Luminar 3: Location of the Luminar Catalog
The current location of the Luminar 3 Catalog in the Windows 10 Pictures folder is problematic. Every photo in this folder is loaded into the Windows 10 Photos app. This results in thousands of thumbnail files added, greatly cluttering the view of my photos when using the Photos app. I did a web search for a way to exclude a sub-folder from the Pictures folder. There is not one that I could find. If this issue can not be overcome, then the Luminar 3 Catalog needs to reside outside of the Pictures folder.
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Hi Roy, I had the same question/problem. How I solved it:
Installing Luminar 3 I linked a folder with NO pictures in it to the standard Luminar catalog. Having Luminar open I made a new catalog "File -> Catalog -> New" and this catalog I saved to the location I wanted to. After this I deletedt the "Luminar Catalog" Folder in my pictures folder.
Erwin
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@Erwin Kargl, I had already come to the same work-around after having to delete thousands of Luminar 3 thumbnails from my Windows 10 Photos app and then watch Luminar 3 put them right back. I noted that Lightroom also stores its catalog in the Pictures folder but the difference is that Lightroom does not store jpeg thumbnail files in its catalog.
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Thanks for the helpful posts. I was able to move the catalog easily on Windows.
1. Exit Luminar
2. Cut and paste the catalog folder to move it to a new location.
3. Open Luminar and open the moved catalog (File>Catalog>Open...).
Cataloged folders and adjusted photos show up just as before, no problems.
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Thank you everyone for your helpful info. I tried David’s suggestion and it worked perfectly. I have also not lost any info. I put the complete catalog directory on my C: drive root and everything is running much better. My catalog holds around 73,000 pictures and I have noticed a considerable speed difference. After I did what David suggested I was not able to edit anything for about 20 minutes. My hard drive was running like crazy. Once I was able to edit, things felt more normal. Also the problem with not being able to re-edit a RAW file seems to have disappeared. I tried to re-edit about 12 different RAW files and they all worked in the editor first time round. Hopefully this will keep up. My hard drive is still running an hour later so I’ll just let it run until everything is finished. I am on Windows 7.0. Thank you again everybody.
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Erwin i've put the catalog on an external drive where I keep my photos, this has worked for me ;but find that lumiar takes quite some time to start up. Also opening a set of folders takes time too ? would it be better to cut and paste the calalog into my ssd c drive ( not sure where ) + would this speed up the luminar startup and work flow ?
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Hmmm ... as SSDs should be faster then regular HDs it should speed up Luminar. I had a "spare" ssd drive 128GB which I installed just for holding this catalogs. On C: it´s your choice where you put the catalog. As for me, I would create a "c:\Luminar_Catalog" folder where I would put the catalogs in subfolders ;-)
Erwin
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im not confident on a software at this point, Needs so many backdoor preparation in order to work. They should test before release, not aggravating the end user. A software should be turn key operation, download and use it.
I spent 2 weeks of my time, several emails with the support desk and still the software is not working. Just a shame...
Two thumbs down Skylum.
Not sure if Skylum takes the time to read on forum, most likely a FB would be more effective
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Hi everybody,
i tested some issues moving cataloques in different hard-drives with windows 10.
I've created a catalogue in C,immages folder with some photos, made some adjustments in few RAW photos and then I've exported this cataloque folder (with his photos inside) in an external hard drive.
If I open the cataloque directly in the external hard drive Luminar loses these adjustments, but if I re-import it in C without having made any operations in the external hard drive, Luminar maintains the adjustements.
I'm not a PRO but if someone uses working with tons of photos it could be a problem, expecially using external hard drives.
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Hi Paolo,
You need to keep your Luminar Catalog file on your C drive because moving it to another location can indeed cause losing your edits. Usually, we recommend to keep your Luminar Catalog and images in the same locations on the internal drives, however, saving a copy of your Luminar Catalog on your external drive might be a good idea.
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Hi Terry,
I keep my images in a drive by itself away from the operating system drive D:\Pictures with sub-folders for different categories. Would keeping the Luminar catalogs in a folder such as D:\Data\Luminar Catalog create a problem?
I backup the Data folder nightly to other hard drives, it would be nice for the backup to catch the catalogs as well.
Thank you,
Miguel.
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I had my first bad experience with catalogs and moving photos simply because I renamed my external hard drive after purchasing a second one. My catalog was in the default location /pictures. Luminar became completely useless. I tried to "find folder" and retrace the new path to the images but it didnt help. I am reloading Luminar 3 with an update and its asking where to put the catalog. The reason I have images on external drives is I use 2 computers for editing. As I have 2 computers for editing (iMac & MacBook) I am now thinking the catalog should stay with the images on the external drives otherwise how will the second computer get access to it? I guess you could have separate catalogs on each internal hard drive but then any image edits wouldn't be shared between computers, correct? Anyone have any experience with this? Please reply. This forum as the ONLY means of support is troubling. I really need to get this very basic problem resolved ASAP or I am going to be forced to reconsider the software.
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Hi James,
If you are moving between two computers and wish to have your catalog and all images accessible on both machines, it would be best to keep your catalog on the external hard drive with your images. If you have multiple drives with images, you don't need to create separate catalogs unless you want to. However, if a drive is unplugged, you won't be able to work with the images on the disconnected drive.
For future reference, this isn't the only place we offer support. You can also contact our tech team directly at www.skylum.com/support.
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