safeman

As I continue to work with Lightroom Classic my catalog is filling up with Edit files. I only have about 3,000 images but probably 1/3 of those are Edit files. What do you do with them? Rename the ones you like and save them, remove them from the disk, remove them from LR, let them sit there?

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I don't use LR, but 99.9% of my edits remain in their respective directory (folder).
That way I won't have to do it again if I re-visit the image. Storage is cheap.

TBerwick Loc: Houston, Texas

If I'm correct, edit files are copies of your completed raw files with all of the changes. That allows you to bring up the edit, make or remove edits without having to reinvent the wheel. Just don't dump your original raw files or you won't have anything to start over with.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Not sure what you mean by edit files.
When I import an image into LR Classic, I edit it and export the result as a jpg. If I want to do more than one edit, I sometimes produce a virtual copy, but that happens only about 1% of the time.

If you are shooting jpg, you will have to produce a file with another name than the original (LR can give you a unique file name and you can set it up so it has the word "edit" in it. But LR will continue to use the original if you go to edit it again (unless you make a virtual copy).
If you are shooting raw, the output jpg will have the same name as the original raw file (unless you WANT to change it).

safeman

Thanks for the answers but what I want to know, if you use LR and if you make modifications to an original photo what do you do with the edited photo(s) I always save my originals on 3 separate drives and the cloud.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

LR will not modify the original file.
You can export a new file with the edits.
If the original is a jpg, you get 2 jpgs with different names (or possibly in different folders).
If the original is a raw file you get 1 jpg.

My original files are stored in a subfolder of the folder I set up for a given shoot. I give my original files color labels. A red label means the file is worth consideration. A yellow label means the file is in the process of being edited. A green label means it's good to go. I export it as a jpg and that file goes into the folder designated for the shoot. I can back up that folder and since the original files are a subfolder of that one, everything is backed up. The designated folder has the jpgs that are the finished product. The subfolder has all the original unmodified files.

brucewells Loc: Central Kentucky

When you make edits in LR, instructions for those edits are stored in the Catalog file and perhaps in XMP files. The original file that you imported is not changed in any way. So, what I do is make my edits, and when I'm done, I'm done. Nothing left to do, unless I want to share the images by Exporting JPGs from the raw files. Once finished with the editing work, I perform a backup of all work and shut down.

So, I'm confused when you say "the edited files comprise a third of the files you have". If you use an external editor, using LR's 'Edit In' function, the file that comes back from that outside editor will be a different file than the original you imported to LR, rendering 2 file versions of the same image. Is this what you are referring to?

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Hi,

When you say your catalog is filling up with Edit files, do mean duplicates of the originals that you've done work on... or do you mean files you've marked as "no good" for one reason or another?

When I'm working through my images I use the flag system to mark them.... white flag is a "keeper" that I do work on and want to proof out, black flag is a shot that's spoiled for whatever reason (missed focus, accidental shot of my toes, poor composition, etc.) and no flag on the ones in between that are technically okay but are close duplicates or have minor imperfections (such as someone's eyes closed). I keep the white flagged images, of course. I also usually keep the no flag shots, because sometimes they come in handy (perhaps using part of an image to "correct" another shot, for example). Eventually I delete the black flagged images from both LR and from my hard drive. (I have to admit, I'm not good about doing the deletions. It's just not a high priority... until I start to run low on disk space!)

I use the star and color coding systems for other sorting purposes. Not for "ranking" (white flag "good", black flag "bad" and no flag "indifferent" are all the rankings I need).

If you are referring to duplicate "Edits" that are made when you export your images, additional copies from an original, there are several ways to handle those.

For one, you can set up LR to "stack" multiple copies of an image... It's somewhere in the preferences. You'll only see the original in your catalog, but it will have an indication that there are add'l copies and you can "expand" it to show those too, if and when you want.

It also can be handled within your image folder system.

I set up a "main" folder for each day and name it 2018_09_07 (YYYY_MM_DD). Sometimes I'll add a keyword to that, to highlight something it contains (for example "YYYY_MM_DD_coyote" for a folder full of images I shot of a coyote.)

Within each main folder I create sub-folders.... I almost always have a YYYY_MM_DD_RAW that contains all my original image files. This sub-folder is what I import into LR.

When I later do exports of select images from LR, I don't let them default back into that RAW folder. If there are only a few and no add'l sorting is needed, I put them in the main folder. If add'l sorting is needed, I create more sub-folders for those (I also have other sub-folders, such as YYYY_MM_DD_model_releases or YYYY_MM_DD_2nd_shooter_contracts, etc., containing digital file copies of documents or info or whatever.) Or if I'm making prints I might create a sub-folder for those (and rename them such as YYYY_MM_DD_sequence#_5x7 or YYYY_MM_DD_sequence#_download, etc.) I never import these other sub-folders or individual image files, etc. stored in the main folder into LR, so they don't clutter it up in any way. But I can see them in Windows Explorer.

It's all a far more easily done, than it sounds. And there are alternatives to what I'm doing. But once you've established an organization for your images, it all becomes pretty automatic. I encourage setting something up as soon as possible. It's a whole heckuva lot easier when you have 3000 images to deal with and organize... than when you have 30,000, 300,000 or 3 million!

In the end, I think there may be several ways to deal with "edits" filling up your catalog needlessly. Hopefully one or another of the above will do the trick.

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

Are you referring to .XMP files? Lightroom normally writes edits to its catalog. However, you can also direct Lightroom to write the edits to XMP sidecar files. This offers the advantage of protecting the edits if you lose the catalog. Also, some other apps MAY be able to read the XMP files. But, you get your drive littered with the fairly small (compared to the photos) XMP files. Here's some info:
http://blogs.adobe.com/jkost/tag/xmp-sidecar-files

Steve DeMott Loc: St. Louis, Missouri (Oakville area)

If you are using a file in lightroom and use ctrl+e to finish edits in photoshop and save the program with photoshop a new file is created with the same name with "edit" at the end. for example: in lightroom your file name is 1234.nef. If you open file in photoshop (or maybe another program) using lightroom, make changes and save that file, your file name will be 1234.edit.psd or what ever extention you have set. (This is a default setting of lightroom.)
As mentioned you can't edit a raw file. All changes are recorded in lightrooms catalog, sidecar file or the xxx.edit.xx file. If you delete any of these files you eliminate all changes.

hope this helps

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

The files I edit in LR Classic are still NEF Files with aXMP sidecar containing all the edits. If I do further editing in PS the files are saved in LR as PSD. There now will be two files in LR with the same prefix but different suffixes. Files that I export as jpegs are not added to my Lightroom catalog but are stored in a separate folder

AirWalter Loc: Tipp City, Ohio

It is amazing how many times someone will ask a question on this site, and no one will provide a simple answer to the original question. At times it seems like everyone is attempting to show everyone else how much knowledge They have.

SusanFromVermont Loc: Southwest corner of Vermont

If you could clarify a bit more, it will be easier to provide an answer, but your second post made it a bit clearer. Let me try to answer.

First, in LR, any edits made to the original image [RAW or .jpg, depending on what you are shooting], do not change the original permanently. You can always go to the "Develop" module and hit re-set to go back to the original. However, that loses the edits you have made. It does sound like you may be working on virtual [or proof] copies, and that is why edited versions of the same image are building up. That in the long run is better than working on the original. I will continue with the assumption that the edits you refer to were made on copies of the original.

What to do with those edits depends on how you feel about them - keepers, rejects, still working on them or unsure. There are multiple ways to organize your images, but the main thing is to organize them using a system that will let you find what you are looking for with relative ease. Keywords also work, but personally I do not use them a lot. Your LR catalog can be made up of folders arranged any way you like. And just like many other things, everyone has a way they prefer. For instance, I use what I call a "filing cabinet" system. Master folder contains sub-folders broken down into major topics. Then within the major topics there are additional sub-folders that use either a name or a date to organize them. In addition, I use subfolders within that specific category which are for #1 the "best" photos, #2 ones that are "In Progress", #3 ones that I have judged not to be any good but am not ready to delete [just in case I change my mind!], and #4 the original RAW file with various versions of edits that are not as good, or that led up to the final version - this sub-folder is called "Support Photos". This is where I store all my original, un-edited [or re-set] RAW images.

For example: Master Folder "Lightroom Photos" contains a major sub-folder called Maine Photos, which in turn contains sub-folders for different places in Maine. For instance there are Harbors in Maine, Lighthouses in Maine, Rivers and Lakes in Maine, etc., each of which have photos in the 4 sub-folders I described above. If I visited the same place more than once, in different years, then the first subfolder will be [for instance] 2017 and those 4 sub-folders will contain images from just that one year. Then the next one will be 2018 and also the same 4 sub-folders from just that year. Pretty soon I will be adding 2019 folders!

Others use dates, especially if they had a particular photo shoot on that day. Such as a wedding, festival, family event, etc. So it is simply a matter of what is easiest way for you to keep the images organized.

Your final question: what to do with all of those edit files? If they are keepers, you can put them into appropriate folders so they are grouped in a way that you prefer. For the ones you do not want to keep, they can be deleted or put into a folder such as my "Outtakes" until you are sure. One thing to make sure of is that whatever you delete is NOT the RAW [or .jpg] original on which you have made edits. One way to do that is to go to the Develop module, create a virtual copy, then highlight the original and hit "Reset". That will be insurance against deleting something you want to keep, both in terms of originals and of edits.

One added bit of information: In the actual image folders on your hard drive, edits are in the form of .xmp files unless they have been converted to a different format such as .psd or .tiff. A lot of people keep them that way, but personally I like to be able to see the edits in those folders as well as in LR. So all my images have been converted and the .xmp files deleted. Exporting images one at a time takes too long, but they can be done in groups. Most of the time I go to PS and do additional edits, then hit "Save As" and choose .tiff, so they are automatically sent to both my image folders and the LR catalog in that format. The virtual copy I started with will still be there in LR unless I either export it to put it into a different format [and then delete] or simply delete it. This is one way that lots of "edits" can accumulate if those virtual copies remain in the LR catalog.

Hope this helps.

If I have missed answering what you want to know, please post something to describe it better.

Susan

worldcycle Loc: Stateline, Nevada

Most importantly, anything moved, renamed or created should be done on Lightroom itself because any and all edits are connected to the Lightroom Catalog. The Catalog is what you use to access any edit you do. If you lose that you will not be able to access it without rebuilding it from scratch. Backing up the Catalog is as vitally important as backing up your photos.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

I keep all the edits in the same folder with the original raw files. My workflow might be just to edit the raw file with LR and then make sure that I use a key word so that I can easily find what I'm looking for later. No need to rename the files since a keyword is better and easier to keep them organized. If I edit in LR and then need to do further editing in Photoshop, I use Ctrl-S and save the Photoshop edited file as a psd and when done like this is keeps all the layers so that if you want to go back and adjust the layer it's easy to do. Also, when saved like this Photoshop puts it next to the original raw file with a psd extension. If I save the file as a jpg because I'm going to upload to social media or send in an email or use for a Craigslist ad, I'll put them in a folder on my desktop that is named appropriately so as to know what's in that folder. Later when my desktop gets full I'll decide what to do with them such as delete Craigslist items that have sold, or emails that have been sent. Sometimes I like the jpg I've created so I'll move them to the external drive and add them to my LR catalog with keywords.