snooper Posted June 30, 2013 Share #1 Posted June 30, 2013 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hello ! I'm really sorry if this have been addressed in a previous thread, but I could not find it. Is it possible to build one library out of two ? I have one on the laptop to view "on the go" what I've got, and the real thing on the main computer. After a few weeks, I obviously made some adjustments on the laptop library, and don't want to start it all over agin importing the files on the big boy. Ideally I would like to merge the two libraries and make a single one... [Edit : I have tried to "import from another catalog" but the PP already done is not imported..] Thanks ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted June 30, 2013 Posted June 30, 2013 Hi snooper, Take a look here LR : Merging two libraries. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
stunsworth Posted June 30, 2013 Share #2 Posted June 30, 2013 Try Googling "Merge Lightroom catalog". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanyasi Posted July 2, 2013 Share #3 Posted July 2, 2013 I've done it before, but don't recall the steps. As noted there a bunch of articles on the web. Here is one:Created Too Many Lightroom Catalogs? Merge them! | Mosaic I assume the process has not changed. But as usual, you would be well advised to make backup copies of both catalogues before merging. Good luck Jack Siegel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IkarusJohn Posted July 2, 2013 Share #4 Posted July 2, 2013 On a related issue, I tried putting my catalogue into DropBox, in the hope that I could access it from both my work computer (with a large cinema display) and my MacBook Pro, for the reasons stated above. For some reason, I can't access the images loaded from my MackBook on my iMac, and vice versa - both are using the same catalogue, and it appears to be synced in DropBox. Anyone had similar experience, and have a work around? Cheers John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlashGordonPhotography Posted July 7, 2013 Share #5 Posted July 7, 2013 Lightroom doesn't allow sharing using a network or cloud based catalogue. Catalogues need to be local (ie: on a physical drive). the easiest solution is a small portable SSD drive. Put your catalogue on that. If you use the new smart previews you can work on the images stored on a disconnected hard drive as well. Gordon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlashGordonPhotography Posted July 7, 2013 Share #6 Posted July 7, 2013 Hello ! I'm really sorry if this have been addressed in a previous thread, but I could not find it. Is it possible to build one library out of two ? I have one on the laptop to view "on the go" what I've got, and the real thing on the main computer. After a few weeks, I obviously made some adjustments on the laptop library, and don't want to start it all over agin importing the files on the big boy. Ideally I would like to merge the two libraries and make a single one... [Edit : I have tried to "import from another catalog" but the PP already done is not imported..] Thanks ! have you imported the images to your "big boy" before importing the second catalogue? If so you'll need to select the option to import the settings as virtual copies. If you have never imported those images all the develop settings should copy accross with the standard "import from another catalogue" command. gordon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IkarusJohn Posted July 8, 2013 Share #7 Posted July 8, 2013 Advertisement (gone after registration) Thank you, Gordon. I now see what I have done. So, if I wish to put all my images onto a portable hard drive (backed up both in the office and at home) and have a single LR catalogue, I need to copy the images from both my work computer and my home computer onto a single folder on the hard drive, and then create a new catalogue on the hard drive, and import the images? If I do that, will I lose anything? Cheers, and sorry for the basic questions. I don't want to do this by trial and error. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snooper Posted July 8, 2013 Author Share #8 Posted July 8, 2013 Thanks to all of you for the answers. Unfortunately, even if I made sure I was running the exact same versions of LR on each computer, merging of 2 catalogs remains impossible. I simply have no access to the folder containing the file Lightroom 4 Catalog.lrcat. I can see the folder, but I'm unable to get in there from another LR app that the one that created it. First impression was either a data encryption (file vault) or a permission issue (I chmod 777 the whole external drive to make sure), made sure the owner's rights were correctly set... Still... Impossible to import from that catalog... Strange ! Have a great day ! Antoine Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mydarkroom Posted July 10, 2013 Share #9 Posted July 10, 2013 It's simple! Go to File -> Import -> Library All pictures will be imported along with the organizational structure, metadata, and adjustments. If you already had same set of pictures on both libraries the edits, metadata will be synchronized with the most recent one. I find this quite useful when using my laptop. If I want to take a project on the go I Export it as new library (File -> Export -> Project as Library), do all the work and then sync back to my main library. Oooooops, I am afraid I am actually talking about Apple's Aperture (yes, the nearly dead, never updated and not designed for professionals software). Sorry, after so much trashing about Aperture, it was good to share one of my favourite feature of Aperture. I am pretty confident Adobe will come out with a solution whenever it releases Lightroom CC. Cheers Raf Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dougg Posted July 13, 2013 Share #10 Posted July 13, 2013 It's simple! Go to File -> Import -> Library All pictures will be imported along with the organizational structure, metadata, and adjustments. If you already had same set of pictures on both libraries the edits, metadata will be synchronized with the most recent one. I find this quite useful when using my laptop. If I want to take a project on the go I Export it as new library (File -> Export -> Project as Library), do all the work and then sync back to my main library. Oooooops, I am afraid I am actually talking about Apple's Aperture (yes, the nearly dead, never updated and not designed for professionals software). Sorry, after so much trashing about Aperture, it was good to share one of my favourite feature of Aperture. I am pretty confident Adobe will come out with a solution whenever it releases Lightroom CC. Yes, I think this same procedure SHOULD work in LR5, but... when I opened/converted the LR4 catalog in LR5, there were some files that had been imported in LR4 but not processed in LR4. Those files were processed in the LR5beta, and when the beta catalog was merged into the main catalog the edits did not sync. I'm thinking I may need to delete those unedited files from the main catalog before merging the beta catalog again, in order for the merging to bring over all the data. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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