How to merge catalogs?

[Zak833]

I have a large LR catalog that I wish for the time being to leave untouched. I also have new set of 100 photos that I will eventually wish to merge with this, but for now I just wish to make edits to them in LR.

If I make a new catalog for the new 100 pictures and then make edits to them, how can I eventually merge these edited versions into the old catalog? Obviously I can move the pictures themselves into the first catalog's folder, but how do I merge everything, including edits?

Thanks in advance.

[Rob_Cullen]

Obviously I can move the pictures themselves into the first catalog's folder

No, this is wrong. There will be no moving of photos. Leave them in their same place in your Hard Drive folders.

The correct procedure will be to "Import from another Catalog" under the "File" menu.

This will combine the two catalogs- Open the 'old' catalog and import the 'new 100' catalog, which will include all the edits.  Doing this you are in effect combining the two catalog database files into one.

However you need a good reason to create more than one catalog, and it is seldom recommended. So unless you have a good reason stick to importing all your photos into one catalog.

[Zak833]

Thanks. The reason I am trying to keep them separate is because I just did a Google Photos backup of my entire catalog and for some reason it excluded 300 photos from 10,600, so I wish to try and diagnose that before adding more photos to the catalog and potentially muddling he issue. I suppose I could flag the new ones and move them out of the folder if necessary when I eventually come to work on the backup issue, then move them back in when I am done?

[Zak833]

p.s. Your response also made me wonder, once photos are imported into a catalog, is it really not possible to move them to a different folder and have the catalog still read them (with edits), if you inform LR of their new location?

Thanks again.

[JP Hess]

Zak833  wrote

p.s. Your response also made me wonder, once photos are imported into a catalog, is it really not possible to move them to a different folder and have the catalog still read them (with edits), if you inform LR of their new location?

Thanks again.

I don't know where you got the impression that images cannot be moved to different folders. As long as Lightroom can keep track of where the images are located the edits will stay intact. But you have to be able to show Lightroom where the images are located. If you are just moving certain images within a folder then it's probably easier to just drag/drop them to the folder that you want them to be in. If you do it that way the edits will stay in place.  But be careful because it's easy to drop them in the wrong folder and then you can easily become confused. The most reliable way to move images is to use your system browser and move entire folders (with Lightroom closed). Then when you open Lightroom it will indicate that the folder is missing. Right-click on the folder and choose to update the folder location. All you have to do is find the folder in its new location and everything should be ready to go.

There really shouldn't be a need to move images. You can use collections to group images together from any number of folders on any number of drives. The only time I have found it necessary to move images is when I have added a new hard drive and wanted to move images onto that drive.

[Rob_Cullen]

p.s. Your response also made me wonder, once photos are imported into a catalog, is it really not possible to move them to a different folder and have the catalog still read them (with edits), if you inform LR of their new location?

Yes it is possible, as Jim Hess states above.

But if the 100 photos are only referenced in the 'New' catalog, they will not automatically appear in the 'old' catalog by moving them to another folder with the operating system.

My earlier comments about 'not moving' photos is still suggested IF you are going to "Merge" catalogs. Do the "Import from another catalog" first- then you can move files within the merged  Lr catalog folder panel in any way you wish.

Re the 300 'excluded' photos- Is it possible these were Virtual copies in the Lr catalog? (not 'physical' photo files)

And you say   "...backup of my entire catalog...",  you are referring to original photo files here I presume, and not the Lr catalog .LRCAT file.