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gb3arts
Participant
December 11, 2013
Answered

Sync LR Catalog between 2 computers but not master files

  • December 11, 2013
  • 13 replies
  • 103606 views

I have LR5 on my main iMac desktop system and on my Macbook Air.

The iMac is connected to a disk array which stores my master photo files.

I would like to sync this catalog (iMac master) with the Macbook Air and only be looking at previews on the Air,

so that I can choose selects on the road.

I would come back to the iMac to work with the master files.

Is this possible and easy? I'm not interested in having my files live in a cloud or cloud based sharing or anything like that.

Just Catalog with previews on the Air which sync to Catalog on the iMac.

Thank you,

Greg

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer phillydave

    My new workflow involves my Mac and MacBook Pro, as well. Expanding on what Michael said, I put my working catalog on my DropBox folder that I synchronize between my two computers. I'll load my images on my Mac and generate smart previews. When I load that catalog from DropBox on my MacBook, I get the smart previews with the catalog so I can pick, keyword, and even post process. When I go back to my Mac where the original images are, I can open up Lightroom, see all my edits and such, and then finish up and export my processed images.

    Any synchronizing technology (DropBox, CC, Google Drive, custom solution) will work. You basically just want that catalog to be sychronized between multiple computers. It's magic. The only caveat is that if you're fast switching between the two computers and both machines are trying to edit, you'll get conflicts. But my workflow rarely does that, and I just make sure DropBox finishes its deal on one computer before I open Lightroom on the other.

    13 replies

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    cmccartney66
    Participant
    October 1, 2014

    I am trying to figure out how to share catalogs and preview files through dropbox to another user. We are both using LR5, she sends me the raw images, I download them to my macbook and create a catalog from those raw files. How do I share the catalog from there? I have tried sending her the .lrcat and the previews file, but when she downloads the files from Dropbox and opens the catalog, she can't see any of my edits or changes....am I missing something before I send her the file, like exporting the catalog in some way? Does she need to 'sync' some how with the raw files on her computer? At one point it asked her to 'locate the images' but something changed and it doesn't do that any more - even though I haven't changed what I am doing. I have been working on this for awhile and we are both getting frustrated with it but I know it's possible! Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

    phillydave
    phillydaveCorrect answer
    Participating Frequently
    December 12, 2013

    My new workflow involves my Mac and MacBook Pro, as well. Expanding on what Michael said, I put my working catalog on my DropBox folder that I synchronize between my two computers. I'll load my images on my Mac and generate smart previews. When I load that catalog from DropBox on my MacBook, I get the smart previews with the catalog so I can pick, keyword, and even post process. When I go back to my Mac where the original images are, I can open up Lightroom, see all my edits and such, and then finish up and export my processed images.

    Any synchronizing technology (DropBox, CC, Google Drive, custom solution) will work. You basically just want that catalog to be sychronized between multiple computers. It's magic. The only caveat is that if you're fast switching between the two computers and both machines are trying to edit, you'll get conflicts. But my workflow rarely does that, and I just make sure DropBox finishes its deal on one computer before I open Lightroom on the other.

      G
      gb3artsAuthor
      Participant
      December 13, 2013

      This workflow concept sounds perfect.

      Few questions if you don't mind.

      1. Are the previews, be they smart previewws or just standard, contained within the catalog or is there another folder / files set I need to post on dropbox with the catalog?

      2. With this workflow I am assuming my catalog will now only exist on dropbox. Maybe I set backups to be on master iMac.

           Will this slow LR down - having to read from dropbox?

           Not doing any fast switching - is really just to be able to make selects when not at my studiuo and iMac.

      3. Having not done this before, is there anything I need to be aware owhen moving the catalog to dropbox?

           LR is cool to use dropbox for catalog or do I need a plug in?

      Thank you very much,

      Greg

      phillydave
      phillydave
      Participating Frequently
      December 13, 2013

      1. LR will create the preview and smart preview files alongside your catalog. I think you can change that in setting somewhere, but I believe Adobe says not to. So in my DropBox folder for Lightroom, I have my catalog (.lrcat), Previews.lrdata and Smart Previews.lrdata. But LR manages all that for me, and DropBox does all the synchronizing.

      2. From your computer's perspective, the DropBox folder is just another folder. The synchrozing all happens over the magic of the internet, but once everything is updated, its just local files on your local computer, so the speed and such depends on what drive you put it on.

      Re: fast switching. Those previews and catalog files, at least on the Mac, are actually bundles of stuff. So when you make changes in Lightroom, dropbox has to process all that and send the updates back to the cloud. It can take a few minutes for a few changes, or if you import a huge catalog of stuff, that synchronizing can take more time. My point on that was just to make sure that DropBox had finished sending the changes to the cloud from your one computer and that DropBox has updated the changes on your second computer before you open up LR on the second computer and try to make changes. You'll wind up with "conflict" files on DropBox. It's not the end of the world, just a pain, so just make sure DropBox has done it's job before you try to make double edits on the same catalog on two different computers.

      That said, if you let DropBox do it's think, you can (and I have) completely processed (keyword, select, and post process/develop) projects entirely using smart previews on my laptop, then just gone back to my desktop to export. The beauty of smart previews is that you can do all of that without having access to the original image files, which for me are only located on my desktop. It's magic.

      3. I'd leave the catalog where it is and either make a new copy of it, or export your stuff to a new catalog in a drop box folder. Worst-case scenario, your existing catalog is still intact. Backups are always your friend. Also, just be aware of the siz of your catalog. I have a working catalog on DropBox for active or recently active projects. That keeps the total file size down because you don't get a ton of space with the free account. Once I'm done with a project, I can export it to a static catalog on my desktop and network drive for archiving. Google Drive gives you more space but I personally don't need to carry my entire catalog around, but something to think about.

      Again, LR doesn't know you are using DropBox. It's just a folder locally on your computer.

      Hope that helps!

      Michael J. Hoffman
      Community Expert
      Michael J. HoffmanCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      December 12, 2013

      It all depends on what you mean by "sync." If you aren't going to use the cloud, how would you sync the two machines?

      Here are some ideas:

      1. You can copy the catalog and previews from the iMac to the Air, and open that catalog on the air and you'll be in business.

      2. If you have Smart Previews for all the images, you would be able to use the Develop Module as well, and make adjustments to your images while on the go.

      3. When you return, you'd need to overwrite the iMac catalog with the Air catalog so that you have any updates you've made.

      4. If you take a copy away on the Air and make changes, then come back and make changes on the iMac before you copy over from the Air, you've created a conflict and your process will be broken.

      If, just for the sake of comparison, the catalog and previews were on DropBox or Creative Cloud or somewhere like that, the copying would be automatic (as long as you waited for the updates before opening Lightroom on the other computer).

      Victoria Bampton's book Lightroom 5 - the Missing FAQ has some sections devoted to a multi computer workflow. It's an excellent Lightroom book all around as well.

      mh++

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