Synchronizing Catalogs uxing external hard drive and two computers

[charlesd88824586]

I keep all of my LR photos, catalogs and backups on an external hard drive. I edit in LR using an iMAC and backup onto the external hard drive. I plug the hard drive into a macbook pro and open LR using the hard drive LR catalog. I go to library>synchronize folders> highlight all the options and hit synchronize. All new photos are synchronized but no new editing information (from iMAC edits) or newly created collections appear. I am using the latest version of LR on both computers. 

[Just Shoot Me · Accepted solution]

If you store the catalog on the external drive with all the images that is the catalog, the one on the external drive, you should be opening on BOTH computers.

All Edits are stored in the catalog. If on one computer you open the catalog from the external and on the other computer you open a catalog that is stored on the internal drive of that second computer no new edits will be included.

You have to use the Same Catalog on both computers,

[charlesd88824586]

Thank you both so much. I won't say how much time I wasted trying to figure this out.  I thought I was opening the hard drive catalog on both computers.  Turns out I had preferences set up to ask which catalog to open on the iMAC and of course was choosing the hard drive catalog.  Macbook was automatically opening a previously synched catalog.  I feel really stupid. 

[JP Hess]

You want to use the catalog that is on the external hard drive. Synchronizing the images with the hard drive catalog will add the images to that catalog, but it will not synchronize the work that was done in another catalog. Lightroom can only open one catalog at a time. And the catalog is the only file that Lightroom opens. So my recommendation would be for you to keep the working catalog on the external hard drive. Also, remember that adjustments made to images using Lightroom are stored in the catalog but are not made part of the image file. The catalog is the key file in Lightroom.