Do not want to store photos - keep filling up HD

[bentofty]

Hi there, perhaps I am not using Lightroom correctly?

I don't want to store a copy of the files I work on anywhere - I just want to edit the files directly from the folder I have them already in prior to bringing them into lightroom to adjust colours etc.

Is this possible? It seems to keep filling up my hard drive with copies of the files I already have.

I do not have "store a copy of' selected in preferences.

Thanks!

[JohanElzenga]

When you add images to Lightroom, it will first copy these images to a default location inside its cache (you can change the location in the preferences). This is needed because uploading images takes too much time when you import from a memory card for example. It is also a safeguard, to stop people from deleting images before they have been uploaded. The copies are deleted after they have been uploaded, but that make take some time.

If you added images from a location on your hard disk however, then you can safely delete them from that original location. Lighroom does not use these copies anymore, so they only take up unnecessary space.

[Jao vdL · Accepted solution]

This is not a workflow that works with Lightroom. What you want to do is use Bridge together with Photoshop/camera Raw. This will work more like a filebrowser. Lightroom, both Classic and Lightroom Cloudy are cataloging or Digital Asset Management programs meaning their focus is on organizing your files and keeping track of them. The focus is not on editing which is secondary. Bridge/camera raw is a browsing program - i.e. what you are looking for.

[bentofty]

Thanks that sounds spot on 🙂