Rotorhead Loc: Midwest-Fly-Over Country

Many years ago I chose Lightroom primarily to organize my photos. I have been lousy with that organizing idea. I have Lightroom 6. Old as dirt. Do I need to upgrade if my primary purpose is to organize my photos? And.....where do I go for help? Are there classes in E. Iowa or Southern CA. Recommended tutorials? Thanks a bunch.

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

Anthony Morganti and Mark Koslowski both have excellent tutorials online.

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

As far as I recall, the organization part of Lightroom has not had significant updates. There may be some minor things updated but my organization depends on keywords and collections, which I am using in the same way as I did a decade ago.

The ONLY problem with LR6 is that it is not updateable, and you will probably have trouble loading it into a new computer. But if it is working on your old computer it should do the job. And your organization will work on newer versions of LR if/when you update.

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Need to upgrade? Not yet. Should you update, I would. Even if you use it only as a data base at first you will probably drift into using its processing features as you become more confident and competent with the program. There zillions of free tutorials on the internet, Adobe has a great beginners set.

You may be happier with Adobe Bridge. Basically a data base program and lacking the processing features of Lightroom Classic. Again all kinds of free tutorials.

I think Adobe still has a 30 day free trial. I'm sure someone else posting to your thread will have an answer to that

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Online (u-tube) training if free and rather helpful. I use LR6 today, but it only installs onto Windows machines, and then only if you have install files and your serial number in your Adobe.com profile.

If you go with an Adobe update, your only option is to start an ongoing monthly (or annual) subscription in the $10/mth range. All your existing LR6 work / cataloging will be ingested automatically into the new LR software when downloaded and installed.

junglejim1949 Loc: Sacramento,CA

Agreed Mike, excellent advice.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

If what you mean is actually organizing, take a look at these links - free and paid.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_organizer
http://www.toptenreviews.com/software/multimedia/best-photo-organizing-software/
Basic ideas -
http://photography.tutsplus.com/articles/using-a-controlled-vocabulary-to-organize-digital-photographs--cms-23344

Lots for free -
Best -
https://blogs.systweak.com/best-free-photo-organizer-software-for-windows-10-8-7/

https://www.digikam.org/
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-digital-photo-organizer.htm
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/10-free-photo-managing-software-you-should-at-least-know/
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/pictures-story/412-best-free-photo-management-software.html

Or not free -
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2402024,00.asp
http://photo-organizing-software-review.toptenreviews.com/
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-best-way-to-organize-a-lifetime-of-photos-1429637857

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

I have to agree with DirtFarmer. The cataloging function of LrC has not changed much over the years. Unless you want to reorganize all of your images consider setting up a bunch of Collections or maybe Smart Collections to use. As you are still using Lightroom 6 you must be using older hardware so you will not be able to take advantage of any of the new editing tools that are becoming available.

jackpinoh Loc: Kettering, OH 45419

Kelby has the best organizational plan for Lr. Watch his YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLX27yyDiIs

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Lightroom 6 is a dead horse. Adobe no longer supports it. The download of the software will be gone by the end of the year. The sync feature will be gone with it. Fuggeddaboudit. It will eventually die completely when your current computer dies or you upgrade the OS.

There are now TWO Lightrooms, related, but very different animals.

Lightroom 6 morphed into Lightroom CLASSIC. Classic (LrC) is the desktop version true to the original form of the application. Lightroom (Lr) is the former Lightroom Mobile, but on steroids. It works through the Adobe Cloud, so you can connect to all your devices and work on your images from any of them. However, it lacks many of the features of traditional Lightroom 6 (now Classic), and has many different features.

BOTH Lightroom ("cloudy") and Lightroom Classic are subscription-only, available bundled with Photoshop and Bridge, plus a little Adobe Cloud Storage and some other goodies, for $9.99 a month. You can pay more and get more Adobe Cloud storage in the bundle, if you want that, but most don't.

TONS of training is available for Adobe products — probably more than for any other brand of software. YouTube is full of videos on it. (Most of it is free to watch, if you don't mind the ads…) Many community colleges offer graphic arts and photography classes on Adobe software. Find a community college in your area, go to their website, and search their catalog. Some offerings may be listed as computer classes, and some as art...

If you don't want to subscribe, and you happen to be a Mac user, a somewhat suitable substitute is a combination of Apple Photos with Gentlemen Coders' Raw Power and Serif's Affinity Photo. It is a one time expense of under $125. Training is found online and sometimes at larger Apple Stores.

Basil Loc: New Mexico

I'ma a paid member of KelbyOne - a great resource for learning and a great, online community that is professionally moderated.

I've been using his SLIM method for a couple years now. So simple, yet it works so well.

zarathu Loc: Bar Harbor, MDI, Maine

I have tried organization apps. But I have found that just putting my photographs in folders of like items, and then maintaining a list of folders to search from works as well as anything else. I used a program called Neofinder, but it was not any better than putting folders in myself, and much much faster. I can quickly look at the contents of any folder and manipulate the files in them with FastRawViewer.

Jack 13088 Loc: Central NY

Dirt Farmer has just exposed the essential truth. Lightroom is fundamentally the missing database front end for Photoshop for organizing and managing digital data. It is ls also known as the Library module. The full program has since morphed to free standing piece of the Adobe system. My experience begins with LR 3.0 and the Library Module as since changed very little. Yes, it has been polished and augmented by the addition of a number of features but nothing has been removed so what you did in previous versions will have the identical function, look and feel today.

This observation applies to LR6 which has been left behind by the inevitable rapid advance in technology. Left to rust if you will. Adobe gently withdrew their support more slowly than the license agreement could have demanded. Sort of like pulling off the bandage off slowly. If someone has a loadable copy of LR6 and wants to run it on a computer and OS that is outdated enough to use your copy the go ahead. What it sounds like is Adobe has stopped providing another copy to someone that has a valid LR6 license recently. It is what it is.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

I tried Lr 3.2 or something like that. Did not like it. So I stayed with only using Ps CS6. Where are you at in So CA. I know there are in person classes in Covina and San Dimas, and I am sure many more places.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

You got that right.