Adobe Makes things so confusing Arrrgh! I need some help please: I have the monthly subscription and I'm entitled to the upgrades. One of the things that confuses me is which version...

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

I have the monthly subscription and I'm entitled to the upgrades. One of the things that confuses me is which version of LR and PhotoShop I should be using! There Lr and LrC and two versions PhotoShop! It's the same thing with PhotoShop there are two versions and I get them confused.

I use an Apple Mac Book Pro and want to have the best one on my LaunchPad.

I live on a mountain top in the country and have limited, slow connection to the Internet so I like to keep all my images on local hard drives. I'm not interested in the creative cloud.

I discovered that somehow I have created 7 different catalogs of my images. How do I know which one to use?
I hope I can have one catalog that knows where all my images are. See the attachment below.

Thank you for any help you can give me.

(Download)

Photomac Loc: The Dalles, Or

Get in contact with Mark Fitzgerald in Portland Oregon and using Zoom he will get you straightened with this for you on line shortly at ddroom.com. He is our goto guy here in the NW for all things adobe.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Davethehiker wrote:

I have the monthly subscription and I'm entitled t... (show quote)

Lightroom is the mobile app for tablets smart phones etc. think of it as LR Lite.
Lightroom Classic is the full powered laptop and desktop app from back when there was only one version.
Photoshop is the full app.
Photoshop Express is the mobile app lite version for tablets etc.
Photoshop Camera is an in camera (smart phone) app that supposedly gives advice on settings etc.

My subscription is several years old and a version different than the current one, I don't have or want PS Express or PS Camera. I didn't even download Lightroom, I only have Lightroom Classic. The only ones I use are Photoshop and Lightroom Classic. Well I understand (I think) Camera RAW is part of both of those.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Photomac wrote:

Get in contact with Mark Fitzgerald in Portland Oregon and using Zoom he will get you straightened with this for you on line shortly at ddroom.com. He is our goto guy here in the NW for all things adobe.

As Robert says, LR is the lite version and it ONLY uses the cloud for storage of your pictures. I don't like it, so I didn't install it either.

You should be able to open Adobe Creative Cloud, which is the app that Adobe gives it's subscribers, to see if you have the latest versions of your subscription. If you don't want LR (the lite version) simply remove the program from your computer. One less thing to think about. So your launch pad should only have LrC (Lightroom Classic), Ps (Photoshop 2021), possibly Br for Adobe Bridge, and the icon for Adobe Creative Cloud.

Oh, and I see that you aren't doing regular backups of your LR catalog. Dec of 2020 was the last time you looked at it.

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

jeep_daddy wrote:

As Robert says, LR is the lite version and it ONLY... (show quote)

Thank you. From what Robert explained to me, I'm now using the proper version of LR (Adobe Lightroom Classic CC) and from what you just told me above, I think I'm using the proper version of Ps (It says Adobe Photoshop 2021) when I hover my cursor over it on the Launchpad. I expected it to have CC in the name because I pay to automatically update to the latest version, but nooo?

About the backups: I back up my entire computer in the background contentiously. So I did not think it was necessary to do additional "backups". I'm I wrong?

It seems that there should be an option for performing/forcing a re-indexing of LR if want to so all my images can be located, but I don't see that feature.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Davethehiker wrote:

Thank you. From what Robert explained to me, I'm n... (show quote)

It used to be Photoshop CC, then they changed to the year designation.

When you close LR it should ask if you want to backup the catalog, do it at least once a day-I usually do it in the evening when I am done doing any editing. It is something else from a computer backup - it backs up the LR Catalog so your edits are preserved in case of corrupted files etc.

And every so often (I did it this morning.) I open Creative cloud to check and make sure that the "automatic" updates are not on vacation. And guess what - Camera RAW had an update waiting. So I clicked on it and it also updated its components in PS, LRc etc. I went and made another cup of coffee and drank it while I waited. It must have been a major update because even on my high speed cable connection it took about 15 minutes for everything to finish.

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

Thanks, I had a real misconception of what it meant. I'll start performing Catalog backups.

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

Thanks, I had a real misconception of what it meant. I'll start performing Catalog backups.

I plan on buying a fully loaded M1X MacBook pro later this year. I live in dread of moving all my photo from my old system to the new one.

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

Davethehiker wrote:

Thanks, I had a real misconception of what it meant. I'll start performing Catalog backups.

I plan on buying a fully loaded M1X MacBook pro later this year. I live in dread of moving all my photo from my old system to the new one.

You might benefit from reading the online Adobe help manual on Lightroom (LrC), "classic." Read up on the Library section to learn more about how the program functions. Before you move things around consult someone or read up on it, it is easy if you do it right the first time. If your images are on external drives then they are fine where they are, use the Mac assistance to move all the info on your computer. If the name of your catalog does not change the program will pick up the images from the external hard drives.

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

Yes, I currently keep all my photo images and catalogs on an external HD. When I buy my next computer I plan to get it with the max sized SSD and move everything into the SSD. My hope is that this will make everything run much faster. I realize SSD drives fail but so do HDs, that's why I also make total back ups onto RAID hard drives and another HD.

You are correct there is a lot of ignorance on my part about LR. I know just enough to do what I need to do. I will read up on it.

Chan Garrett

Davethehiker wrote:

Thanks, I had a real misconception of what it meant. I'll start performing Catalog backups.

I plan on buying a fully loaded M1X MacBook pro later this year. I live in dread of moving all my photo from my old system to the new one.

Before you start transferring LrC to a new computer, check on the web site for Lightroom Queen. She has a great article (eBook) on how to make the transfer.

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

Chan Garrett wrote:

Before you start transferring LrC to a new computer, check on the web site for Lightroom Queen. She has a great article (eBook) on how to make the transfer.

Thank you! I'll look for that eBook.

tcthome Loc: NJ

Chan Garrett wrote:

Before you start transferring LrC to a new computer, check on the web site for Lightroom Queen. She has a great article (eBook) on how to make the transfer.

I don't own a mac. But I am under the impression that Apple makes it easy with some transfer option(from old to new computer). Am I wrong?

Chan Garrett

tcthome wrote:

I don't own a mac. But I am under the impression that Apple makes it easy with some transfer option(from old to new computer). Am I wrong?

When I made my transfer from my old Windows based computer to my new (Windows), I did not check with adobe. I followed the instructions from the Lightroom Queen and had no problems. It imply instructed me how to set up my LrC prior to transfer and then use whatever method I wished to transfer the files.
Make sure you also transfer your catalogue files.

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

I found the "Lightroom Queen" and have down loaded three pertinent free e-books.
This should get me up to speed.

Thank you EVERYONE!