1 Reply Latest reply: Jan 19, 2014 10:54 AM by ssprengel RSS

    Why does LR5 not use the preview images?

    Toon61 Community Member

      Hi all,

       

      I'm a new LR5 user, and this one puzzles me.

      When you create a new LR Catalog (whether images are stored local or on a NAS) LR also creates a '...Previews.lrdata' file. I think for storing the previews of the images in the corresponding Catalog file for fast(er) searching in Library mode.

      But when you open that catalog (and in Library mode) it looks/seems like LR is not using these previews at all. Sometimes it can take a lot of time when LR has updated (?) all image previews, especially when the originals are stored on a NAS. It looks like LR is rebuilding all previews.

       

      Is this common, or is it some setting in LR to use or rebuild the (previously) generated previews.

      And does creating Smart Previews have any effect on this?

        • 1. Re: Why does LR5 not use the preview images?
          ssprengel Community Member

          Smart Previews are for when the original photos are offline so you can actually do things in Develop without them.

           

          Are you talking about when you first import photos or after they are imported and you have started up LR, again, and click into the folder in LR to start working on them?

           

          When you click into a new folder of photos, besides loading the previews from disk into memory, LR is also checking any metadata stored in the photos, themselves, to see if it matches what metadata is stored in the LR database, and this can take some time because LR is actually reading some information from each photo wherever it is stored.

           

          As LR completes scanning of each photo the three-dots will disappear from the thumbnail.

           

          Is this the delay you’re seeing, the three dots being on all the thumbnails and going away one-by-one?