Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

I’ve been a longtime user of lightroom 6, and very reluctant to upgrade to a subscription (mostly because I’m a penny pincher), but recent improvements to lightroom make it an attractive option. My biggest fear in doing so is that I don’t know if it will simply replace Lr6 and be a smooth transition or if I will need to do a lot of fiddling with settings and how it will affect my existing images and preferences. I figure there are probably folks in this section that would be able to provide some reliable answers.

Walt

Jrhoffman75 Loc: Conway, New Hampshire

If you are going to use Lightroom Classic it will be seamless. You would point the new LrC to the catalog for LR6. A new catalog will be created. Nothing happens to your old LR6.

The processing engines have advanced since LR6. LrC will flag that any previous edits are using an older Process Version. You can chose to update or not.

I’m not sure if preferences carry over but there generally aren’t many of them if you need to select again.

Since your LR6 data isn’t affected you could try the free demo (I think its 7days) of the new LrC to see if you really want it.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

JRHoffman's advice is accurate and good. If you are still uncomfortable, there are dedicated forums where you can ask the same question.

Adobe sponsors a user forum for each of its programs. The Lightroom Classic forum has some exceptionally knowledgeable people.
https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic/ct-p/ct-lightroom-classic?page=1&sort=latest_replies&lang=all&tabid=all

Victoria Brampton authors a thick book on Lightroom. She also has a dedicated user forum.
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/community/

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Simple answer: Yes

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

As noted above, the only thing you will have to do is allow the new LR to update the catalog. You will wind up with two catalogs, old and new. I believe the update appends -1 to the catalog name so you can tell them apart (or re-name the new one later -- I always add the year to the catalog name and copy it to a new catalog in January with a new name. Part of my backup procedure. The new catalog will not work with the old LR. If you try to use the old catalog with the new LR it will want to produce another updated catalog.

I would advise that you check the preferences box that writes the xls files for all the images. Having those sidecar files will ensure that if there's a problem with an image, it can be deleted from the catalog and re-imported. The edits will be imported with the image.

The new Lightroom is worth much more than the minimal effort.

Whuff Loc: Marshalltown, Iowa

Thank you for all of the feedback. I’m still a little leary of switching since I don’t really understand how to do some of what you all speak of, such as when you say to point LrC to my old catalog or re-import a sidecar file, but I’ll just contact Adobe support if I have any issues. Thanks again.

Walt

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

If you don't understand something, ask here and it shall be revealed. Many times. Sometimes even correctly.

LR will use the last catalog you used as a default so you don't have to point to anything unless you have more than one catalog. If it doesn't use the right catalog you have to 'point' to the right one. File -> Open Catalog [navigate to the right catalog file]

Sidecar files are pretty much automatic. The only thing you have to do is be sure they are in the same folder as the image file they are associated with.