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swyost
swyostCommunity Member
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Lightroom Shortcut for Accessing Different Catalogs in Windows 7

Jul 6, 2009 9:54 AM

If you run Lightroom and Windows 7, or are planning on running Windows 7 when released, it does offer a Lightrooom shortcut opportunity that I've realized most people do not yet to know. With the enhanced functionality of the Windows 7 taskbar, you can now pin multiple catalogs to the Lightroom taskbar icon. As long as Lightroom is pinned to the taskbar, if you have multiple catalogs, you can drag them to that icon and they will form a simple jumplist. Just right-click on Lightroom and then click on the catalog you want to open and Lightroom will start with that catalog instead of its default. I have 60K+ images in 11 catalogs on both an internal and external hard drive, and I find it to me a rather convenient little feature....

 

Stephen

  • blzrdphoto
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    blzrdphoto,
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    Jul 6, 2009 1:06 PM
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    That's a nice little tidbit.  And for those that don't have Windows 7 I believe you can do almost the same thing just by holding <alt> when you open up the program and it will give you a dialog where you can choose which catalog to load.  Definitely not as simple as what you are talking about but it's an option.

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  • Ian Lyons
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    Ian Lyons,
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    Jul 6, 2009 1:14 PM
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    That's a nice little tidbit.  And for those that don't have Windows 7 I believe you can do almost the same thing just by holding <alt> when you open up the program and it will give you a dialog where you can choose which catalog to load.

     

    If you're in the habit of opening different catalogs I would recommend configuring the start preference so that using Prompt me when starting Lightroom is active.

     

    prompt-start.png

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  • swyost
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    swyost,
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    Jul 6, 2009 5:36 PM
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    Of course you can just change the Lightroom settings to always prompt; however, this is simply provided as an alternative for Windows 7 users.  It is one that allows you to see all of your catalogs (or at least all you choose to pin) by right-clicking on the task bar icon as well.  On my end, I also have no desire to be prompted everytime I open Lightroom since 75% of the time I open one catalog, and the remainder of the time is equally split among ten work catalogs.  By this route, if I simply click the icon, it opens my default catalog, but if I right click I can choose from the entire list....

     

    Stephen

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  • Kenneth Daves
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    Kenneth Daves,
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    Jul 6, 2009 10:16 PM
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    Although it isn't as elegant, simply creating a shortcut to the lrcat file and dragging it to the Quick Launch area of the task bar gives the same functionality for Vista and XP.

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  • swyost
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    swyost,
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    Jul 7, 2009 3:06 AM
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    Agreed but for those who are unaware, the Quick Launch toolbar no longer exists in Windows 7.  Actually, the folder is still present but is just a hidden legacy folder and Microsoft intentionally does not list it as a toolbar option nor do they tell you how to find it. I am not suggesting you are unaware, nor am I minimizing its utility for users of earlier versions of Windows. With Windws 7 though there has been a radical redesign of taskbar funcionality and appearance.  In some ways it is more similar to the Dock in OSX but that is an oversimplification since it very much Microsoft's own interpretation and implementation of the concept.

     

    Stephen

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  • Ian Lyons
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    Ian Lyons,
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    Jul 7, 2009 9:38 AM
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    Of course you can just change the Lightroom settings to always prompt; however, this is simply provided as an alternative for Windows 7 users.

     

    I wasn't addressing your post.

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  • swyost
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    swyost,
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    Jul 7, 2009 10:06 AM
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    Last I checked, you responded to the thread and pointed out a different way of doing something.  Since mine was the original post and your response was related to the content, you most certainly were addressing my post in the process of responding to another person.  I then pointed out, again for Windows 7 users, why this can be a convenient shortcut.  I am well within my rights as the person who started the thread to keep the focus on the point of the post - an additional level of functionality that can be a convenience for people running a new and soon to be be very popular OS (based upon RC usage and retail pre-sales figures).  Nothing personal, but I am certainly allowed to respond, and in this case my response clarified why this can be more conveneint than your suggestion (again when running Windows 7) .

     

    Stephen

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