When LR4PB1 launches, it will create a new catalogue. The worst possible thing would be for you to corrupt images in your LR3 catalogue by using it with this beta (unfinished) version of LR4. It is designed for testing and becomes defunct on March 31, 2012, so it's best not to be working with your LR3 catalogue.
Here's what I did:
- I selected a subset of photos in LR3 that I want in LR4 to test it out and exported them as a catalogue to my Desktop making sure the check boxes at the bottom of the dialogue box were checked [File > Export as Catalog]
- LR4, wouldn't let me "Import from another catalog" (a safety feature, I suppose) so I simply chose File > Import Photos and Videos... then navigated to the catalogue I just created
- in Import, I chose "Move" (not Copy or Add) so the files physically became part of the temporary LR4 library and put them in with the LR4 application so it's all on one place (easy to delete when I finished)
- alternatively, from within LR4, you could simply choose File > Import Photos and Videos... and navigate to your LR3 Photo Library (not your catalogue, but rather the location of your originals) and choose "Copy" (not "Move!!) and add them to your LR4 catalogue and library.
There are probably other ways to achieve the same end, but make sure you
work in LR4 with copies of your originals, not the originals themselves. It might just be that the move to full version of LR4 is seamless, but just in case it isn't, I want to err on the side of caution.
