2 questions: deleting photos and key words

[petern23254457]

I have not used my lightroom for a long, but started yesterday. I have two questions.

1. I imported a lot of photos and gave them all keywords. However, I then noticed that there are quite a few that I would like to delete. Does that mean I have to delete them in two places: on my hard drive and in lightroom or is there an easier way? I should probably have deleted the photos I did not want before importing, but in this case I did not do that.

2. My computer is not working properly so I want to delete everything on it and install a new fresh operating system. this means I will have to reinstall lightroom again. What happens then to all the key words I have spent hours and hours adding? Will they be gone? Are the key words only stored in the small file that Lightroom uses or are they stored in the original photos?

Hope somebody can shed light on this matter

[99jon]

You can select thumbnails in the Library grid and press delete. LR will give you the option to also delete from disk.

Your keywords and editing work will all be safe. Simply launch the catalog (.lrcat file) by copying to the new computer or OS.

[petern23254457]

Thanks for your answer. Will the procedure then be as follows when I install everything on my "new"computer?

1. Install lightroom

2. Import photos stored on my hard drive

3. Load the catalog file

will Lightroom be able to find/use all my keywords although I have reinstalled lightroom and the photos are placed in a different folder on my hard drive  to the one they were placed in before the reinstallation?

[Just Shoot Me]

DO NOT DO # 2

Follow this guide.

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-move-lightroom-to-new-computer/

[99jon · Accepted solution]

If placing the folders in a different location/folder the Library will usually show question marks against the folder names but it is quite easy to re-link. Simply right-click on a folder in the left hand panel and choose “Update Folder Location” then navigate to the new folder. LR will automatically update everything.

If using your last catalog backup you may wish to copy it to the default location (Pictures Folder) or your preferred drive/partition. Simply double-click on the named catalog with the ending .lrcat to launch it in Lightroom.

[petern23254457]

Thanks for your answers .)