Preferences General Tab Selections Missing

[vivi1951]

I am new to Lightroom.  I've downloaded a couple of presets.  When I do the following Edit - Preferences - General there are no selection tabs under general.  I cannot select any of the boxes I need to download the presets.  Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks. 

[JP Hess · Accepted solution]

If you are looking for tabs in the preferences then you are probably looking for Lightroom Classic CC or Lightroom CC 2015. This forum is for the NEW Lightroom CC that has just been released. It is an all new cloud-based Lightroom. The programs have been rebranded and the renaming has confused a lot of people.

[vivi1951]

Hi Jim. Thank you for answeromg my question. My program says photoshop lightroom CC adobe creative cloud. I am in the trial program. Hence I am sure that is why I can't change my preferences.

Thanks so much again

Virginia

[JP Hess]

Being in the trial has nothing to do with being able to change the preferences. The question is which version do you really have? Lightroom CC is now a program that saves your images in the cloud. And the preferences file doesn't have any tabs in it. It is a completely new program that functions a lot differently than Lightroom has functioned previously. The Lightroom that we have become accustomed to in the past is now known as Lightroom Classic CC. That is the program that has tabs in the preferences file. So I need to know which program you really have installed.

[vivi1951]

I do in fact have the cc version. I double checked.

Virginia

Sent from my iPhone

[vivi1951]

Just had another thought. How can I download the presets I purchased when I can't follow the installation directions.

Appreciate your time.

V

Sent from my iPhone

[JP Hess]

Without going into a lot of detail, you would probably have to install them into Lightroom Classic and then find the folder in Classic and copy the plug-ins from that folder to the appropriate folder in Lightroom CC. Then I would question whether or not the plug-ins would work because not every feature is in Lightroom CC yet. I think some users are getting a little overanxious with the new Lightroom CC. It's probably going to develop into something really versatile eventually, but a lot of users are expecting all that versatility right now and it just isn't there.

In fact, I question whether or not you would even be able to use the plug-ins in the new Lightroom CC. The procedure I was talking about was for presets. I have copied presets over from Lightroom Classic using the method I have talked about. But I'm not aware of any ability to utilize plug-ins in Lightroom CC yet. At this time Lightroom CC is primarily a tool for those who want to quickly download images and do a little bit of adjustment to them and share them on social media. Really, that's about it. It's not a serious photographic tool yet.

[vivi1951]

I am thinking I will just purchase the classic so I can use the presets I purchased. Do you think that makes sense?

Sent from my iPhone

[JP Hess]

You cannot purchase Classic, but you can subscribe to the Creative Cloud photography package. The only Lightroom that you can purchase anymore is Lightroom 6. There is a 6.13 update available now, and I understand that there will be one more update before the end of the year. That will be the end of updates for Lightroom 6. The program will continue to be available for purchase after that, but there will be no more updates provided.  As long as you understand that and will be happy with that kind of a purchase then I suppose that would be a good purchase. A better choice in my opinion would be to subscribe to the Creative Cloud photography plan. Then you would have the latest Lightroom Classic CC, Photoshop, and you could continue to play around with the new Lightroom CC and watch it grow.

[vivi1951]

Morning Jim. Yes. I think that is what I will do. However, still doesn’t help me with installing my presets. I’m checking with the company I purchased the presets as it clearly is noted as being compatible with all Lightroom versions including the new one. So frustrating!

Thanks so much for all your help.

Have a great Thanksgiving.

Kind wishes, Virginia

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

[JP Hess]

I don't know what the presets are. But the advertising may not be taking into account the latest program naming conventions that Adobe has adopted when bringing this new Lightroom CC online. Lightroom CC does not yet have the capability to implement plug-ins. My suggestion to you would be to contact the developer of the plug-ins and ask them how to install and how to implement those plug-ins using the NEW cloud-based Lightroom CC.

[vivi1951]

I reached out to them this morning.

Now I can’t get to the main screen which has the develop tab etc. Just sits on the one photo I was working with. Maybe it all goes away as it is the trial version. It says I have three more days. This has been so frustrating. I’m not all that tech savvy but watching the videos etc. It looked as though this was pretty user friendly.

I appreciate you taking so much time to help me.

Sent from Mail for Windows 10