Lightroom Library Question for Multiple Users and...

[In2Photos]

I have downloaded and installed Lightroom trial version and have been enjoying it thus far, but I have a couple of questions.

First, is there a way to allow multiple users of the same PC, i.e. my wife and I, to use the same library, settings, presets and such so that no matter which account we are logged in as we always see the same thing?

Second, when importing photos, I choose the folder to import to (To be Sorted) and to backup to a folder titled Needing Backup which then gets burned to DVD. During the import I can see the images being placed into the To be Sorted folder I chose, but the backup images don't appear under the Needing Backup folder in Lightroom. They are there in Windows Explorer, but not in Lightroom. I assume this is because Lightroom sees them as a backup and no need for it to display them under the folder structure. They are already in the Library under the To be Sorted folder. Should I just remove the Needing Backup folder from Ligthroom anyway?

Third, I set Lightroom to backup the Library the first time each day when it is opened. IS there a way to set the location for the backup? In other words can I back it up to another drive?

Thanks for your help Lightroom Experts.:D

[In2Photos]

I'm just learning it too, so see if these help:
Lightroom Library Question for Multiple Users and... (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=286588)
Frank, that is a link to this same thread.;)

[In2Photos]

I just found the answer for my third question when I opened Lightroom today. It allows you to choose the folder with which to Save. Woo hoo!

[PhotosGuy]

Frank, that is a link to this same thread D'Oh! ;)

[In2Photos]

Anybody have anything they can add here? Or perhaps know where I might find the answers. I have been all over the web with tutorials and such, but maybe I missed something.

[coreypolis]

hmmm, well theres a few ways to number 1 ( I only have 1 account on my computer so I can't test it)
There was probably something in installation about granting access to all users or 1, but not positive. The short answer is to make sure the folder in which your library is in, is shared by all. Lots of ways to do this.
Then have lightroom ask what library to load upon starting up (an option under prefernces), point to it and all is good.


2nd, I'm not sure why you'd want identical copies of image in the library, just extra previews to deal with and it'll throw off your searching, keywording, meta browsing etc. It would in theory pull both, and you wouldn't know which you are working with.

On the other hand the images in backup may not be getting proccessed either. I'll have to think about that. For now I backup manually, so take that for what ever its worth.

[rfreschner]

Looks like the 1st 2 questions have been answered. As for the 3rd, I don't believe there is a way to specify where the backups are, they're just added to a backup directory under the main Lightroom directory. From there, you could always run another backup program or SyncToy (if you have Windows) to put it somewhere else. I backup to an external hard drive nightly.

[Robukincan]

For the first, yup, you can make the folder with the library shareable, or put it on a network drive shared somewhere, but it can only be opened by one user at a time. There's no file locking for synchronous access

-Rob

[In2Photos]

hmmm, well theres a few ways to number 1 ( I only have 1 account on my computer so I can't test it)
There was probably something in installation about granting access to all users or 1, but not positive. The short answer is to make sure the folder in which your library is in, is shared by all. Lots of ways to do this.
Then have lightroom ask what library to load upon starting up (an option under prefernces), point to it and all is good.


2nd, I'm not sure why you'd want identical copies of image in the library, just extra previews to deal with and it'll throw off your searching, keywording, meta browsing etc. It would in theory pull both, and you wouldn't know which you are working with.

On the other hand the images in backup may not be getting proccessed either. I'll have to think about that. For now I backup manually, so take that for what ever its worth.
Thanks Corey.

Q1-I will look into the preferences for her account as it has not been completely set up yet. That makes a lot of sense though. I might have missed that step during install but wasn't thinking about that when I went through the installation.

Q2- I don't want identical copies in the library I guess. And perhaps my biggest issue is that LR isn't a file browser, which is what I am used to from Bridge. THe purpose of placing the images into the Backup Folder are for backing up the original image, not the edited images, so if making edits to the file in the To be Sorted folder (or whichever folder it gets moved to) doesn't change the Backup file that is fine. It would just be nice to know that the images are actually there from LR and not have to open Explorer.

[In2Photos]

Looks like the 1st 2 questions have been answered. As for the 3rd, I don't believe there is a way to specify where the backups are, they're just added to a backup directory under the main Lightroom directory. From there, you could always run another backup program or SyncToy (if you have Windows) to put it somewhere else. I backup to an external hard drive nightly.
Actually I had found the answer earlier. And you can tell LR where to save the backups.:)

I just found the answer for my third question when I opened Lightroom today. It allows you to choose the folder with which to Save. Woo hoo!

[In2Photos]

For the first, yup, you can make the folder with the library shareable, or put it on a network drive shared somewhere, but it can only be opened by one user at a time. There's no file locking for synchronous access

-Rob
That would be fine, as the Library would only be accessed bu one account at a time from the same PC, not seperate PCs.

[rfreschner]

Actually I had found the answer earlier. And you can tell LR where to save the backups.:)

Well, don't keep me in suspense.....how???

[In2Photos]

Well, don't keep me in suspense.....how???
In Preferences I changed LR to Save Daily when first opened. The first time I opened LR the next day it asked me where to save the backups. I created a Folder on a seperate Drive titled Lightroom Backups.

[In2Photos]

hmmm, well theres a few ways to number 1 ( I only have 1 account on my computer so I can't test it)
There was probably something in installation about granting access to all users or 1, but not positive. The short answer is to make sure the folder in which your library is in, is shared by all. Lots of ways to do this.
Then have lightroom ask what library to load upon starting up (an option under prefernces), point to it and all is good.


2nd, I'm not sure why you'd want identical copies of image in the library, just extra previews to deal with and it'll throw off your searching, keywording, meta browsing etc. It would in theory pull both, and you wouldn't know which you are working with.

On the other hand the images in backup may not be getting proccessed either. I'll have to think about that. For now I backup manually, so take that for what ever its worth.
I found the preference for startup and made both users point to the Database automatically upon startup. Thanks again Corey, it worked great. Now I just need somebody to Keyword about 15,000 images.:o Oh wait, that's me.:cry:

[rfreschner]

In Preferences I changed LR to Save Daily when first opened. The first time I opened LR the next day it asked me where to save the backups. I created a Folder on a seperate Drive titled Lightroom Backups.

Hmmmm.... don't remember that happening but I'm sure it did. I wonder if I were to shut it off and then turn it back on whether it would give me the option. Not a biggie though as I do the nightly backup anyway. Thanks for the tip!

[glhs509]

Hmmmm.... don't remember that happening but I'm sure it did. I wonder if I were to shut it off and then turn it back on whether it would give me the option. Not a biggie though as I do the nightly backup anyway. Thanks for the tip!
Just change it to backup everytime, restart LR and you'll get a dialog box similar to this:

[coreypolis]

I found the preference for startup and made both users point to the Database automatically upon startup. Thanks again Corey, it worked great. Now I just need somebody to Keyword about 15,000 images.:o Oh wait, that's me.:cry:
I don't envy you there

I hope you get how important it is to add keywords whenever possible as you import. You can drag and drop into a heirarchy later, but its much faster

[glhs509]

I don't envy you there

I hope you get how important it is to add keywords whenever possible as you import. You can drag and drop into a heirarchy later, but its much faster
You know, I'm realizing that now (I'm doing ~15k+ photos as well)...

I don't know if I'm missing something with the keyword stamper tool. Seems it takes longer for me to use that (maybe there should a be pulldown for the keyword, instead of typing the keyword in the blank space?)

I've just be going into each folder, highlighting photos and clicking the keyword/toggles from the keyword set presets (on the right pane).

Any other tips for adding keywords?

[In2Photos]

I don't envy you there

I hope you get how important it is to add keywords whenever possible as you import. You can drag and drop into a heirarchy later, but its much faster

I do. Also note that a lot of my photos were pre-SLR when I had no clue about anything photography related. I will definately keep up with it from now on during the import process.

You know, I'm realizing that now (I'm doing ~15k+ photos as well)...

I don't know if I'm missing something with the keyword stamper tool. Seems it takes longer for me to use that (maybe there should a be pulldown for the keyword, instead of typing the keyword in the blank space?)

I've just be going into each folder, highlighting photos and clicking the keyword/toggles from the keyword set presets (on the right pane).

Any other tips for adding keywords?

Go to www.rawworkflow.com (http://www.rawworkflow.com) and check out the Video tutorials from Michael Tapes. He shows you how to drag and drop your images to the laft panel with the Keyword section expanded. Makes for pretty quick work, although 15,000 images still takes a while.

[rfreschner]

Just change it to backup everytime, restart LR and you'll get a dialog box similar to this:

D'oh! :oops: Now I really feel stupid. I'm just so used to hitting the Backup button that I don't even look at the dialog anymore. Now there's a bad habit to get into!

[glhs509]

to www.rawworkflow.com (http://www.rawworkflow.com/) and check out the Video tutorials from Michael Tapes. He shows you how to drag and drop your images to the laft panel with the Keyword section expanded. Makes for pretty quick work, although 15,000 images still takes a while.
Thx for the tip...serves me right for 'watching' the videos and not paying attention...although the videos are playing at 8x speed on my PC at work, I'll just watch 'em [again] when I get home.

D'oh! :oops: Now I really feel stupid. I'm just so used to hitting the Backup button that I don't even look at the dialog anymore. Now there's a bad habit to get into!
Especially when you're formatting/partitioning drives :lol:

[ibdb]

Go to www.rawworkflow.com (http://www.rawworkflow.com) and check out the Video tutorials from Michael Tapes. He shows you how to drag and drop your images to the laft panel with the Keyword section expanded. Makes for pretty quick work, although 15,000 images still takes a while.
I'm still working on getting my keywording in line, too. I'll have to check out that site. What I'd like is to be able to do a search for shots that have no keywords (iView Media Pro can do it), so I can filter out the ones that are done and only see the ones that I've missed. Is that ability somewhere that I've missed?

[In2Photos]

I'm still working on getting my keywording in line, too. I'll have to check out that site. What I'd like is to be able to do a search for shots that have no keywords (iView Media Pro can do it), so I can filter out the ones that are done and only see the ones that I've missed. Is that ability somewhere that I've missed?

I would like to know that as well. So far I haven't figured that out, but it would sure help.

[rfreschner]

Especially when you're formatting/partitioning drives :lol:

One thing I definitely stay away from unless absolutely necessary!!

[glhs509]

I'm still working on getting my keywording in line, too. I'll have to check out that site. What I'd like is to be able to do a search for shots that have no keywords (iView Media Pro can do it), so I can filter out the ones that are done and only see the ones that I've missed. Is that ability somewhere that I've missed?

I'm not at my PC, but the following should work (presumably):

Ctrl-click on all your keywords/categories on the keyword browser.
Library grid should show only files with keyword tags, now select all (ctrl-A or whatever method you prefer).
Now click the 'all photos' (or whatever it's called at the top of the left pane)...Entire collection should now show.
Do an 'Invert selection' and all your un-tagged files should be selected.
Now set these to a color you don't use, or give them a tag like 'unsorted' or whatever.

[ibdb]

Thanks! Took me a few tries (LR kept reporting new missing files each time I did it -- I probably need to start with a cleaner import than what I had), but I did eventually get to what I needed.

Looks like I was doing better than I thought -- less than 600 remaining out of the original 2400+ I started keywording, and many of those can be covered with a relatively few keywords. :D