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Gregory28883217r6xk
Participant
March 15, 2023
Question

Is batch editing no longer possible in Lightroom 2023?

  • March 15, 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 10096 views

I've been trying to batch edit photos in Lightroom CC (2023) and also Lightroom Classic. Neither program will let me copy edit settings and apply to multiple images at once. It will only let me copy settings to one image at a time. Using CTRL+C/CTRL+V only applies to the first image in a selected group, ignoring the remaning images. Is this seriously not a function in Lightroom anymore?

 

Several posts here imply that this feature was at one time added to LRCC and LRC. It simply won't work. No setting in preferences allows me to change this. What's the deal?

3 replies

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defaultgh9ii7irtip3
Participant
June 15, 2023

It legit doesn't work. If it's any more complicated than copy select all and paste.... it makes no sense

    D
    defaultgh9ii7irtip3
    Participant
    June 15, 2023

    Batch copy paste has been ended it would seem. Instead now you have to select all your images, highlight the one with the adjustments, go to the library tab and then hit sync settings. 

     

    Quite why you would make a three step hotkey procedure a four to five step non-hotkey procedure is beyond me, and I imagine any other person who needs to work at speed on high volume imagery.

      Jim Wilde
      Community Expert
      Jim WildeCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      March 15, 2023

      Batch editing is entirely possible in both Lightroom (not called CC for several years) and Lightroom Classic, so let's figure out what you might be doing wrong. Starting with the Lightroom desktop app, and assuming you are using one of the later versions, the process of batch editing is pretty simple but can only be done by Copy and Paste. First select the image that you want to copy the settings FROM, then do Ctrl+C to copy all the existing settings, or do Shift+CTRL+C to bring up the Copy Settings dialog box where you can select which settings you want to copy. When you've done the copy, then select the images you want to paste the copied settings to and then do Shift+CTRL+V. It's the use of the Shift key which is the modifier which allows the settings to be pasted to all selected images. CTRL+V will also actually work, but only if the images are selected in the Grid view.

       

      Lightroom Classic has several different ways, but if you want to use the Copy and Paste buttons in the Develop module, then after doing the Copy, select all the target images, turn on Auto Sync, then use the Paste button (then turn off Auto Sync again).

       

      You can also use the Sync button: select all the images, make sure the image to be copied FROM is the most selected, press the Sync button, select the edits you want to sync to the other images, press "Synchronize".

       

      Or Auto Sync, which lets you sync edits as you make them from the active image to the selected images. Can be dangerous if the Auto Sync button is left active after using it. 

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        Rebecca34236523nx5m
        Participant
        December 13, 2023

        Hi Jim! I don't see the "sync button". I have the new Lightroom 7 version and the bottom is not found. Any advice?

        Jim Wilde
        Community Expert
        Jim WildeCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        December 13, 2023

        The "Sync" button was referring to the Lightroom Classic app. To sync edit settings in the Lightroom desktop app look at the first paragraph in my post. However, some changes have been made in this area which make it even easier to copy edit settings and paste them to multiple images while in the Grid view. Select the image that you want to copy settings FROM, and you should see the "Copy Edit Settings" button at the bottom centre of the grid. Click on that button to copy all the develop settings of the selected image, or click on the adjacent gear icon to bring up a dialog box which allows you to select which settings to copy. Once copied, the "Copy Edit Settings" button changes to "Paste Edit Settings", so select the images that you want the settings copied to and click on that button.

          JohanElzenga
          Community Expert
          JohanElzengaCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          March 15, 2023

          It's still possible. Copy/Paste edit settings in Lightroom Classic is not Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V, but Shift+Ctrl+C / Shift+Ctrl+V. In Lightroom cloud, you must make sure that only a single image is selected when you try to copy edit settings (here the keyboard shortcut is indeed Ctrl+C), or else nothing will happen.

           

          -- Johan W. Elzenga
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