Resetting preferences doesn't reset raw defaults

[johnrellis]

Resetting LR's preferences, either by holding down Shift + Alt/Opt while starting LR or by holding down Alt/Opt in Preferences > General and clicking Reset All Preferences And Launch, doesn't reset Preferences > Presets > Raw Defaults. 

To reproduce:

1. In Preferences > Presets > Raw Defaults, set Global to be Camera Settings and check Override Global Setting For Specific Cameras.

2. Exit LR, hold down Shift Alt/Opt, and restart LR.

3. Observe that in Preferences > Presets > Raw Defaults, Global is still Camera Settings and Override Global Setting For Specific Cameras is still checked.

Tested on LR 11.3.1 / Mac OS 12.4.  

[TheDigitalDog]

This preference is shared with Camera Raw I believe. That may be the reason.

[Ian Lyons]

True, but resetting the Camera Raw preferences does reset the raw defaults.

[TheDigitalDog]

So that's a problem. They should behave the same. Since they are linked, I would suggest a reset not alter this setting. Or users need to be first warned that both products are affected. Having the current different behavior is the worst of all options.

[johnrellis]

At a minimum, users need to be aware that "reset preferences" doesn't really reset all preferences used by LR.  A lot of times in helping others, "reset preferences" is useful not because the preferences file has been corrupted but because the user is confused and tried lots of things that don't get disclosed in the forum discussion; resetting preferences gets back to the known default state (except for raw defaults).  

[Ian Lyons]

@johnrellis I don't disagree with your comments re user confusion, etc. However, I think the issue is much more complex and far reaching than fixing the odd setting that behaves inconsistently with what we expect. By way of some examples: 

• Resetting LrC preferences has no affect on the Camera Raw Cache or its location either. So, leaving the 'raw defaults' untouched is not as inconsistent as it might first appear.
• Resetting LrC preferences wipes out everything a user may have changed in Library > View Options, which is probably more irritating/inconvenient to users than most any other setting that may have changed as a result of the reset.
• The built-in plug-ins are all renabled, and third party plug-ins are often uninstalled.
• The preference for storing presets with a catalog is set to the default 'Off' setting, which has huge consequences for users who depend on the mobility of their catalog/images, etc.

Again, above are just some examples of how resetting LrC preferences can affect other seemingly unrelated areas/components of the application. LrC preferences is and has always been a mess resulting in near chaos everythime reset is used.

BTW, I voted for your 'feature request'.

[TheDigitalDog]

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@johnrellis wrote:

At a minimum, users need to be aware that "reset preferences" doesn't really reset all preferences used by LR.  A lot of times in helping others, "reset preferences" is useful not because the preferences file has been corrupted but because the user is confused and tried lots of things that don't get disclosed in the forum discussion; resetting preferences gets back to the known default state (except for raw defaults).  

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At this point, at a minimum, I'd expect and hope ACR and Lightroom Classic would behave the same and as Ian indicated, they don't. Rikk has spoken to both teams, and we're told this is by design but apparently the two teams can't come to an agreement about how this should work. That's a problem IMHO. The two products should behave the same. 

I'll refrain from asking why we have to so often advise users to reset preferences, for Photoshop, ACR, Lightroom Classic, etc to fix issues and why it often does work, and why prior to this happening, there's no backup somewhere. 

[johnrellis]

The message that appears when you restart with Shift + Alt/Opt says, "All preferences in Lightroom Classic's Preferences will be reset to their defaults:

The button that appears in Preferences > General when you hold Alt/Opt says, "Reset all preferences and relaunch":

So if this behavior is "as-designed", that means a product manager explicitly looked at the current behavior, looked at the current wording, and consciously decided it was an appropriate design.  Filing a feature request to change the wording isn't going to change that thinking.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

John, 

I've spoken with our QE for ACR/Lr and this is as-designed. I've moved this back to discussions.  If you want to request a warning be added or that the reset behavior be changed, we can convert this to a feature request or you can make a new request.