Stopping Lightroom Classic from auto-importing PSDs, TIFFS or JPEGs after editing in Photoshop?

[Daniel Cilia]

I would like to stop Lightroom Classic (12.4 Release Camera Raw 15.4) from importing into its catalogue all the photographs I send from it to Photoshop for editing. Once I save (have tried Save, Save As – Export is not an option since I cannot export to PSD format) the file is saved in the folder of my choice yet it automatically links to the LC catalogue. I would like my LC catalogues to have only the DNG files in them.

[JohanElzenga]

You can't do that for 'Edit in Photoshop' menu. However, if you do not want the edited image to be added to the catalog, then you can achieve this by exporting it as tiff or psd and then open the exported image in Photoshop. Export from Lightroom that is, not 'Export as' from Photoshop! You can even do this automatically by setting that at the bottom of the export dialog.

[Per Berntsen]

 Export is not an option since I cannot export to PSD format)

By @Daniel Cilia

PSD is an option in the export dialog, so you can do as suggested by @JohanElzenga , and set files to open automatically in Photoshop.

[Daniel Cilia]

I do not get that option on a Mac:

[JohanElzenga]

This is the 'Export as' dialog from Photoshop, not from Lightroom Classic. I specificly said "Export from Lightroom that is, not 'Export as' from Photoshop!"

[Rob_Cullen]

The important points in the replies from @JohanElzenga and @Per Berntsen -

1) Export From Lightroom-Classic

2) Set the 'Post Processing' option to open the exported file in Photoshop-

3) Be sure to un-check the option [Add to This Catalog]-

Export a file, it opens in Photoshop, Save the file in Ps, and it is 'saved' in the Folder specified in the Export dialog.

[JohanElzenga]

Exactly. Export from Lightroom Classic is a 'create and forget' action. Lightroom creates a derivative file, performs a final action if you want to (like instructing Photoshop to open it), and then it forgets the file even exists. That means that you can now do anything in Photoshop you like. Edit the file and hit 'Save' to save the edits in the same file, or use 'Save as' to create an edited copy, or anything else. Lightroom Classic will not see any of that and will not import it back into the catalog.

[richardplondon]

Just to underline that Export is only a "create and forget" action provided the Add to Catalog option is unselected.

If it helps, one can think of the standard External Editing workflow as like LR Classic subcontracting out a particular task to other software. Not only PS: could be some other 3rd party software. But in that scenario it's all about the edited image coming back into the Catalog afterwards to participate in further management, adjustment and output, just the same as for any image version that has not been edited externally. The Catalog remains your 'front end' for accessing and freely using all such image versions, IOW, With the distinction that whatever the Catalog sees is effectively "live", and whatever it does not see is (so far as LrC is concerned) effectively "dead".

[Daniel Cilia]

Thanks it works. Yet with Command E export it is very slow. I have a MacBook Pro Apple M1 Max with 64GB RAM, so its very fast. 
Command E exports to Photoshop immediately in most cases, whilst Shift Command E can take up to 30 seconds.
Thanks for the help. I guess its much easier to remove the Psd files in the Lightroom Classic catalogues by searching for Psd files and remove from Catalogue at the end of the workflow.

[Conrad_C]

There may be another way.

Would it work for you to edit in Photoshop by dragging the image thumbnail from the Lightroom Classic grid or filmstrip, and dropping it on the Photoshop app icon (for example, on the Dock) or document window? Photoshop opens it in Camera Raw, but if you have no further edits you can just click Open or press the Return/Enter key, and then it converts to an open Photoshop document, ready to edit.

This method is more of a macOS file transfer between applications, not an action started by Lightroom Classic, therefore it is not tracked and cataloged automatically by Lightroom Classic.

If this works for you, the one catch is that you will have to make sure the edits are saved into the DNG before dragging it to Photoshop. You can do this by choosing Metadata > Save Metadata to File, or pressing its Command-S keyboard shortcut.

But those two steps (Command-S, then drag and drop) might be simpler than either going through the export process, or returning to Lightroom Classic to delete unwanted additions.

[Daniel Cilia]

Yes I had tried this yet it breaks the workflow in Lightroom Classic. That is when you return back to the file the DNG image looks unedited, altough once you open it Camera RAW the edits you've done before in Camera Raw are still there.