Should I have multiple Lightroom catalogs?
For typical Lightroom use, you should NOT be using multiple catalogs. Using multiple catalogs can slow down your workflow, hinder your ability to organize your photos, increase the chances for file corruption, and gives you no actual benefits.
Should you have multiple Lightroom catalogs?
Is an album the same as a catalog in Lightroom?
In Lightroom CC-land collections are called albums, and collection sets are called folders. In other words, in Lightroom CC you organize your albums by putting them into folders. I’ll refer to them by their Lightroom CC names from here on out when referring to what is in Lightroom CC on the web.
How big can a Lightroom catalog be?
Two final recommendations: Although you can have multiple Lightroom Classic catalogs, try to work with just one. There’s no upper limit to the number of photos you can have in a catalog, and Lightroom Classic offers myriad ways to sort, filter, and otherwise organize and find photos within a catalog.
Why is Lightroom taking up so much space?
Lightroom’s footprint has a tendency to grow as you add more photos to your Catalog. Don’t get me wrong – it still gives you a huge space saving compared to opening your photos one by one and converting them to 16 bit TIFF files, the old-fashioned way we used to do it before Lightroom Classic.
How often should you make a new Lightroom catalog?
To keep your Lightroom Catalog running smoothly, every once in a while you may want to optimize it. It is easy to do. Just go to File>Optimize Catalog. I typically only remember to do this every 6 months or so and Lightroom still runs fine for me.
What happens if you have more than one Lightroom catalog?
When you’re opening and closing the same catalog all the time, there is a greater chance for your files to become corrupted. 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.
How do I create a new Lightroom catalog?
To create a new Master Catalog, go to the File menu and choose New Catalog. A box will pop up that says Create Folder with New Catalog. Type in “Master Catalog” where it says Save As and then hit Create.
Is it possible to have multiple photo catalogs?
Multiple catalogs can work, but they also add a degree of complexity that’s unnecessary for most photographers. If you already have multiple catalogs and you want to figure out which ones you can delete, or how to merge them into a single catalog, don’t worry – we’ll come back to tidying up existing catalogs later in the series.
Which is faster, a small catalog or a big catalog?
Big catalogs can be slow to search, if you’re searching the whole catalog – but it’s still faster than opening multiple catalogs in turn to search through each one. We should define big/small catalogs – even 50,000 photos counts as a small catalog… 4 million is big!