Luminous Landscape Forum

Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Adobe Lightroom Q&A => Topic started by: Roy on October 25, 2010, 04:51:58 pm

Title: keeping two copies of Lightroom in sync
Post by: Roy on October 25, 2010, 04:51:58 pm

I use Lightroom on two mac computers and would like to keep all settings, presets, keywords, etc. in sync. I know where the lightroom settings file is located but it doesn't contain all the user settings. Can anyone give a list of the files I need to sync?

Thanks.

Title: Re: keeping two copies of Lightroom in sync
Post by: john beardsworth on October 25, 2010, 05:23:21 pm

By "settings file" I assume you mean the catalogue - an lrcat file. This is the crucial file.

There's a folder which contains all your presets User/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom. You would copy this whole folder.

There are other files such as a preferences file User/Library/Preferences, but copying this between machines may be unnecessary / cause odd problems.

The catalogue file can grow quite big, so copying it back and forth could prove a hassle, and rather than copy across you could put the catalogue on an external hard drive which you attach to whichever computer you're using. The other approach (which I use) is to use File > Export as Catalog to move individual shoots across as and when needed.

John

Title: Re: keeping two copies of Lightroom in sync
Post by: Roy on October 25, 2010, 07:51:52 pm

Hi John,

No, I don't want to copy the catalogue, just the settings I've made, so that Lightroom on my notebook computer feels like Lightroom on my Mac Pro. I keep the Lightroom settings folder stored with my catalogue, so it is easy to find and move. It contains presets and templates, but some things, such as keywords, are stored elsewhere. My question is then: What settings are not stored in the Lightroom settings folder and how do I copy them?

Title: Re: keeping two copies of Lightroom in sync
Post by: digitaldog on October 25, 2010, 08:16:07 pm

Since you are on a Mac, you can use either SuperDuper or Chronosync to do what you are asking. The key is having a dedicated disk (ideally for SuperDuper) for each machine. Then only new files will update in either direction so that they stay in sync. Oh, set your preferences to store all your user presets WITH the catalog, then its saved to these two dedicated disks. Everything will stay in sync.

Title: Re: keeping two copies of Lightroom in sync
Post by: john beardsworth on October 26, 2010, 03:05:46 am

Quote from: Roy on October 25, 2010, 07:51:52 pm

My question is then: What settings are not stored in the Lightroom settings folder and how do I copy them?

User/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom is the folder to target.

Do you have any plug-ins? Where have you stored them? They would need to be copied too.

Personally, I dislike the store presets with catalog option. I'd rather keep everything in one place.

John