Moving image files and Lightroom
June 10th, 2008 Rob SheppardI recently got a question about moving files in Lightroom. If a photographer changes the location of a file or folder of image files, will all of the metadata and changes made in lightroom automatically remain with the images?
It helps to understand that no data is ever applied to an image in Lightroom until the image is exported unless you tell the program to sync metadata with the files (which can be done through the menus), but normally, you would not need to do that. All info is all held in the Lightroom database. That database holds previews and the data even if Lightroom can’t “see” the files because they have been moved. You just have to tell Lightroom where they are.
Lightroom will let you know that it can’t find the folder and images by showing it as red. You then right-click on the folder (or images) — by the way, I think everyone should have a right-click mouse — and tell Lightroom where to find the new location for the files and it will re-sync them to the folder(s).
The questioner also wondered if you could import images from an offline source such as a DVD or external drive, and have previews of the images available even when the actual media is offline? That should work because of the way Lightroom handles files as described above.
If you have not tried Lightroom v. 2 beta, give it a try. I am really excited about this new version and am using it a lot. I also just completed a book on it that will be out early this fall. I think this version is terrific and offers a huge potential for photographers. It will make the use of Photoshop much less common for most photographers.
