16 Replies Latest reply: Oct 22, 2011 2:43 AM by Allan_Olesen RSS

    Launching Lightroom from Explorer

    JBelmo99 Community Member

      Hello all,

       

      I would like to be able to locate a file using Explorer, then use the OPEN WITH option to go directly to LR 3.5. 

      The reason I want to do this is that it is much faster and more direct than invoking LR and going through the IMPORT scheme.

       

      OPEN WITH works perfectly with PhotoShop, but I get an error message whenever I try it with LR:

       

      " (filename) is not a valid Win32 application "

       

      Is there something wrong with the way I installed LR 3.5 ?  Am I missing a step here? 

       

      Thanks,

       

      JBelmo

        • 1. Re: Launching Lightroom from Explorer
          Texas Diver

          Do you have the "open with" in Windows pointed at the Lightroom.exe?

          • 2. Re: Launching Lightroom from Explorer
            Texas Diver Community Member

            I think this is what you're trying to do.

             

                 Open Explorer and go to a jpg image.

                 Right click on the image.

                 Mouse over Open with.

                       At this point you can either open the single image with Lightroom by clicking on Lightroom or
                       Click on Choose Default Program

                        Clicking on Choose Default Program will open a Windows "Open With Popup" Click on Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
                        (this will set the default to Lightroom when you double click on it from Windows Explorer)
             
                        If Lightroom is not an available option click the Browse button.
                        Navigate to Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.????/Lightroom   then click the Open button.
                        Clicking the Open button will return you to the Open With Popup.
                        Click the Checkbox "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file"
                        Click on Lightroom and then OK.

             

            Hope this helps and is what you were trying to do.

            • 3. Re: Launching Lightroom from Explorer
              Hal P Anderson Community Member

              Texas Diver,

               

              Did you actually try this? I did, and the system just ignores the request and opens the jpg with the app that was already set up to open jpgs.

               

              Lightroom doesn't open images like other editors do. If it isn't in the catalogue, LR can't edit it.

               

              If you doubleclick on a catalogue icon, LR will come up having opened that catalogue, but that is the only kind of file that it will open from the Explorer.

               

              Hal

              • 4. Re: Launching Lightroom from Explorer
                Texas Diver Community Member

                Yep...works perfectly. Now it does bring them into the import viewer for you to select which images etc. but you do get to skip opening lightroom and using the import feature....

                • 5. Re: Launching Lightroom from Explorer
                  R Owens Community Member

                  WOW, you save a whole six seconds. I'm impressed.

                  • 6. Re: Launching Lightroom from Explorer
                    Texas Diver Community Member

                    Well it could save a lot more than that. If you have images spread over 10 folders that you're wanting to open at one time, using Explorer to locate all the the images and group them on one screen then selecting them and having them all open in Lightroom at once could be helpful.

                    • 7. Re: Launching Lightroom from Explorer
                      DdeGannes Community Member

                      Image00073.jpg

                       

                      Are you refering to this screen, if so it means that LR is now open and you have import the images to work further with them in Lightroom.

                      • 8. Re: Launching Lightroom from Explorer
                        Texas Diver Community Member

                        Yes, that is correct. So from Explorer when you double click the image it will open it in the Import screen, the one you have the screenshot of, in Lightroom.

                         

                        I believe this is what the original poster was trying to do.

                        • 9. Re: Launching Lightroom from Explorer
                          Geoff the kiwi CommunityMVP

                          Texas Diver wrote:

                           

                          Yes, that is correct. So from Explorer when you double click the image it will open it in the Import screen, the one you have the screenshot of, in Lightroom.

                           

                          I believe this is what the original poster was trying to do.

                          My read is that what you suggest is the easiest way but the OP wants to avoid the Import menu which is just not possible.

                          OP - files cannot be seen in LR without them being imported which adds the files to the internal database.

                          • 10. Re: Launching Lightroom from Explorer
                            Texas Diver Community Member

                            OP I will concur with Geoff. My way will allow you to sort and locate batches of images and then bring them to the Import screen but you can not bypass the Import screen/process.

                            • 11. Re: Launching Lightroom from Explorer
                              Allan_Olesen Community Member

                              If the usual Open With method doesn't work, it is probably because the following key in the Windows Registry is pointing to an old version of Lightroom:

                              HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\lightroom.exe\shell\open\command

                               

                              I have had the same problem. It seems that there is some error in the Lightroom installer so it doesn't update all Registry keys when updating Lightroom.

                               

                               

                              And yes, starting a Lightroom import directly from Windows Explorer is extremely useful. I see several replies in this thread questioning why somebody would want that. It is really simple: If you already have a folder open in Windows Explorer and want to import it to Lightroom, you have to go through a lot of steps to start Lightroom and find that folder if it is buried deeply in your computer's directory structure. Starting the import directly from Windows Explorer saves all those steps.

                              • 12. Re: Launching Lightroom from Explorer
                                Texas Diver Community Member

                                Excellent! Thanks Allan!

                                • 13. Re: Launching Lightroom from Explorer
                                  DdeGannes Community Member

                                  What's interesting about this thread is that the OP has not made a single comment since making his post. Maybe he has got the awnser elsewere.

                                  • 14. Re: Launching Lightroom from Explorer
                                    HarrieB Community Member

                                    What should the value of that key look like?

                                    I see 2 values:

                                    Name: (Standaard)      Type: REG-SZ      Value: "C:\Applic\Lightroom 3\lightroom.exe" "%1"

                                    Name: Command      Type: REG_MULTI_SZ     Value: Is71ab@}5?GL^tb_6gD_LightroomBase>q0BD[WIOY=]t4pK{Hn1^ "%1"

                                    Could the second be wrong?

                                     

                                    And while I am here; if I delete the second key, can I restore the right value bij choosing the right click "Open with..." option?

                                    • 15. Re: Launching Lightroom from Explorer
                                      Allan_Olesen Community Member

                                      Your first key must bee the one I am referring to. On my PC the name is "(Default)", and "(Standaard)" sounds like a (Dutch?) translation of that.

                                      The value on my PC is "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.5\lightroom.exe" "%1". I had to manually change "3.3" into "3.5" to make it work so this key had apparently skipped both the 3.4 and 3.5 upgrade.

                                       

                                      Your second key does not resemble anything I have. It also sounds strange that you have a Command key inside the Command key. I don't know what will happen if you delete it - but you could try to rename it and see what happens.

                                      • 16. Re: Launching Lightroom from Explorer
                                        Allan_Olesen Community Member

                                        I now also finally came around to adding an Explorer right click menu item for importing a directory into Lightroom. If anyone finds this useful, you can follow these steps:

                                         

                                        • Copy the text written in italics below (everything after "========================") into a text file (using Notepad).
                                        • Change the last line to match the path where you installed Lightroom.
                                        • Save the file as "lr-import.reg". Do not leave out the quotation marks. They are important since Notepad will save the file as lr-import.reg.txt if you leave them out.
                                        • Double click on the file to import it into the registry.

                                         

                                        The "&" in "Import to &Lightroom" is there to make the L key a shortcut in the menu. You can leave it out or place it in front of any letter you want to use as a shortcut. Just make sure that that letter is not already used for another menu item in the right click menu (may be easiest to see if you use the menu key on the keyboard to open the menu).

                                         

                                        ========================

                                        Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

                                         

                                        [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\Import to &Lightroom]

                                        @="Import to &Lightroom)"

                                         

                                        [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\Import to &Lightroom\command]

                                        @="\"C:\\Program Files\\Adobe\\Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.5\\lightroom.exe\" \"%1\""