How do I import without copying? Lightroom Classic 2.3

Report · Jul 09, 2019

I'm sort of new at this forum stuff. I'm using desktop Lightroom, not the cloud. Not sure how to get it posted there. Guidance appreciated.

Some of my images are on a 1 TB SSD, some on an external. I do not want them to copy. I have looked at editing my preferences, but seem to have missed how to tell it not to copy. Under options, I have a cache size setting, and two checkboxes, 1 -- Store a copy of all smart previews locally on "C:". and 2 -- Store a copy of all originals at the specified location. My C: is a 240 GB SSD, I don't want anything there except programs.

I hope I'm clear:

How do I tell the import not to copy? (Lr 2.3 dialog doesn't seem to have an option setting for that).

The other possibility is that I have looked directly at the required setting and have not registered it in my brain. I'm good at that.

Thank you for any possible help.

Report · Jul 09, 2019

This is what I see in my local storage settings.

Report · Jul 09, 2019

Further helpful (I hope) information - I am starting from ground zero with Lightroom. It has found two images and included them when it installed, but when I click on left hand side plus sign, I get a standard Windows select files or folders dialog. When I choose the folder (Main) which is the root folder for my photo folders, it finds all 8000 plus raw files.

At the top right of the screen, I see a checkbox (Select all), checked. Then there is Cancel and Add Photos. If I click on Add Photos,

What the what??? It's working this time. Without telling me that it needed another 46 gb of space on my data hd .

Report · Jul 09, 2019

The saga continues. I had deleted some files from onedrive. Onedrive went and deleted them from my data hd. Adobe was happy, there is enough room on my data hd to copy everything onto it. I am ready to step outside and throw rocks at something. I DO NOT WANT TWO COPIES OF EVERYTHING ON MY DISK.

Report · Jul 09, 2019

Duh. I had lightroom, not lightroom classic. Uninstalling, and downloading classic. Sorry to be nuisance.