No such thing as destructive edits on raw files in raw converters. Even if you are editing a raster file (jpeg, psd, tiff, png), the original file is left intact, and only the exported file will have your new edits. In Lightroom, the raw and raster edits are stored in the catalog's preview database. Additionally you can set LR to store the edits in an xmp (sidecar) file. It is not automatic - by default the writing of metadata changes to xmp is not turned on.

**When I make edits to an NEF in Adobe Camera Raw and click "Done" the picture is saved in the original location I assume with my edits intact. Now, if I go to that picture with Windows Explorer and do a copy paste say into aMS Office Publisher what happens to the edits?

The catalog is what sets LR apart from most other applications - it's implementation is flawless. The problem most people have with it is that it the try to approach it as if it were a file browser - like Bridge - which it is not.

**Flawless except for the human factor remembering to observing all of Adobe's proprietary requirements and adding a layer of unique steps and procedures when working with the files. Backup procedures, culling and extracting chosen files for other processes now all dependent of having and using Adobe.

Now, even creating a catalog and importing your existing images using the "Add" mode will leave all of your images in their current places, and only "add" them to the catalog. Therefore, as far as Bridge, ACR and anything else you want to use to edit your images - nothing has changed.

When you edit an image in LR, you are editing the preview image (or a copy of the raster image), you are not editing the original. If you are in LR and you have the subscription, when you use the Edit In command, it will create a duplicate raster image in the format of your choosing - and pass it along to Photoshop as a raster file AND add the raster file to the catalog. When you finish your editing of the raster file and save the changes in PS, the version of the raster file is updated in the catalog.

I know that by this point this all sounds daunting, but it really isn't.

**No sale. Saving this way or exporting that way and joy it is updated in the catalog. Why worry if it is a raster copy or just the preview. The catalog presents no enticement worthy of my commitment, hence my quest for KISS. I don't need to rate my pictures, establish relationships between pictures, identify the people in the pictures or document the place. So, what's the point of being attached to an Adobe catalog for me?

My folder and file naming is a little more informative for those situations were I use other applications to edit the files.

I have a parent folder named Pics
Beneath it their is a list of folders that are organized by year.
Beneath each year there is a collection of folders that look like the following:

01.01 - small birds at the park - 01-05-21 This would be the folder name for the first time in January I took the camera out, what I shot, and the actual date. The first four numbers is an index of sorts that shows me the folder list for year in the sequence I took them.

Now, once you start using the LR catalog, you'll discover the one-to-many/many-to-one relationships you can set up with collections. I might have taken a picture of a Great Blue Heron on 1/5/21, but I have a virtual collection called waders, where I have all sorts of birds, including herons, egrets, cranes, storks etc. I have other collection of just herons, just egrets, just cranes, etc - so my GBH is part of the wader collection, but it is also part of the heron collection - without needing to create and manage any duplicate files.

These are just a couple of examples of how LR's catalog helps to organize things and ensure that you don't accidentally delete things.

**A need I have not felt. Clearly a feature for a professional photographer. At my level finding all of Trooper Dog's pictures sorting his various activities for later recall - not my need.

**And then the Adobe Catalog gets complicated and error prone as the following illustrates.

If you decide to go down this path, keep one thing in mind. You are editing previews, not actual files, and these previews are based on where LR found them when it imported them. If you drop into Finder (on a Mac) or Windows Explorer and move things around, LR will not be able to find the moved/added/deleted files. So you'll need to update LR by opening the moved/deleted/added folder or folder containing the moved/deleted/added files, right click on the folder(s) or file(s) and select Find Missing Folder or Files - and everything will be back in sync.

You have absolutely nothing to worry about once you figure it out and start using it. Turn on automatically write changes to xmp in Catalog Settings (Ctrl+Alt+,), Metadata tab, so that if you decide to stop using LR for cataloging at least your raw file changes will be in the sidecar file. Changes to raster files will be in the duplicate created when you exported the raster file to disk.

**Great workarounds to untangle the complex catalog provided you did it right to begin with - oh and remember to post process your pictures.

If you don't have a headache after reading this you are a better person than I am. And I wrote it.