Moving to a New Mac...

[David_Illig]

...is not as easy as pie as all the instructions say. I want to move from a 27" iMac to a 16" MBP M1 Max ru. All OS's and Adobe apps are latest versions.

My photos are on an external SSD (+ three backups). I had thought it was as easy as moving the Adobe files (.lrcat and others) from the iMac (Pictures/Lightroom) to the MBP and plugging in the SSD that contains the photos. No deal. When I open Lr on the MBP it shows the previews from the old Lr Classic library (under a separate Adobe license). Yes, I logged out of the old account and into the new. I tell it to open the new .lrcat and also set that as the default catalog. Still no deal; I'm seeing the old previews. Can someone please tell me what I am doing wrong or point me to the real instructions for performing what should be an easy task?

[TheDigitalDog]

Start here, come back if it doesn't work or isn't clear:

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-move-lightroom-to-new-computer/

[David_Illig]

I'm a member of that site, so that's where I started. Didn't work. Some of the info is obsolete, as well.

[TheDigitalDog]

Specifically what didn't work?

The licensing?

[John Waller]

Some of the info is obsolete, as well.

Which info specifically so we can let @Victoria Bampton LR Queen know?

[Victoria Bampton LR Queen]

Thanks John.

Yeah, if you find something out of date, of course I'll update accordingly. We review about once a year generally. 

I don't know when you mean by "I'm still seeing the old previews". The most frequent place people go wrong though, it's by copying the wrong catalog and then importing their unedited photos. 

[GoldingD]

When I open Lr on the MBP it shows the previews from the old Lr Classic library (under a separate Adobe license). Yes, I logged out of the old account and into the new.

Why a separate Adobe license, account. You do not need a separate account to work on a separate computer. Please expand on that, it makes no sense, clearly missing something.

Was this perhaps a subscription at work or school, owned by work or school, and now you need your own personal subscription?

[David_Illig]

You're missing that I need two licenses to run some apps on two Macs simultaneously. I have a full Creative Cloud Plan for two 27" iMacs and a Photography Plan for two MacBook Pros. I'm swapping one of the MBP's for one of the iMacs, and thus need to swap libraries, as well. I'm not counting the second Photography Plan that I pay for for my nephew.

[TheDigitalDog]

You're missing that I need two licenses to run some apps on two Macs simultaneously. 

By @David_Illig

We missed it where (other than this last post)? 

[Victoria Bampton LR Queen]

You don't need two different licenses (or two different accounts). Apps can be activated on two machines at a time, so you can disable it either on the old MBP or temporarily disable it on the iMac while you're working on the move, if you still want to be able to open LR on the old MBP.

[GoldingD]

You're missing that I need two licenses to run some apps on two Macs simultaneously. I have a full Creative Cloud Plan for two 27" iMacs and a Photography Plan for two MacBook Pros. I'm swapping one of the MBP's for one of the iMacs, and thus need to swap libraries, as well. I'm not counting the second Photography Plan that I pay for for my nephew.

By @David_Illig

As clear as Mississippi mud. Anyhow..

Why simultaneously?

[Victoria Bampton LR Queen]

When I open Lr on the MBP it shows the previews from the old Lr Classic library (under a separate Adobe license). Yes, I logged out of the old account and into the new. I tell it to open the new .lrcat and also set that as the default catalog.

That means you either moved the wrong catalog, or you haven't opened the catalog you moved. 

The catalog and previews are local - e.g. not related to a specific Adobe account. The only exception is photos stored in the cloud, perhaps from mobile, which may sync down from the cloud if it asked you to change to syncing this catalog.

[JohanElzenga]

I think you misunderstand how catalogs and licenses work in Lightroom Classic. You think the catalog and your license are connected, so if you change license you'll change catalogs. That is not the case however. Your license has nothing to do with the catalog. If you open an 'old' catalog, then you will see the 'old' previews, regardless of which AdobeID you used to log into your Adobe account. That means you can keep using your old catalog if you change to a different account, or you can create a new catalog and start from scratch again. That's completely up to you.

[David_Illig]

Thanks for taking time to reply. I don't think that a misunderstanding of catalogs or licenses is the issue. I want everyone to understand that I have two licenses because I sometimes need to run Lr Classic and/or Photoshop on two machines simultaneously, which the license does not permit (despite the trend toward more liberal licensing among other software vendors; q.v. Microsoft 365, Topaz, Software Bisque, and many others). Specifically, my wife and I often need to run the software simultaneously. That may be no clearer than Mississippi mud, but it's as clear as my aged brain can make it.

[TheDigitalDog]

The catalogs are utterly activation/license agnostic. You could send me a catalog, and I could open and view it with my license (activation). Doesn't matter if you run one, two, or a dozen copies with differing activations (licenses). 

You and your wife running two versions of the same time/simultaneously, with the same catalog? BAD idea! 

So again, it's still unclear (to me, seems others) what your problem with the product is. 

[David_Illig]

Thank you. I understand that a catalog is not tied to a particular account. My wife and I are not sharing the same catalog, even though our different catalogs each contain photos from the other catalog that have been copied in the Finder and imported into Lr in the normal fashion. No problem with that. My suspicion is that some files were corrupted in the copy process. I used my wireless network. I haven't had time to work on the matter today, but I have copied the catalog from the iMac to an SSD and I will copy it to the MB Pro in that manner.

[JohanElzenga]

If you know that there is no link between licenses and catalogs, then why did you write this: "When I open Lr on the MBP it shows the previews from the old Lr Classic library (under a separate Adobe license). Yes, I logged out of the old account and into the new."? Maybe you should explain your problem once again, and this time without referring to (irrelevant) licenses.