Virtual Copy Develop Settings

[stephenr47713837]

Hi

I have a few hundred photos with one Virtual Copy each (copy 1)

Is there a way to copy Develop Settings from Virtual Copies back to Originals as a batch, applying each Virtual Copy Develop Settings to each individual Original as an automated process?

Or will i have to copy the Develop Settings from the Virtual Copy, one by one using Copy Settings and Paste Settings?

Thanks

Stephen

[Just Shoot Me]

Why do you think you need to do this? You don't. You can export to JPG or TIFF from the VC the same as you can from the original. That is the reason behind a Virtual Copy.

Virtual Copies do not take up any hard drive space, except for the small amount of space used in the LR catalog file for there entry.

[stephenr47713837]

Hi

The reason i wish to do this is, having lots of virtual copies named copy 1 is not the best naming convention and leads to confusion

I would like to delete all Virtual Copies after copying Develop Settings to the Originals

The Virtual Copies where just there as a comparison to Original files, Develop Settings

I would like to now use those Develop Settings on the Originals

Thanks

Stephen

[Hal P Anderson · Accepted solution]

In Grid View, select all VCs. Then do menu item Photo->Set Copy as Master. Then reselect and delete all the VCs.

Hal

[Just Shoot Me]

To go with the above post you can use the Filter Bar to do the selecting of the VCs.

[stephenr47713837]

Just Shoot Me

That is useful

Thanks

Stephen

[richardplondon]

Yes: good tip.

Some further comments:

• a VC's settings cannot be written directly out to file, assuming you choose to do that, while a master copy's settings can. So that is one good argument for switching them over, with your preferred treatment as the master.
• As mentioned, you can hide the VCs at any point, with a view filter. Or you can use stacking.
• It's a little dangerous, but if you Remove a master image (making sure you don't choose Delete from Disk) when this image also has a Virtual Copy, then the VC is promoted to master automatically. It's dangerous because if you do Delete from Disk, both versions are blitzed with no easy way back.
• a VC's settings can still be preserved within the Catalog, by saving them into a new Snapshot - even if you then go on to delete this VC. Each Snapshot is automatically held in common between a given imported file's Master copy and VCs, hence will remain behind.

[stephenr47713837]

Hal

Perfect! thanks a lot

Stephen

[john beardsworth]

Why aren't you using the Before / After view in Develop? This lets you have the original appearance on the left, and its current edited state on the right. So no need to create all these VCs.