Manage photos within folders

Craft incredible images everyday, everywhere. Here is how to get started.

Rename photos

Move photos to a different folder

Open a photo in its folder in the Library module

The photo is selected in the Grid view and its folder is selected the Folders panel.

Open a file in Explorer or Finder

The file is selected in an Explorer or Finder window.

Rotate photos

Photos imported into the catalog are automatically rotated if the Exchangeable Image Format (EXIF) data includes orientation metadata. Otherwise, you can manually rotate photos.

Flip photos

Rotate or flip photos using the Painter tool

Remove photos from catalogs

Update photos changed by another application

In the Grid view, Lightroom Classic displays alerts in image cells when the photos in your catalog have been changed by another application. For example, if a photo has a one-star rating in Lightroom Classic, and the photo has been updated to a two-star rating in another application, you need to decide which rating to respect. Both cannot co-exist together. Lightroom Classic lets you resolve conflicting photo metadata by either overwriting its data in the catalog with metadata from the photo or its sidecar XMP file, or overwriting the metadata in the photo file or sidecar XMP file with its stored data in the catalog.

For more information, see Synchronize Lightroom Classic metadata with Camera Raw and Adobe Bridge.

Convert photos to DNG

Lightroom Classic lets you convert camera raw files to DNG for archiving and taking advantage of DNG features. When photos are converted to DNG, the DNG files replace the originals in the catalog. You have the option of deleting or preserving the originals on disk after the conversion.

For more on DNG, see Supported file formats.

Create virtual copies

You can have multiple versions of photos by applying different adjustment settings to virtual copies of the original (master) photos. Virtual copies don't exist as actual photos or duplicates of photos. Virtual copies are metadata in the catalog that stores the different sets of adjustments.

You create a virtual copy of a photo and then apply adjustment settings to it. If you want another version of the master photo, you create another virtual copy and apply the new settings to it. You can create as many virtual copies of a master photo as you wish. You can even make one of the virtual copies a master, making the previous master a virtual copy.

If you create a virtual copy while in a collection, the copy is stacked with the photo in its folder, not in the collection; this stacking is not visible when viewing the collection.

In the Grid view or the Filmstrip, the master photo displays the number of images in the upper-left corner of the thumbnail. The virtual copies display page-turn icons on the left side of their thumbnails.

Virtual copies become actual photos when they are exported as a copy of the master photo or edited as a copy in an external editor.

When you create a virtual copy of a photo, "Copy 1" (or "Copy 2," "Copy 3," and so on) is added automatically to the Copy Name field in the Metadata panel.

• In the Grid view in the Library or in the Filmstrip in any module, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) a photo and choose Create Virtual Copy from the context menu.
• In the Grid view in the Library or in the Filmstrip in any module, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) to select multiple photos and choose Create Virtual Copies from the context menu.

  Tip: If the copy does not appear in the Grid view, the photos may be part of a collapsed stack. Try choosing Photo > Stacking > Expand All Stacks. If that doesn't work, make sure the Library > Enable Filters option is unchecked. Try using a different display method, such as choosing All Photographs in the Catalog panel.

• In the Library module, select a virtual copy of a photo in the Grid view or the Filmstrip and choose Photo > Set Copy As Master.
• To delete or remove a virtual copy, expand the virtual copy stack in its folder in the Library module (press S). Then right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the virtual copy in the Grid view or the Filmstrip and choose Delete Photo.

  Note: A stack created using the Create Virtual Copy option is not visible unless you've selected the folder containing the master or you're in All Photographs. You cannot view, expand, collapse, or edit such a stack when viewing a collection.