How to transfer Photoshop and Lightroom to a new Mac computer?.

[Breeze 3]

I currenly have Photoshop 24.7.5 and Lightroom 13.5.1 and older versions of them.  

I will be replacing my 9 year old iMac with a new Mac Mini. My old iMac is still working and I have it backed up using Time Machine.

(1) What is the best way to install PS and LR on the new Mac?  Can I transfer Photoshop and Lightroom to the new Mac Mini via the Time Machine restoration/transfer or will I need to install PS and LR on the Mini directly from a download from Adobe?   Currently my PS and LR are only on one computer (my old Mac).   I will keep my old Mac.

2)  How can I assure that my Photoshop custom brushes and preferences are trasferred to the new Mac?

3) How can I assure that my Lightroom catalog and preferences are tarnsferred to the new Mac?

[D Fosse]

First, save out all your brushes, actions etc from the old machine so that they can be reloaded on the new.

You can probably just copy the whole PS settings folder from your old user account, but personally I like to start a new install with fresh preferences. It doesn't take that long to set up. The prefs file can accumulate errors over time since it's rewritten on every exit, and that may cause erratic behavior.

As for Lightroom, the main catalog file (.lrcat) contains all your work. You don't need to copy the associated files and folders, they will get rebuilt. To avoid redirecting the catalog in the new machine, make sure the folder tree and names are the same.

Sign out of CC on the old machine, install and sign in on the new.

[Breeze 3]

Thank you D. Fosse very much.  That was helpful

I am not familiar with the source location of some of the things you mentioned.

Are you saying that the best way to load PS and LR on to the new Mac is to install them directly from Adobe rather than copying or transferring them from my old Mac? (Apple's Migration Assitant could be used to do that.)

You said to save out my PS brushes and actions from the old machine.  Would you please tell me the name of the folder where those brushes and actions, are located and where they are located?

How would I locate and copy the PS Preference Settings and folders of my old account?

Regarding Lightroom, you said: "You don't need to copy the associated files and folders, they will get rebuilt."

Are you saying that I will need to copy and transfer the .Lrcat from the old machine but do not copy the associated files?  What are those "associated" files and where are they located?

Sorry for not being proficient in the terminology and file locations.  Any additional information will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[D Fosse]

Are you saying that the best way to load PS and LR on to the new Mac is to install them directly from Adobe rather than copying or transferring them from my old Mac?

By @Breeze 3

Yes, that is absolutely what I'm saying. These applications need to be installed properly.

If you're not familiar with where the Photoshop settings folder is in your user account, it's not mission critical. Worst case you just need to set up your preferences again.

What is important is to save out your actions and brushes! You do that from the panel flyout menu, and you can save them wherever you want for easy transfer.

So to Lightroom. I assume you mean Lightroom Classic that works on files on disk - not the cloud-based version.

For Lightroom itself, the application, you only need to move over the main catalog file, the one with the .lrcat extension. There will be other files and folders sitting next to it, in the same main folder, with the same name (because they will be named according to the catalog they belong to), but different extensions. All these associated files/folders will get rebuilt as you start using Lightroom. You do not need to move them over. Locate your Lightroom catalog (.lrcat) on the old machine, and just copy it over.

Then there's your image file archive. Are your image files stored on an external drive, or on an internal drive? That affects how you move.

If you have them on an external drive, Lightroom will find the files where it expects them to be, so it should just pick up without any issues.

If you have the images on an internal drive, it's important to duplicate the folder structure exactly on the new drive. Just copy everything over from the top level folder, and place it at the same location on the new drive. If you need to relink, it's an easy one-step operation - ask in the Lightroom forum. Whatever you do, do not re-import your files.

(Edited for clarity)