P: Support Common Image Formats (EPS, GIF, PDF, BMP etc.)

[Adept_Dazzle01AC]

Feature request: Please add Lightroom support for common Adobe publishing and Web image formats, such as EPS, AI, PDF, GIF, and PNG.

Many of us use Lightroom to manage client images in NEF, JPG, PSD and other formats. But the clients' associated images, which are used on their Websites and in their logos and publications, are invisible to Lightroom. If Adobe Bridge can display these other image formats, why can't Lightroom?

Even if Lightroom did not provide direct editing support for these other image formats, it would still be extremely useful if Lightroom could catalog and display them.

It would also elevate Lightroom from being "just" a photo editor into the realm of being a true Digital Asset Manager (DAM). Now that Lightroom includes basic video support - isn't it time to support all the common image formats that our other CS applications use?

Please vote for, as well as reply to, this request if you would also like to see Lightroom support these additional common image formats...

[john beardsworth]

Thanks, but I don't need you asking me to see the big picture. As I said before, I've long been in favour of LR letting the photographer choose what types of files to manage in the catalogue. No argument there. Non-maximized PSDs are the issue Martijn raised, and to which I responded.

[RSquared]

Even photographers have logos and artwork to go with their photos.

[Adept_Dazzle01AC]

Indeed, reinecke. That is why it would be extremely useful for Lightroom to provide support for more of the common image formats.

Thanks for supporting this feature request. ...pt

[RSquared]

I found a work-around with "AnyFile" Lightroom plugin. It has limitations but with the 30 day free trial and a cost of "a donation" it is worth examining. I found it at
http://www.johnrellis.com/lightroom/a....
I installed it and have had no problems.

[Adept_Dazzle01AC]

I'm glad, reinecke, that the AnyFile plugin workaround meets your needs.

I tried Anyfile a couple of years ago and found it annoying in my own situation. Although I have since forgotten the details, I seem to recall a clutter of placeholder files. And due to the way my network attached storage device allocates space, I think each placeholder was taking up much more space than one would expect.

In any event, I quickly gave up on AnyFile. For me it was not a satisfactory replacement for Lightroom providing adequate file support in the first place.

But I'm glad you like it. Others might want to check it out, too. ...pt

[Raffisys]

yup, I too tried it, and I wish I could use it. Its been a while maybe it is rewritten, but I had to stop using it also.

[Thany2]

AnyFile is way too fiddly for me. It's very badly integrated into Lightroom's regular functions. And it creates extraneous "placeholder" files that just goes against my principles.

One might as well use a second program to catalog unsupported files, which why this needs to be either natively in Lightroom, or waaaaay better integrated with a plugin.

[RSquared]

Hey Adobe. Why is not possible, practical or worth the effort to support .ai and other formats?
Yes, this is my second post.
It is annoying to have to open Bridge to see my .ai files.
I am not a programmer, but untutored logic suggests that if Bridge can see the .ai files, then Lightroom should be able to.

[Adept_Dazzle01AC]

Yes, reinecke.

You are right - "It is annoying to have to open Bridge to see" our other graphics files.

Lightroom should support more common image formats.

Best regards. ...pt

[barryjeff1812]

I couldn't agree more. I'm doing all kinds of photography tasks for my client including post processing images they give me. I need Lightroom to help me catalog all the files I work with.

[Tanja2014]

well the request is over 4 years old.

adobe cares a sh*t.... obviously.
every shareware coder could do it in less time.

i mean most lightroom user are on subscription anyway.. so why do something?

a few crappy beta features every 6 month keeps most of the lemmings hooked.

[Tanja2014]

and bridge get ́s no love either as you may noticed......

[Adept_Dazzle01AC]

Yes, Barry, Lightroom would be more useful if it supported more common image file formats.

[Adept_Dazzle01AC]

Indeed, Tanja, it would be nice if Adobe actually listened to its customers. This feature request is one that quite a few Adobe customers would appreciate.

[Kim_Letkeman]

A pretty typical pattern methinks ... to boost profits in the new "shareholders matter more than anyone or anything else" economy, you cut the team to the bone and work on one or two whiz bang features per release, leaving glaring deficiencies and gaping holes to fester for year after year.

However, there is a way to make improvements and that is to strike a 50/50 balance between new features and GUI / usability improvements. This is where Adobe seem to fall short.

More supported formats, much better responsiveness with face detection running in the background, discarding clicks while the GUI is frozen to prevent random actions, and so on ... lots and lots of features that could really improve the experience.

[Michael Naylor]

I've only recently become aware of another need for GIF file support - in particular: for Animated GIFs or Cinemagraphs produced by Photoshop CC 2015. So, I'm really surprised to discover my LR CC 2015 is unable to add them to the catalogue.

I also notice that Bridge is listed under "Previous Versions" in that ridiculous Creative Cloud App that take so long to verify my account - a possible indicator that Adobe is allowing Bridge to vanish altogether.

And another thing: they are unable to change my Adobe ID (i.e. my email) and say I must delete my current subscription and create a new one to do this. I find that to be pathetic.

All this is causing me to become p***ed off and look elsewhere, but there just isn't a viable Photoshop alternative for the type of work I do. They have me by the short and curlys.

[Thany2]

About your first paragraph: precisely. Adobe knows damn well how to read animated GIFs, and Lightroom is already capable of handling video - Animated GIF is nothing but mute video in essence.

About your other statements: a bit offtopic, is it not? I suggest you create a different topic for those, although I do agree.

[Michael Naylor]

I've posted a similar post on the Adobe forum and got a near instant response from support. He says Adobe are working on an updated Bridge. Most of my work ends up in Photoshop, so I mainly use LR only for RAW conversion, exporting, and its catalogue. Maybe an updated Bridge will suite me better.

[Kim_Letkeman]

Sigh ... Adobe continue to run like two separate teams that only loosely collaborate, and that really hurts the suite. Heck, I pay 10 bucks a month in perpetuity so that I can use both seamlessly ... and that vision has certainly not quite arrived ...

[threeshinyapples]

I would love to be able to import non-image files into Lightroom's database. It would be a very useful feature.

An example of where this would be useful: I occasionally have additional files which are associated with a set of photos. Notes in text files, information in PDFs, audio files, and so on. I can copy these files to the same folder as the photos in the library. But without the ability to see these files in Lightroom, to add keywords and make them searchable, they are effectively lost forever among the thousands of other files and directories.

The ability to manage these files in Lightroom would be extremely valuable. I would not expect Lightroom to support editing or even preview of non-image files. Just the ability to keep track of them.

[John R Ellis]

Check out my Any File plugin -- it's intended for exactly this purpose. Not as convenient as having it builtin to LR, but it gets the job done.

[Michael Naylor]

Without any kind of announcement to my knowledge, it is now possible to change your Adobe ID. Something that may be necessary if you change your email supplier as I have done. Well done Adobe, you've done something that Apple is incapable of, but zero marks for not informing me that this is now possible.

[Michael Naylor]

Another option is to wait until Affinity launch their DAM in 2016.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I've just found this out and am gobsmacked. I created the GIF in Photoshop from a series of photos, exported it, and now can't use it in Lightroom. Yet Lightroom reads videos. Astounding. I came to Adobe Creative CLoud because it was supposed to be more of a standard than the DAM that I had been using. Now I find it does less. My vote has been cast for Adobe to include them, even if only to enable Lightroom to be more of a PROPER cataloguing program. I thought so! I previously had Photoshop Elements 12, and that can handle GIFs and also PDF files. Now I am even more amazed that the supposedly professional better option cannot.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

hi John Please could you explain how to get it? I have gone to the Adobe Add-ons page and searched for Any File, anyfile, any - but not got a result at all. Searching for file finds something totally unrelated. OK I did a google search and found it on your home page, rather than on adobe. It is a free trial then paid for (albeit with a very friendly option) plug-in. Not sure its worthwhile for so far one GIF, but I will have to see what other files I'm missing compared to my previous DAM program.