Catalog Settings in Lightroom Classic CC- Instructions

Catalog Settings in Lightroom Classic CC: Video Lesson

            This video lesson, titled “Customizing Catalog Settings,” shows you how to change catalog settings in Lightroom Classic CC. This video lesson on catalog settings in Lightroom Classic CC is from our complete Lightroom Classic CC tutorial, titled “Mastering Lightroom Classic Made Easy v.CC.”

Catalog Settings in Lightroom Classic CC: Overview

            You can customize the catalog settings in Lightroom Classic CC by using the “Catalog Settings” dialog box. To change the catalog settings in Lightroom Classic CC, select “Edit| Catalog Settings…” from the Menu Bar. Doing this then opens the “Catalog Settings” dialog box.

            The “General” tab shows the catalog’s location, filename, and creation date. To view the catalog file in Windows Explorer, click the “Show” button. The “General” tab also lets you set the catalog back up frequency.

            The “File Handling” tab lets you change catalog settings in Lightroom Classic CC related to files. The “Preview Cache” section sets the rendering of three image preview types. The “Standard Preview Size” drop-down sets the maximum pixel length of the longer side of full-size previews. For best results, select a size equal to or larger than your screen resolution. For screen resolutions greater than 2048 pixels, Lightroom generates a 1:1 preview.

            The “Preview Quality” drop-down lets you set the appearance of thumbnail preview images. The “Low,” “Medium,” and “High” selections in the drop-down are similar to the JPEG image quality scale.

            The “Automatically Discard 1:1 Previews” drop-down lets you choose how frequently Lightroom discards 1:1 previews. This is based upon the most recent access to the preview. You can discard 1:1 previews one day, one week, or 30 days after accessing them. You can also prevent 1:1 previews from being discarded by selecting the “Never” option. The “Smart Previews” section of the “File Handling” tab shows the disk space used by Smart Previews.

            The “Import Sequence Numbers” section sets the starting sequence numbers for imported photos. The “Import Number” is the first number in a series that shows how many import operations are performed. The “Photos Imported” is the first number in a series that describes how many photos are imported.

Catalog Settings in Lightroom Classic CC- Instructions: A picture of the “File Handling” catalog settings in Lightroom Classic CC.

            The “Metadata” tab of the “Catalog Settings” dialog box shows catalog settings in Lightroom Classic CC for photo metadata. Checking the “Offer suggestions from recently entered values” checkbox in the “Editing” section of the tab enables suggestions for metadata when typing. Clicking the “Clear All Suggestion Lists” button removes all previous entries. Checking the “Include Develop settings in metadata inside JPEG, TIFF, PNG, and PSD Files” checkbox includes Develop module settings in the XMP metadata of JPEG, TIFF, PNG, and PSD files. The “Automatically write changes into XMP” checkbox lets you save metadata changes directly to XMP sidecar files. This makes changes visible in other applications. To save metadata settings only in the catalog, uncheck this option.

            The checkboxes in the “Address Lookup” section of the “Metadata” tab let Lightroom Classic CC send available GPS coordinates from your photos to Google. To add city, state, and country information from the photos into the IPTC Location metadata, leave both boxes checked. Note that unchecking the options in the “Address Lookup” section can prevent the Map module from working optimally.

            Checking the “Automatically detect faces in all photos” checkbox lets Lightroom Classic CC recognize faces in catalog photos. Checking the “Write date or time changes into proprietary raw files” checkbox lets Lightroom write new dates and times to proprietary raw files when you use the “Metadata| Edit Capture Time” command to change a photo’s capture time metadata.

            After changing your catalog settings in Lightroom Classic CC, click the “OK” button at the bottom of the dialog box to apply your settings and close the dialog box.

Catalog Settings in Lightroom Classic CC: Instructions

1. To change the catalog settings in Lightroom Classic CC, select “Edit| Catalog Settings…” from the Menu Bar to open the “Catalog Settings” dialog box.
2. The location, filename, and creation date of the catalog appears on the “General” tab in the “Catalog Settings” dialog box.
3. If you want to view the catalog file in Windows Explorer, then click the “Show” button on the “General” tab.
4. If you want to change catalog settings in Lightroom Classic CC for file handling, then click the “File Handling” tab.
5. To determine the rendering of three types of image previews, then use the “Preview Cache” section of the “File Handling” tab.
6. To set the maximum pixel length of the longer side of full-size rendered previews, then use the “Standard Preview Size” drop-down.
7. For best results, select a size equal to or larger than your screen resolution.
8. To set the quality of thumbnail previews, then use the “Preview Quality” drop-down in the “File Handling” tab.
9. To set how often to discard 1:1 previews, based upon the most recent access to the preview, then use the “Automatically Discard 1:1 Previews” drop-down in the “File Handling” tab.
10. You can see how much disk space Smart Previews are using in the “Smart Previews” section of the “File Handling” tab.
11. To set the starting sequence numbers for photos you import into your catalog, then use the “Import Sequence Numbers” section of the “File Handling” tab.
12. If you want to change catalog settings in Lightroom Classic CC for photo metadata, then click the “Metadata” tab.
13. If you want to enable metadata suggestions as you type, then check the “Offer suggestions from recently entered values” checkbox in the “Editing” section.
14. To remove previous metadata entries, then click the “Clear All Suggestion Lists” button.
15. To include Develop module settings in the XMP metadata of JPEG, TIFF, PNG, and PSD files, then check the “Include Develop settings in metadata inside JPEG, TIFF, PNG, and PSD Files” checkbox.
16. If you want to save metadata changes directly to XMP sidecar files, then check the “Automatically write changes into XMP” checkbox. Unchecking this only saves changes in the catalog.
17. To send available GPS coordinates from your photos to Google and add location information from your photos into the IPTC Location metadata, then check both the “Look up city, state and country of GPS coordinates to provide address suggestions” and “Export address suggestions whenever address fields are empty” checkboxes.
18. To recognize faces in catalog photos, then check the “Automatically detect faces in all photos” checkbox.
19. If you want to let Lightroom write new dates and times to proprietary raw files when you use the “Metadata| Edit Capture Time” command to change a photo’s capture time metadata, then check the “Write date or time changes into proprietary raw files” checkbox.
20. To apply your catalog settings in Lightroom Classic CC and close the “Catalog Settings” dialog box, click the “OK” button.