Catalog" in which case various aspects are no longer looked for in the central shared location, but rather in a 'Lightroom Settings' subfolder next to (just) this particular catalog - after restarting LrC. Such a catalog then keeps its own list, discrete from whatever's available to other catalogs. 

Shared location serves any and all catalogs NOT set to "store presets with this Catalog", for a given user of the computer. However a different computer user login would employ a different shared location, and must configure everything afresh - or take a copy of the needed files. Similarly if deciding to "store with this Catalog" you could seed the needed folder with copies of the desired files.

However my advice would be not to maintain multiple Catalogs unless strictly necessary; to employ the central presets location so not storing with Catalog; to employ a central known location for all watermark graphic images; and to back all that up as well as the Catalog and the imported image files of course.

Incidentally, can you clarify what steps you carried out to "export" your Catalog? It should be fine to just copy or move the entire thing including subfolders onto a different drive volume, and then to Open that catalog in its new location when re-starting LrC. This is all completely independent of where the image files are held - that is a quite separate matter and if that changes, this needs different technique to address regardless of where the Catalog might itself move or stay.

[marklSanDiego]

Thanks for your help.

I do use a single catalog, but I am changing computers and wanted to have
the catalog on an external SSD.


Mark D. Leibowitz, Ph.D.
<personal information removed for privacy>

[Jim Wilde · Accepted solution]

I have a series of saved identity plates in a LC library:

1.  Where are these saved? Can I edit them outside of Lightroom (it would be easier to work with them).

2.  I exported the library to move it to a different disk and the saved identity plates seem not to have been included

1. AFAIK, Identity Plate templates are only stored within the catalog itself, and are therefore not accessible for editing outside LrC.

2. From a quick test, the "Export as Catalog" function does NOT export any saved ID Plate templates. If you need to move a catalog to a different drive, it would be far simpler to copy the catalog folder to the new drive and open it from there. That should retain all the saved ID Plate templates. See this blog post: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-move-lightroom-to-new-computer/

[marklSanDiego]

Thanks.

Mark D. Leibowitz, Ph.D.
<personal information removed for privacy>