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davidm29681672
Participant
April 16, 2022
Question

Moving Lightroom from old computer to new one

  • April 16, 2022
  • 3 replies
  • 457 views

Recently bought a new iMac(24-inch, M1, 2021) and i want to move my Lightroom library from my old iMac ( 21 inch 2015) . I have all my media on a portable hard drive. I beleive the library is in my pictures folder on my original older iMac.  ( see photo) 

Is the process as simple as copying the libaray over to to new computer or are there other steps involved

Thanks Dave Mackie  

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3 replies

Theresa J
Community Expert
Theresa JCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 16, 2022

If you are using Lightroom, not Lightroom Classic, you don't need to move the Library. It will rebuild itself on the new computer. You just need instal the Creative Cloud desktop app on the new computer and sign into your account.

If you are using Lightroom Classic you need to find the folder that contains the Classic catalog. Copy the entire folder, not the Library file.

R
Ralf F
Inspiring
April 16, 2022

Hi Dave,

could you please clarify one thing for us.

Are you using the latest version of Lightroom (Lr) or Lightroom Classic (LrC) on your computer?

Based on your picture I would say it is Lightroom (Lr), cloud based version.

 

If it is Lightroom (Lr) you should better post your question in this community, this will avoid any confusion. 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-ecosystem-cloud-based/ct-p/ct-lightroom?page=1&sort=latest_replies&filter=all&lang=all&tabid=discussions

 

As far as I know it should work if you just copy the original / existing library in the pictures folder of your new computer.

Then you should check all settings in the new library. Lightroom (Lr) has not too many of them 🙂

 

Ralf

 

D
davidm29681672Author
Participant
April 16, 2022

Lightroom Classic 11.2 

John Waller
Community Expert
John WallerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 16, 2022

Seems like you have both Lightroom Classic and Lightroom (Cloud) installed.

 

In Adobe terminology, Catalog (.lrcat) refers to Lightroom Classic, Library (.lrlibrary) refers to Lightroom (Cloud).

 

The Lightroom Library.lrlibrary folder in your Pictures folder (shown in the screenshot in your original post) is the cache for Lightroom Cloud, not your Lightroom Classic catalog. Hence, the question from @Ralf F 

See: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/community/threads/whats-this-lightroom-library-lrlibrary-folder.41146/

 

The default location of your Lightroom Classic catalog (.lrcat file extension) is:

Mac—Macintosh HD / Users / [your username] / Pictures / Lightroom / Lightroom Catalog.lrcat

 

You can check the name and location of your catalog by going to Lightroom Classic menu > Catalog Settings (Mac), General tab.

 

The Classic (LrC Cat) catalog icon is shown below, in contrast to your screenshot which shows "Lr Lib" Lightroom (Cloud).

 

    AxelMatt
    Community Expert
    AxelMattCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 16, 2022

    Here you'll find all informations that you need:

    How do I move Lightroom to a new computer? | The Lightroom Queen

     

    My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 25H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 8 - PureRAW 5 - Topaz Photo
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