lrcat file with the same name but without the number extension. These number extensions are due to upgrading the catalogs with Lightroom updates. You will likely have a lot of results from this search. Use Spotlight (Mac) or Search (Windows) to search for additional catalogs with an “.lrcat” file extension that you want to include in your master catalog. This will tell you the name of the catalog you are currently working in. Go to the Lightroom menu (Mac) or Edit menu (Windows) > Catalog Settings and choose the General tab. The first step is to identify the catalog you would like to function as your master catalog. Let’s take a look at the steps that you need to take to merge all of your catalogs into one master catalog. You must import your actual catalogs, rather than your photos, or your virtual copies and collections won’t be imported. The important thing is that you do so correctly. So what can you do if you have several catalogs now but just want to have one main one? You can do a database merge of all your catalogs in Lightroom. On the other hand, having more than one catalog can become complicated when you want to access different photographs from different folders, as you can’t search through multiple catalogs without opening each one.Īlso, Lightroom’s mobile sync only works with one catalog.
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When you’re opening and closing the same catalog all the time, there is a greater chance for your files to become corrupted. There are pros and cons to each approach.
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Others say it’s best to have multiple catalogs, organized by client or shoot or date (like one per year). Some photographers say that it’s best to have one master catalog.
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#Combine all my photo libraries how to
There is fierce debate about on how to best approach catalogs in Lightroom. The photo files themselves are not touched. When you edit your photos and add metadata or keywords to them in Lightroom, all of these changes are stored in the catalog. In Lightroom, a catalog is a database that tracks the location of your photos and information about them.