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Problem creating new catalog

Explorer ,
Sep 20, 2018 Sep 20, 2018

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I have lightroom 5 on windows 10. I'm trying to create a new catalog. So under file I hit new catalog. But unlike what I see in the instruction book, I don't

get a dialog box with two horizonal trays (or whatever you call them) for writing in "save as" and "where" with a create button at the bottom.Instead I get

a BIG dialog box with "createfolder with new catalog" written in the far upper left, which does not respond to mouse clicks. Then there are icons (or whatever you call them) of half opened folders standing vertically containing icons of things such as lightroom, lightroompics and, among other things, icons of unrelated video projects having nothing to

do with LR. At the bottom is a space to type "file name" and underneath it one that says "SAve as type." There's no create button.

I am completely stymied. What do I do to get the simple dialogue box where I just type in save as and where and hit create.

If someone could help me with this, can they also tell me if what I would want to save a new catalog as (am I giving it a name when I write in save as?) and where

do I want to save it? I have as people suggest one lightroompic folder in an external drive. Do I want the new catalog in that folder?

Thank you,

Al Marotta

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

LEGEND , Sep 22, 2018 Sep 22, 2018

Type in a File name and select Save. A folder with that name will be created in the upper level folder you are in, Pictures, then a LRCAT File will be created inside that folder and the File Name will be the same as the Folder Name.

If you want to create a new catalog in some other folder than Pictures then Browse to that other folder, or to the Root of the hard drive, then type in a file Name. What will happen is the same as I wrote above, folder will be created and then a LR Cat file created in

...

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Community Expert ,
Sep 21, 2018 Sep 21, 2018

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Please post a screenshot of the dialog box. If you don't know how to take a screenshot, see â–· How to take a screenshot

You can paste it into a reply.

You can save a catalog anywhere you like on your computer, Lightroom doesn't care where it is. Having the catalog on an SSD will result in better performance than having it on a regular hard drive.

But why do you want to create a new catalog? Most people only need one catalog, and having multiple catalogs can lead to confusion and clutter, and will not save you any time.

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Advocate ,
Sep 21, 2018 Sep 21, 2018

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Have you created a catalog previously ?

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Explorer ,
Sep 21, 2018 Sep 21, 2018

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Hi Per and Tony,

Thanks for your responses.

I sent an email response to Per's e-mail to me with a screenshot in it. I could not figure out how to paste it in this forum. If someone will tell me I will do it.

I'm surprised, but paying close attention to, your saying that you can get by with only one catalog. Kelby's book seems to indicate it's an okay thing to separate different subjects with new catalogs. Yes, Tony, I have created a catalog previously. In fact, I have four in my LR program. Early on in my use of LR I didn't know what I was doing and was asked if I wanted to relaunch using a different catalog and I did it and thus came up with new catalogs.

But please keep in mind my problem is how to CREATE a new catalog. On the dialogue box I've been getting it just asks me to save some file somewhere and doesn't mention creating a catalog. If you can make sense of the dialogue screen I get, please tell me the precise steps you take to get a new catalog.

Thanks,

Al Marotta

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Community Expert ,
Sep 21, 2018 Sep 21, 2018

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You cannot post images when replying by email.

Go to this thread in a web browser, reply to my post, and click the insert image icon, or paste the image in the reply box.

insert-image.png

Kelby's book seems to indicate it's an okay thing to separate different subjects with new catalogs.

Use keywords and/or collections (or even folder names) to separate different subjects.

Lightroom can only have one catalog open at a time, so having just one catalog will make things much easier – no re-launching LR to open a different catalog, and no need to try to remember in what catalog a particular image or folder is to be found.

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Explorer ,
Sep 22, 2018 Sep 22, 2018

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Screenshot (4).png

Dear Per,

I finally got it. Here's the screen shot I get when I try to create a new catalog.

Thanks, Al Marotta

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Community Expert ,
Sep 22, 2018 Sep 22, 2018

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I haven't created a new catalog in a very long time, but the dialog looks like it should, except for the Create button which has turned into a Save button, which I guess might be caused by a glitch in Windows. Try restarting your computer, and see if that makes a difference.

If it doesn't, enter a name and click Save, and see what happens.

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LEGEND ,
Sep 22, 2018 Sep 22, 2018

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Type in a File name and select Save. A folder with that name will be created in the upper level folder you are in, Pictures, then a LRCAT File will be created inside that folder and the File Name will be the same as the Folder Name.

If you want to create a new catalog in some other folder than Pictures then Browse to that other folder, or to the Root of the hard drive, then type in a file Name. What will happen is the same as I wrote above, folder will be created and then a LR Cat file created in that folder.

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Explorer ,
Sep 23, 2018 Sep 23, 2018

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Hi Just shoot me,

Thanks for your input. Could you first please tell me what your opinion is of creating new catalogs? I confess Per Bentsen has me

worried on the topic. Does doing so create potential problems, especially if things get corrupted? Have you ever used multiple

catalogs? Not to irritate Per---who might be right on the mark---I'd like to hear from other people regarding their experiences with multiple catalogs.

Secondly, is there any benefit in saving my catalog to the same external drive that I save my LR pictures?

Thanks,

Al Marotta

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LEGEND ,
Sep 23, 2018 Sep 23, 2018

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I've used LR for 11+ years and have only created One catalog, actually it was created when I first opened LR Version 1 right after installing it, that has moved from system to system and Been Upgraded over the years with the release of newer versions of LR.

So no I have never used multiple catalogs. All my images are in one LR catalog.

I have only created new catalogs for TEST purposes and or to import images from other users to try and help them with a problem (Instead of importing their images into my main catalog).

IMHO having more than one catalog is counter productive. But some users do have many catalogs for different reasons.

The only potential problem is not being able to find an image you know is in a catalog. Which catalog is it in?

Things, computer files, only get corrupted because of hardware problems or viruses and or malware. No computer file get corrupted by properly functioning hardware and no virus or malware on the system.

I have my LR catalog on one partition of one physical drive, SSD, in my system. I have my images on another physical drive in my system and also store the LR Catalog Backups to that same drive that holds my images. I backup both physical drives that holds the catalog and the one that hold my images and LR backup files to 2 different external drives.

It is fine to store the catalog, the catalog backups and your images on one drive BUT, and this is a BIG BUT, you should have at least one backup, copy, of all that data on some other physical drive whether that is an internal or external drive.

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Explorer ,
Sep 24, 2018 Sep 24, 2018

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I would like to thank everyone for their kind help.Because of you I've been scared out of using more than one catalog. Because of your help, I looked into finding files via keywords and searching (I have only a moron's understanding of how to use folders) and discovered that for the amount of shooting I do one catalog should be enough.

Now could someone who happens to read this tell me how to reverse and get back to normal after hitting "show parent folder".? I can't figure out how to get back to a normal display of folders.

Thanks again,

Al Marotta

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Community Expert ,
Sep 24, 2018 Sep 24, 2018

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get back to normal after hitting "show parent folder"

Right-Click on the 'Parent' Folder and choose- [Hide this Parent]

Remember the Folders you see in the Folder panel of Lightroom are the same folders (and structure) on your hard-drives, BUT...you will only see the folders that contain Photos that are referenced in your Lr Catalog.

Regards. My System: Lightroom-Classic 13.2 Photoshop 25.5, ACR 16.2, Lightroom 7.2, Lr-iOS 9.0.1, Bridge 14.0.2, Windows-11.

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Explorer ,
Sep 26, 2018 Sep 26, 2018

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Hi Tony,

I don't know if this will get to you but thanks for your help.

Al

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