Relocate the Lightroom Catalog


I often get asked 'How do I move my Lightroom catalog from one disk to another and keep all of my ratings, edits and keywords'.
An easy way in Lightroom is as follows:
  • Open your original Lightroom catalog on the old disk
  • Change to the Library Module Grid View
  • Make sure you Include Photos from Subfolders which is selected in the Library menu
  • Then Select All from the Edit menu to highlight all of the thumbnails in the catalog
  • Now choose Export as a Catalog from the File menu

Lightroom Export Catalog

  • In the dialog box that appears (shown below), select Include available previews and Export Negative Files


Lightroom Export Dialog Box

  • Set the destination to the Lightroom Pictures folder on your new drive.
  • Finally, open the newly exported catalog on the new drive in Lightroom


Note you can also use this method for importing a new catalog - which might be from your Laptop whilst out shooting, to your main Catalog on your home machine.

I Hope this helps ...

Return to Library Module Tips
Main Lightroom Tips Library