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Author Topic: Merging catalogs - is this right?  (Read 2006 times)

marcgoldring

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Merging catalogs - is this right?
« on: October 11, 2014, 06:40:59 am »

I've been reading a bit here and I think I have this sorted out but wanted to get confirmation, just in case...

I have my catalog on my iMac and my image files on an external drive connected to it. About 6 months ago, I started working with LR on a Macbook and I created a separate catalog on that machine. Now I want to merge these two even though the image files will be in 2 different locations so I would have access only to a limited sub-set, depending on which machine I was on.

What I think I need to do is to load the Macbook catalog and export as a catalog and then load the iMac catalog and import it. Since both catalogs are on my Dropbox, this should be a relatively straightforward matter - or so I fondly hope.

Is there something I'm missing?

Thanks

Marco
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john beardsworth

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Re: Merging catalogs - is this right?
« Reply #1 on: October 11, 2014, 07:49:25 am »

It's roughly right - you'll need to run file > import from another catalog.

If the catalogues are on dropbox, you may not need the export as catalog step since the iMac can already see the other catalogue. You'd use export as catalog if you want to  move over some of your work.

With the photos, you can always right click a folder in your catalogue and point them to the relevant location.

So generally you're on the right track. Just be careful not to get too clever with separate catalogues and sub sets. And backup the catalogue before trying such things for the first time.

John

« Last Edit: October 19, 2014, 04:36:17 am by john beardsworth »
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marcgoldring

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Re: Merging catalogs - is this right?
« Reply #2 on: October 11, 2014, 07:53:04 am »

Thanks, very helpful. And I've been burned enough times by my cleverness that I've pretty much set that aside!
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Marc Goldring
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allegretto

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Re: Merging catalogs - is this right?
« Reply #3 on: October 18, 2014, 08:59:20 pm »

I don't understand why you'd want to segregate the catalogs if all the images are in the cloud. Why not make all available on both… unless you don't want some images seen.

I would back them up on a physical drive in any case.
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marcgoldring

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Re: Merging catalogs - is this right?
« Reply #4 on: October 24, 2014, 09:27:07 pm »

Not sure where the notion that I was segregating the catalogues came from. And the files are not in the cloud, they're on an external hard drive. I might eventually decide to move the 22GB of image files to the cloud but I'm not there yet. I want the catalog in Dropbox so I can access it from either computer. And yes, back up to a local hard drive.

Marco
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Marc Goldring
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allegretto

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Re: Merging catalogs - is this right?
« Reply #5 on: October 25, 2014, 11:13:32 am »

sorry, I misunderstood.

I guess you want the catalog in the Cloud so you can access it from both computers on the fly

Guess I'm a Luddite and not comfortable with it just being on the cloud. Would keep a full catalog on both machines. The catalog itself is relatively small. Would synch them frequently via the Cloud of course

22G uploaded to the Cloud... wow. That would take a good deal of time regardless of the connection

again, my bad...
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marcgoldring

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Re: Merging catalogs - is this right?
« Reply #6 on: October 26, 2014, 08:24:25 pm »

Not to worry...

And yes, I do have reservations about the cloud and especially 22GB of image files...

An alternative would be a NAS here at home - or to just break down and get an external monitor for the laptop and ditch the iMac. I'm one person and I need 2 computers, why?

M
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Marc Goldring
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