P: Allow Catalog to be stored on a networked drive.

[bcdavis1975]

I'd love to make LR more multi-computer friendly. I have no doubt that there's probably database architecture issues and a host of other barriers... But I have to believe that the need for either multi-user or at at lease multi-computer use is widely desired. And yes, I know you can do the catalog import export thing but I find this less than ideal.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Is the lightroom catalog capable of having multiple users access it at the same time? I work with a team and we'd like to use it for organizing our creative assets.

[Dr. Mark S.]

No, it is not. That is what the users have been complaining about since the first release. Adobe has ignored this issue for years.

[Roger_Huston]

Yes, Adobe Lightroom has grown into a professional photographers tool and we all know that as such, they only work for themselves. There is no need to have anyone else access the database. - Adobe Marketing

Lightroom was built on SQL Lite, a relic of a database that does not allow concurrent access. While lots of people buy Lightroom and sales have grown, we are aren't given the funds or the time to execute a database change - it is all about new features, that sells products. - Adobe Development

[Dr. Mark S.]

Then maybe if we all stop buying the upgrades until such time as they do the database change, that will give them time to make the change. I am done with their upgrades until they get this feature working. If I have to be stuck with outdated software, why would I want to keep spending money on it?

[K.Murat]

Daminion Server works perfectly with Lightroom. You can edit your photos by LR and access your library by multiple users from multiple computers via Daminion.

[CristianoRonaldoRechUnite]

look at this topic http://feedback.photoshop.com/photosh...

[Rich Wagner]

skorpss 2 hours ago
look at this topic http://feedback.photoshop.com/photosh...

This has nothing to do with this topic - don't follow unless you are really bored.

[holdenp90366779]

Adobe,

Users have been asking for Lightroom to be multi-user capable for years. My understanding is the the core database architecture is SQLite. While it wouldn't necessarily be EASY, it really shouldn't be that hard for a company with the resources of Adobe to update the software architecture to be able to connect to a database other than the local single-user SQL database. With Lightroom being a workhorse for many working professionals with multiuser and enterprise requirements, it is completely unfathomable that Adobe isn't responding to customer demands for a workable solution to this issue. I for one have started my search to replace Adobe products in my professional workflow since you can't seem to get your act together on this issue.

I'm a part-time professional photographer who needs to be able to access a central catalog from multiple locations and share it with other photographers. I'm also a full time software engineer dealing extensively with database systems that scale from single user local implementations to enterprise-wide access across multiple locations with redundant and geographically diverse synchronized database servers. I am well aware of the issues that can be encountered with this type of system. I'm also well aware that there's an enormous body of knowledge and professionals available who can implement a scalabale architecture that can be configured to work with a simple database on the local machine or a more capable multiuser cloud-accessible solution. In my professional opinion it is clear that Adobe COULD meet customer needs on this issue if they chose to update from techniques borrowed from the last millennium.

And I see this as almost certainly being a management issue - not a developer issue - although if management continues to stick with the ancient architecture it WILL become a developer issue as the competent ones will leave for greener fields. C'mon guys, invest some of the monthly fees you are collecting from users while you still have them to update the product to at least keep up with technology!

[holdenp90366779]

Grrrrrr

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Hallo,
es wäre schön wenn es in Lightroom möglich wäre einen Katalog von einem Netzlaufwerk zu laden, beispielsweise von einem NAS.

[John R Ellis]

Google Translation: Lightroom catalogs in the network.

Hello there,
it would be nice if it were possible in Lightroom to download a catalog from a network drive, for example, from a NAS.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Anyone know why catalogues have to live on local storage? Network storage helps when sharing catalogues in a LAN-based team environment.

[Mattjsawyer]

Does anyone know if this feature is even being considered by Adobe?

I manage a post production studio and we require network sharing to access catalogs, currently we are using Aperture and we want to jump ship.

[holdenp90366779]

If you read the blogs much this has been a common user request for more than 10 years. While it would take some work to rearchitect the database structure to accommodate this it's nowhere near rocket science in this mellenium. Adobe, are you listening to your customers?

[naestyoh]

You don't need Adobe to directly comment on this. Look at the last few major updates and notice that most of the upgrades have been very consumer focused: face detection, book, slideshow, maps, iPad.... There was a half-hearted attempt at performance with GPU that, from my angle, turned out for worse. So, multi-user enviro is very pro and isn't in line with what Adobe has been pushing out.

[MarkBortz]

Lets forget multi user.

Lets just be able to store the catalog on a fileserver.

Local hard drive storage is so 1990's.....

[Mattjsawyer]

agreed

[naestyoh]

A catalog on a fileserver that's being read/written by multiple people at once? Disaster.

[Mattjsawyer]

nah mate, just on a fileserver not multi-user

[naestyoh]

One user at a time? Sorry, I read that comment too fast. Why would you want it to be on a file server with one client?

[Mattjsawyer]

Thats alright mate, we all make mistakes. a fileserver, even with one user at a time would solve so many issues I have. It would be my biggest feature request right now.

[naestyoh]

Go on... on my end, my catalog is on my internal M.2 SSD and is maybe 10GB with 50GB of previews that revolve. Are you trying to go between laptop and desktop? If so, i've used sync software without issue (on gigabit local network) and I think people use Dropbox without issue.

[Mattjsawyer]

I've got an issue on a bit of a bigger scale. We are a travel company with 60tb of photos split into 1 catalog per country. We want to store all of that on one raid and access it over the network. We use this workflow currently with Aperture.

We thought about syncing just the catalogs to every computer locally and relinking the photos across a network but its not a simple task and requires constant relinking and setup with new terminals.

[Yarrago]

We use Lightroom in the home environment and use it to catalog all our photos in a single location with metadata. We have multiple computers in the house however because Lightroom is designed for single install use it means that its more difficult for us to share and often means it gets less use then it otherwise would. Often it would be handy for us to be using the same catalog from different computers at the same time. It is not that important if the non-primary computers have lower performance (increased latency to the database), since we could then use the primary computer for operations that required more performance when we need it, but other users could still be reviewing and selecting the photos that they like and adding there relevant metadata at the same time rather then the slow sequential process that we do now all having to share the one machine which we also use for other things further diminishing the time that we are able to share and utilise light room. We would only need access to the library and map modules in this situation (develop would also be a nice to have but not necessary for us), all other modules wouldn't actually benefit us from this mode, as the main reason that we want to share is to add our personal metadata and select the photos that are meaningful to us (we can definitely share the primary computer for the amount that we use all of the other modules - we aren't often wanting to be developing different photos at the same time).

[john beardsworth]

If you are a CC subscriber, take a closer look at Lightroom Mobile and also Lightroom Web, its browser-based sibling at https://lightroom.adobe.com.

Log in with your account and you get limited Library features (ratings and flags) and since Monday LrWeb has Develop features too - tone, clarity, HSL/BW, crop etc. Obviously that's not everything you mention, but it's probably more than you expected.