I just bought the Mac Studio and had to move all my stuff and LR/PS from my old Mac desktop. I used the Migration utility and luckily everything moved without a hitch. LR worked fine and I even upgraded it to Ventura. My one concern was my subscription. I didn't want to pay for 2 computers so I called Adobe and everything was ok. I deleted the program from the old Mac.
Excellent tutorial. I have aniMac and an iMac Pro laptop. Can I have Lightroom on both and my photos on an external drive. Does Adobe allow you to put Lightroom Classic on two computers?
This is great, but what do I do if I have a completely different drive configuration on both PC's I.E. the same location doesn't exist, then what, do I have to move all of my files manually? Or is there a way to update where the catalog is pointing.
I’ve just switched from a windows pc to a MacBook Pro. I had, maybe naively, that I just needed to copy my photos onto and external drive, install Adobe creative cloud on my MacBook then just load them again. But it appears to be more complicated. My question is that when I go through the correct process will it result in the correct Lightroom and photoshop icons appearing on my MacBook? I’ve downloaded creative cloud but the icons are not on my taskbar or desktop.
Question, I'm using lightroom 5 on a very dated and slow AMD 6/Windows 8.1/ 1TB hhd laptop. If I were to invest in a new higher spec laptop or even pc, can I still download/install a discontinued lightroom 5 on it, provided I have the purchased key code.
Matt if you have your catalog in the hard drive wouldn't you have to up date with your backup your other ncomputer so that you are working on the same catalog?
Nice tutorial but I have a question. Had updated my CC subscription of LR ,Bridge,PS and PS/LR didn't go right. I had to go back to previous version and doing so I lost some of my presets (my LR's presets and PS actions I made). Bummer!! I was later able to get my PS and LR updated OK but I'm wondering if PS and LR presets we make and save should they be backed up and what is the best way? I do have everything (all external/C drive) automatically backed up but what is your take on this? Thank You.
matt, if you make changes on the laptop, don't see this method transferring those changes to the desktop, what am i missing...that is if traveling and putting this on the laptop, new photos, how do you keep it synched between the two.
Hey Matt - does this have to be from one version of LR to the same version? I've got LR5 on my laptop and wanna move everything over to LR Classic CC on my new desktop. Does the same process apply?
Hi Matt. Always love your tutorials & found this one very helpful. I followed your simple instructions, to move the catalogue from my PC to a HDD, but when I plug the HDD into my mac book at home, it's not visible in LR. The catalogue is there on the drive ok, but the mac isn't seeing it. Is there something else I need to do? Thanks in advance, Pascal.
Matt, When I moved the presets over the way you explained, the "lightroom" folder in my downloads went inside the "lightroom" folder on my new computer (that I got to by going to preferences and clicking on "show lightroom presets folder:. When I shut it down, I had it back up. When I reopened Lightroom, no new presets were active. If I go back up to preferences and show lightroom presets folder, after I open that folder--inside of it is the lightroom folder that I moved. But none of those presets come up in lightroom. Only the default presets are present when I open LR. Suggestions?
Matt - i keep my photos on an external hard drive and i was able to move my catalog to my new iMac. However, I'm unable to edit any of the photos using plug ins like nik collection from the new lightroom. i get this error message'"Lightroom was unable to prepare the selected file at /Volumes/Imac/Pictures Master/2018/July/XTRANS/DSCF9133-IridientEdit.dng for editing.It will not be opened." i have no problem on the old computer with the same external hard drive
hallo, unfortunately i am coming back from holidays where i retouched 240 pictures in a different folder topology than on my desktop on laptop i have right click on collection, export as catalog and added negative raw. (only 5GB very long export !!!) so now i wonder what to do. i have copied catalog and iages on an external drive i connect to desktop. i know i can import catalog in the desktop LR one but i really wonder what to do with images i exported. i have seen different options in catalog import "move", "don't move",... will LR ask me the destination folder on desktop ? or do i just copy images in the folder i want and when LR puts "?" i indicate the new path ? as you can see i am using LR functions while you copy paste between folders best regards marc
Thanks for the video. I transferred lightroom to my new PC and all the pictures are grey as well as the "!". All of my photos that were on my old PC aren't on my new one that I transfer too. Any idea what that is?
#FantasticVideo I have an iMac with everything on it.... BUT I've always kept all my photos in DROPBOX. I just got a new MacBook Pro and want to move everything over.... is it the same way, with the exception of using an external hard drive? BUT AIRDROP seems to be even a better option if I have both Macs on the same wifi and next to each other, right?
Yikes... It would be easier if Lightroom could simply open any catalog and remap its pointers if that catalog's location were changed... I hope they can figure out a way to do this, since the current procedures are obscure and confusing.... Thanks for helping us walk through this morass, though, Matt.
That's what I do; I have all my active pix in Dropbox on the desktop; additionally my LR catalog is on Dropbox. When I import, I make a secondary copy to an external disk. What that means is, I have three copies of every picture-- the Dropbox in the cloud, the Dropbox folder on my desktop iMac, and the raw import on the external drive. I made a five week trip earlier this year and used the same Dropbox folder structure on the laptop I took with me, used the same LR catalog, and made secondary-to-import copies onto a portable hard drive. When I got home, there was no migration because I was working in the same environment when I was on the road as I work in at home.
namberak thanks, that looks like a reliable and easy workflow. Though I'm using a free version of Dropbox, so I just keep the catalog there. Whereas the photos are stored on my Synology, which is then backed up to amazon cloud.
Definitely a good solution. There are times when I travel I don't have internet access (planes - GoGo Wireless sucks!). But if you're always going to have an internet connection it's not a bad idea at all. It'll probably slow LR just a little since the catalog is vital and it's going across the internet, but probably worth it to avoid the hassle.
i tried dropbox before going to holidays with 50 raw at home by wifi and I needed to stop after ten pictures. it was really slow and i used simply windows explorer between laptop and dropbox.
Very helpful! Thank you! Do you happen to have a video on shifting storage from local to external? I would like to make this change, but not sure how to tell Lightroom where to look to find the new location.
Matt... HELP!!! I got a new iMac and forgot to save my Lightroom Catalog,, I have all my pictures saved on an external hard drive so I still have those, is there an easy way to tell Lightroom where they are without importing them all again???
Hi Jim. If you have your LR catalog open and see ?'s next to any folders you can right click and choose "Find Missing folder" and point it to where it should be. If you don't have your catalog at all, then there really isn't anything you can do but try to open a backup if you have one. If you need more advanced info, I do have a course on catalogs at mattk.com/courses Good luck!
Did like you said, but when I try to open the Catalog.lrcat on the new mac it says "There is no application set to open the document "Lightroom 5 Catalog.ircat" help...
@@GingerPhotographerAfter I copied the 3 Lightroom files to the new computer through airdrop like he shows here, I double clicked the Catalog.ircat file on the new mac and it said there is no application set etc...I am now waiting on an nvme raid card and I will attempt to transfer my Lightroom again when I get the new ssd's installed. Thank you.
This is not working for me, I'm changing "internal drives" not external. I tried this with some external drive and it works, but for migrating all the photos in an internal SSD(HD) to a new internal SSD(HD) on the same pc, is not working.
I think Lightroom won't see the photos as being on "the same drive location" if your new drive isn't the same drive letter as the old one. Did you get this figured out? I'm about to do something similar, I may clone the old drive to the new drive to see if I can get the same drive letter.
Why not just keep the catalogue on the external hard drive with your folders? The just double click the catalog file on either or computer, also it’s the same catalog so it’s not out of sync.
@@fredyt8318 Adobe actually suggests doing that here: helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/catalog-faq-lightroom.html "The easiest way to use your Lightroom Classic catalog on more than one computer (such as a desktop and laptop) is to keep the catalog and photos together on an external drive. Then, you can set that catalog as the default catalog in Lightroom Classic Preferences."
I almost forgot about hidden files though. On my new computer it took me the longest time to find the Library folder under my user profile because it's hidden. That was a bummer. Everything's good now though.
![I Replaced ALL my ADOBE APPS with these [free or cheaper] Alternatives!](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/5EfqHg49kMk/mqdefault.jpg)
Specific, concise, and exactly what I needed. THANK YOU!!!
you don't have an idea how much this helps! thanks, Matt!!
Thank you so much for your tutorial. After almost 6 years and is still really useful :)
Thanks man ! Saved my life, amazing video.
Thank you. Very good and simple.
You saved me!!!! I was so frustrated and you made it so easy!! Thank you!!
You just made my day and saved me from disaster by explaining this process. Thank you for the help.
Excellent Help. Thank you!
EXCELLENT! THANK YOU! that's exactly what I needed.
Thanks for the help!!
I just bought the Mac Studio and had to move all my stuff and LR/PS from my old Mac desktop. I used the Migration utility and luckily everything moved without a hitch. LR worked fine and I even upgraded it to Ventura. My one concern was my subscription. I didn't want to pay for 2 computers so I called Adobe and everything was ok. I deleted the program from the old Mac.
A cool and necessary tip - thanks Matt :)
Excellent tutorial. I have aniMac and an iMac Pro laptop. Can I have Lightroom on both and my photos on an external drive. Does Adobe allow you to put Lightroom Classic on two computers?
This is great, but what do I do if I have a completely different drive configuration on both PC's I.E. the same location doesn't exist, then what, do I have to move all of my files manually? Or is there a way to update where the catalog is pointing.
Thank you! This really helped!
Hi Matt. In my LR catalogue folder I have a few old catalogue versions and a tonne of 'back up folders. Can I just delete these? Thanks.
Thanks a lot.... very helpful ;) regards Adam.
Awesome. Thank you so much!!!
Thank you so much.
I’ve just switched from a windows pc to a MacBook Pro. I had, maybe naively, that I just needed to copy my photos onto and external drive, install Adobe creative cloud on my MacBook then just load them again. But it appears to be more complicated. My question is that when I go through the correct process will it result in the correct Lightroom and photoshop icons appearing on my MacBook? I’ve downloaded creative cloud but the icons are not on my taskbar or desktop.
Thanks so much!
Question, I'm using lightroom 5 on a very dated and slow AMD 6/Windows 8.1/ 1TB hhd laptop. If I were to invest in a new higher spec laptop or even pc, can I still download/install a discontinued lightroom 5 on it, provided I have the purchased key code.
Great video--learned so much--thanks!
Very good video. Helped a lot. Thanks :)
Thanks! Exactly what I needed to know.
Unless i missed something you never explained how to move the actual program itself. Great job on showing how to move the files
Hi. You don’t move it. You’d install it on the new computer. Thx
Matt if you have your catalog in the hard drive wouldn't you have to up date with your backup your other ncomputer so that you are working on the same catalog?
Hi. The catalog should be the same catalog regardless of where you're referencing it.
Thanks Matt .....you're the man 👍🏻
Hey Matt , Nice Video. I was wondering to know if you can transfer Watermarks and Export Presets as well ?
that's what I wanted to know too
@@Alexxxi80 I had to create New Water Marks and Exports preset, Transfering Catalog and other filter preset are fine.
Excellent video as usual Matt....FWIW...I keep an update copy of my presets on Google Drive that way if I need them I got'em.
Nice tutorial but I have a question. Had updated my CC subscription of LR ,Bridge,PS and PS/LR didn't go right. I had to go back to previous version and doing so I lost some of my presets (my LR's presets and PS actions I made). Bummer!! I was later able to get my PS and LR updated OK but I'm wondering if PS and LR presets we make and save should they be backed up and what is the best way? I do have everything (all external/C drive) automatically backed up but what is your take on this? Thank You.
So I moved everything but my drive numbers are not the same on the new computer,
Hoe do I now match them up?
matt, if you make changes on the laptop, don't see this method transferring those changes to the desktop, what am i missing...that is if traveling and putting this on the laptop, new photos, how do you keep it synched between the two.
Hey Matt - does this have to be from one version of LR to the same version? I've got LR5 on my laptop and wanna move everything over to LR Classic CC on my new desktop. Does the same process apply?
You're a boss! Thanks a lot
Well explained bro thanks a lot !
super you saved my time thanks alot man
Hi Matt.
Always love your tutorials & found this one very helpful. I followed your simple instructions, to move the catalogue from my PC to a HDD, but when I plug the HDD into my mac book at home, it's not visible in LR. The catalogue is there on the drive ok, but the mac isn't seeing it. Is there something else I need to do? Thanks in advance, Pascal.
well explained thanks!
Matt, When I moved the presets over the way you explained, the "lightroom" folder in my downloads went inside the "lightroom" folder on my new computer (that I got to by going to preferences and clicking on "show lightroom presets folder:. When I shut it down, I had it back up. When I reopened Lightroom, no new presets were active. If I go back up to preferences and show lightroom presets folder, after I open that folder--inside of it is the lightroom folder that I moved. But none of those presets come up in lightroom. Only the default presets are present when I open LR. Suggestions?
Matt - i keep my photos on an external hard drive and i was able to move my catalog to my new iMac. However, I'm unable to edit any of the photos using plug ins like nik collection from the new lightroom. i get this error message'"Lightroom was unable to prepare the selected file at /Volumes/Imac/Pictures Master/2018/July/XTRANS/DSCF9133-IridientEdit.dng for editing.It will not be opened." i have no problem on the old computer with the same external hard drive
hallo,
unfortunately i am coming back from holidays where i retouched 240 pictures in a different folder topology than on my desktop
on laptop i have right click on collection, export as catalog and added negative raw. (only 5GB very long export !!!) so now i wonder what to do. i have copied catalog and iages on an external drive i connect to desktop. i know i can import catalog in the desktop LR one but i really wonder what to do with images i exported. i have seen different options in catalog import "move", "don't move",... will LR ask me the destination folder on desktop ? or do i just copy images in the folder i want and when LR puts "?" i indicate the new path ?
as you can see i am using LR functions while you copy paste between folders
best regards
marc
Thanks for the video. I transferred lightroom to my new PC and all the pictures are grey as well as the "!". All of my photos that were on my old PC aren't on my new one that I transfer too. Any idea what that is?
Are you liking your iMac, Matt?
If I move Lightroom and my pictures from pc to mac, do I have to know some extra tricks or is there going to be any difficulties?
Nice Video ! Thanks for the help :D :D
Thank you, really helpfull
Does back-up catalog saved my edit info for each photos?
#FantasticVideo I have an iMac with everything on it.... BUT I've always kept all my photos in DROPBOX. I just got a new MacBook Pro and want to move everything over.... is it the same way, with the exception of using an external hard drive? BUT AIRDROP seems to be even a better option if I have both Macs on the same wifi and next to each other, right?
Jeremy JMIAH Williamson Hi. Give it a try. Should work ok. Performance may suffer going thru the web but if it’s working for you go for it.
Yikes... It would be easier if Lightroom could simply open any catalog and remap its pointers if that catalog's location were changed... I hope they can figure out a way to do this, since the current procedures are obscure and confusing.... Thanks for helping us walk through this morass, though, Matt.
I ALWAYS, and I means ALWAYS forget the presets when I do any computer upgrades. Very frustrating....
i like what you do... liked & subed
What do you think of keeping your catalog in a Dropbox folder? Then you're always synced and have a back up in the cloud...
That's what I do; I have all my active pix in Dropbox on the desktop; additionally my LR catalog is on Dropbox. When I import, I make a secondary copy to an external disk. What that means is, I have three copies of every picture-- the Dropbox in the cloud, the Dropbox folder on my desktop iMac, and the raw import on the external drive. I made a five week trip earlier this year and used the same Dropbox folder structure on the laptop I took with me, used the same LR catalog, and made secondary-to-import copies onto a portable hard drive. When I got home, there was no migration because I was working in the same environment when I was on the road as I work in at home.
namberak thanks, that looks like a reliable and easy workflow. Though I'm using a free version of Dropbox, so I just keep the catalog there. Whereas the photos are stored on my Synology, which is then backed up to amazon cloud.
Definitely a good solution. There are times when I travel I don't have internet access (planes - GoGo Wireless sucks!). But if you're always going to have an internet connection it's not a bad idea at all. It'll probably slow LR just a little since the catalog is vital and it's going across the internet, but probably worth it to avoid the hassle.
i tried dropbox before going to holidays with 50 raw at home by wifi and I needed to stop after ten pictures. it was really slow and i used simply windows explorer between laptop and dropbox.
Very helpful! Thank you! Do you happen to have a video on shifting storage from local to external? I would like to make this change, but not sure how to tell Lightroom where to look to find the new location.
Yesss this it what I need to know!!! Did you ever figure this out. ?? TIA
Thanks!
Matt... HELP!!! I got a new iMac and forgot to save my Lightroom Catalog,, I have all my pictures saved on an external hard drive so I still have those, is there an easy way to tell Lightroom where they are without importing them all again???
Hi Jim. If you have your LR catalog open and see ?'s next to any folders you can right click and choose "Find Missing folder" and point it to where it should be. If you don't have your catalog at all, then there really isn't anything you can do but try to open a backup if you have one. If you need more advanced info, I do have a course on catalogs at mattk.com/courses
Good luck!
Did like you said, but when I try to open the Catalog.lrcat on the new mac it says "There is no application set to open the document "Lightroom 5 Catalog.ircat" help...
What happens when you double click on "Lightroom 5 Catalog.ircat"?
@@GingerPhotographerAfter I copied the 3 Lightroom files to the new computer through airdrop like he shows here, I double clicked the Catalog.ircat file on the new mac and it said there is no application set etc...I am now waiting on an nvme raid card and I will attempt to transfer my Lightroom again when I get the new ssd's installed. Thank you.
Do I need to bring the Backup catalog along too?
No, when you move the catalog you can create a new backup.. but until you're up and running on the new system keep the backup.
This is not working for me, I'm changing "internal drives" not external. I tried this with some external drive and it works, but for migrating all the photos in an internal SSD(HD) to a new internal SSD(HD) on the same pc, is not working.
I think Lightroom won't see the photos as being on "the same drive location" if your new drive isn't the same drive letter as the old one. Did you get this figured out? I'm about to do something similar, I may clone the old drive to the new drive to see if I can get the same drive letter.
Very well explained … (I am a professional photographer )…
Why not just keep the catalogue on the external hard drive with your folders? The just double click the catalog file on either or computer, also it’s the same catalog so it’s not out of sync.
Will that work?
@@fredyt8318 Adobe actually suggests doing that here: helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/catalog-faq-lightroom.html
"The easiest way to use your Lightroom Classic catalog on more than one computer (such as a desktop and laptop) is to keep the catalog and photos together on an external drive. Then, you can set that catalog as the default catalog in Lightroom Classic Preferences."
I almost forgot about hidden files though. On my new computer it took me the longest time to find the Library folder under my user profile because it's hidden. That was a bummer. Everything's good now though.
Was having a nightmare with a new laptop thank you
Is the process just reversed if going from the IMac to a laptop?
yes.
Matt, how about from Mac to PC, I scare to corrupt the hard drive...
Right on time...when I am just about to buy a new laptop.
So I just click the file then click airdrop
Well here goes , fingers crossed.
Awesome! Thank you!