Where to put Presets with 2 catalogs on 2 different drives

[mikecox]

1. I have two catalogs, one personal and one work. I do most of my editing on my laptop but I keep my personal and work images on separate drives. I suppose I could put my Presets on the laptop's SSD but what if my laptop crashes and I have to work on my desktop?

Can I put my presets on my Onedrive and access them from there, regardless which computer I'm using?

2. I have discovered that if I open a backed up catalog my presets are missing. I thought my backup would give me everything I backed up, including my presets. Is there some reason why I'm not getting presets in backed up copies of catalogs?

 

[clee01l]

If "Store Presets with Catalog" is checked, a folder called "Lightroom" Settings is created in the folder along side the catalog file. Any new Presets will be written there but existing presets will not be moved to copied from the global location (C:\Users\[user name]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Lightroom\[preset or template folder]\[preset or template filename.lrtemplate])
You can check in preferences on the Presets tab to find the location of the folder containing your presets.

With one catalog and two computers, "Storing Presets with Catalog" gives you the most portability with that catalog but does not share presets with other catalogs. With more than one catalog on one computer, storing presets in the default global location make them available to all catalogs. This is your trade off. You need to decide which is more practical for your situation and then work at keeping presets folders in sync between machines OR between catalogs.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

1. I have two catalogs, one personal and one work. I do most of my editing on my laptop but I keep my personal and work images on separate drives. I suppose I could put my Presets on the laptop's SSD but what if my laptop crashes and I have to work on my desktop?

Can I put my presets on my Onedrive and access them from there, regardless which computer I'm using?

2. I have discovered that if I open a backed up catalog my presets are missing. I thought my backup would give me everything I backed up, including my presets. Is there some reason why I'm not getting presets in backed up copies of catalogs?

1: You can store the original presets folder on Onedrive and then place a symbolic link to this folder in the default location of both computers. Please note that a symbolic link is not the same as a Windows shortcut, even though they serve the same purpose.
2: That sounds like you stored your presets with the catalog. Lightroom only backs up the catalog file, not any other stuff inside the catalog folder, so not your presets.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

With one catalog and two computers, "Storing Presets with Catalog" gives you the most portability with that catalog but does not share presets with other catalogs.

You could put both catalogs in the same folder, then both catalogs would have access to the same local Lightroom Settings folder, which would be stored in the same folder. I haven't tested it, but I don't see any reason why that wouldn't work.

 

[clee01l]

You could put both catalogs in the same folder, then both catalogs would have access to the same local Lightroom Settings folder, which would be stored in the same folder. I haven't tested it, but I don't see any reason why that wouldn't work.

A very good suggestion. I think it would work too. I don't like the symbolic link solution although it too could be made to work, just a bit too complicated for an error free solution.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Yes, it should work. You have to remember that both catalog files (and their previews) need to be in the same folder, without each being inside a subfolder. So place the contents of both catalog folders in one single master folder, don't just place both catalog folders in one master folder.

 

[mikecox]

Ok, I'm trying to sort this out

1. I understand, I think,
   1. that if I open a backed up catalog I will not get my presets, unless I open it from the location where the default catalog is stored, with the Lr settings folder.
   2. I can put both catalogs in the same folder and have access to my current presets, that are stored in my "Lightroom" settings folder.
   3. I can create a "Symbolic link" that will cause Lr to look on my Onedrive for my current presets. (The Lr settings folder would be replaced with the Symbolic link?)
2. I don't understand how
   1. to create a "Symbolic Link"; I Googled it and found the method.
   2. putting both catalogs in the same folder would help, unless I put them in a common location, like my Onedrive.

Remember, I have 2 catalogs on 2 different drives and I want to be able to plug them into any computer and have access to my current presets. It sounds like the only way I could do that is with the "Symbolic link" option.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

If you have two catalogs on two different drives, then the symbolic link method is your only option. You need a utility that can produce symbolic links. Google for it and you should find one, I know they exist for Windows too.

The method to use is simple. On your main computer, move the Lightroom presets folder from its default location to OneDrive. Make a symbolic link to that folder and place this link in the default location. Make sure the name is exactly the same as the original folder, so remove the word 'symlink' from the name if the utility adds that.

Let OneDrive sync the presets folder, so it appears on the second computer. On that second computer, just trash the original Lightroom presets folder in the default location. Then make a symbolic link to the presets folder in OneDrive, and place that link in the default location.

So now you have one synched Lightroom presets folder, which is located in OneDrive. And in the default location on both computers you have a symbolic link to that folder.

Just a note: the way I described works perfectly with Dropbox. I have been using this for years. Dropbox creates a local folder (called 'Dropbox') on each computer, and syncs those with its servers. I assume OneDrive works the same, so it also creates a local folder on all computers. If not, this may not work.

 

[mikecox]

Thanks for those very complete instructions. I was glad to read "just a note: because I subscribe to a service called "Box". It sounds like I could put my resets there and save space on my Onedrive.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Thanks for those very complete instructions. I was glad to read "just a note: because I subscribe to a service called "Box". It sounds like I could put my resets there and save space on my Onedrive.

Yes, 'Box' works with a local folder, so that will be fine.

 

[mikecox]

Great, thanks again for your help.