A Catalog In The Cloud

May 022010

We all know that Lightroom is not yet a net-workable application. While we can point our catalog to images on a network accessible drive we cannot put our catalog on a network drive. This presents a problem to those of who like to work on a laptop and a desktop.

There are techniques that we can use to work on two computers with a single catalog. Some include importing and exporting catalogs or parts of catalogs to keep everything in sync. All of that can lead to mistakenly overwriting good data with old. Or, perhaps, it gets too confusing to keep track. With a very large catalog this is our only recourse at present. However, for a smaller catalog here is a technique that leverages the cloud.

All you need is a Dropbox account! What? You don’t have one? Well before you read any further click here and get your FREE 2Gb account. Even if you don’t use it for this technique it is a very handy thing to have. The magic of dropbox is how it works so seamlessly. Each computer you install it on gets a local dropbox folder. Everything that happens in that folder is duplicated to your dropbox account in the cloud and then down to every other computer you’ve installed dropbox on. A recent addition allows dropbox to keep the folders in sync over your network for a quicker response.

To start, create a new catalog in your dropbox folder. If you are using the free 2Gb account then I suggest you use minimal previews on import. Also, in Catalog Settings set the 1:1 previews to be discarded after 1 day.

The reason for this is that 1:1 previews can grow the previews database to a rather large size. With only 2Gb to work with that can become a problem quickly. Of course, if you have a 50Gb or 100Gb paid account this might not be a problem for you.

On computer #1 everything works as expected. When you close Lightroom and go to computer #2, open the catalog from your dropbox folder on that computer. If the drive the images are stored on is not yet mounted on computer #2 you will see the missing folder/files indicators in the Library module.

Once you mount the drive (you can use Finder on Mac, or Explorer on Windows) then Lightroom will have access to the files and folders your catalog needs.

After mounting the drive with the required folders and files then Lightroom is ready to access your original images. Since the catalog is exactly the same as the catalog on computer #1 the names and locations should be correct.

Of course, since Lightroom is not a network enabled application be sure and close the catalog on computer #1 before you open it on computer #2. Lightroom does create a .lock file when it opens a catalog but it is better to be safe.

Theoretically, Lightroom uses the same database structure on Windows and Mac. However, I have not tested this technique across two different platforms. If you have both a Mac and a Windows machine why not give it a try and report back in the comments if you found any adverse effects trying to use the same catalog on both platforms.

This is by no means an answer to the problem of a multiuser studio that needs access to the same Lightroom catalog. However, I find it to be a great solution when I need to bounce between my desktop and my laptop and want full access to my images. So, give it a try! If nothing else, you’ll wind up with a free dropbox account that can be used for many things!

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About the Author: Gene McCullagh
Contact Gene

Gene is an Adobe Community Professional, an Adobe Certified Expert in Photoshop Lightroomand an avid Lightroom fan. He has written several feature articles for Photoshop User Magazine and is the author of Explore Lightroom 4: A Roadmap for Photographers.

He belongs to the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) and the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP). Gene is the Co-Founder of the Dallas Fort Worth Adobe User Group (DFWAUG).

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Brian Watson

I don't know how anyone could consider this. I have enough trouble getting Lightroom to perform reasonably with the catalog on fast local drives. I won't even put it on a mapped drive on my local LAN. The performance over the Internet must be horrendous!
glemoine

@Brian, with Dropbox, the files are stored locally on your hard-drive. Internet is used to synchronize your different machines, but not to actually access the file.
However, you will indeed need to wait for the synchronization to finish before using the catalog on the other machine, this is where the Dropbox “LAN sync” option comes in which enable faster synchronization between machines on the same LAN.
Brian Watson

Makes much more sense – thanks for the clarification!
http://photo.net/photos/Benoit_Botton Benoit

If you use an external drive for both catalogue and pictures, you don't have to wait for any synchronisation. I use it to edit picture on the Windows machine when my girlfriend is using the Macbook.
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Hi Benoit!

Yes, you can use an external drive as an alternative. This is just another way to take advantage of assets already on your network. As for the sync aspect, dropbox is extremely quick. I've never experienced ANY wait time. By the time I close the catalog and go to the other computer everything is in sync.
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Hi Brian!

There is no difference here. The catalog remains on your local drive. What this does is automatically reproduce the same catalog on another local drive on another computer. If the images are accessible by both computers then all works well.

As glemoine points out below, you are NOT accessing your catalog over the internet. In this case the internet serves as a transport mechanism. Dropbox's LAN sync capabilities dramatically speed up the sync for computers on the same network and don't even use the internet for the sync. In the background it will sync with the cloud version.

I don't have any issues getting Lightroom to perform very well on any of my machines. And this technique has had absolutely no impact on performance.
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Yes, thanks for the further clarification, glemoine! I'll also point out that the sync is remarkably quick. Certainly quicker than exporting to a catalog on one computer then importing to a catalog on another computer.

There are other benefits as well since dropbox will store prior versions of your catalog giving you another “backup” of sorts. The free account will store them for 30 days. Paid accounts keep all prior versions.
Andy

How would this work between a Mac and a Windows machine if you have your photos stored on a network drive? Wouldn't the paths to that network drive be different because of the different ways in which the OSes handle them? (I would like to be wrong about this. )
Damien Franco

I was beta testing Lightroom 3 but opted out of the latest beta test. I don't recall this issue being addressed in the first beta round. Is there any indication that this is an issue that Adobe is looking at? Perhaps an account at adobe.com to sync to the cloud or something for full access to catalogs on any authorized computer?
John

For those looking for extra space on the free accounts, its possible to get up to 8 extra gigs without paying.

Each of these will get you an extra 250mb.
#1) Sign up under a referral link. (30 seconds, 250mb)
#2) Complete the tutorial and start tasks. (2 minutes, 250mb)
#3) Refer people under your own link (time depends on motivation/your ability to whore products to your friends, 250mb per referral up to 8 gigs.)

You can use my link if you think this was helpful. Otherwise ignore it and use the one below.

Referral:
https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTY2NTQ5NzY5

Main Site:
http://www.dropbox.com

Thanks guys.
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Hi Andy! That's the part I left as a homework assignment for the readers! LOL I haven't tried this cross-platform. But you are probably correct that the path issues would be a hindrance. I'd be interested in hearing if anyone has tried it cross-platform and what challenges/results they had.
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Not to my knowledge, Damien. This technique will work with Lightroom 2.x as well as Lightroom 3 Beta 2.

I do know that Adobe has heard the many requests for some sort of networked solution. I am sure they are working on something but I don't know what it might be.
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Thanks for the tips, John.
http://www.thelightroomlab.com David Marx

Dear Gene,

I like your suggestion here a lot. For years I have been teaching and preaching the advantages to using an external hard drive and a single catalog with Lightroom. See http://thelightroomlab.com/2009/05/my-photo-sto… In my system both the catalog and all of the photos live on the external disk. Since there is only one disk and one catalog I can easily move from Mac to Pc or desktop to laptop without sync or export / import problems.

My question with your system is where do the images live? I understand that your catalog is in the dropbox folder but where are the actual image files? Thanks again for this innovative solution
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Thanks David!

I've also used the external drive solution. However, laziness is the true mother of invention so I saw this as a way to access the images without having to move the drive. The images themselves can be on any drive accessible over your local network. Even a NAS device. In my case I have the images on an external drive attached to my iMac. Then if I am working on my laptop I just mount the external drive over the network and the catalog residing in my dropbox instantly sees the drive. Since the drive has the same name everything just works.

A side benefit is that dropbox retains 30 days of prior versions (more if you have a paid account). So if I really need to roll back the clock for any reason I can recall a prior version of the catalog.

I am also an advocate of the single catalog. I often use this with a temporary working catalog. Then when I'm done I import it into my main catalog. It really works for me and I thought others could find it useful!
HEK

Another solution (on Mac) is to create the catalog and the images inside a dmg that you store on a network drive. When a computer mounts the dmg as a drive it can happily access the catalog and the images. This will of course require a fast network
http://www.brearleyphoto.com graham

I tried this with (albeit a very large) LR catalog and dropbox struggled to cope with it. I’m a dropbox fanatic with a paid 100Gb subscription. It seemed the dropbox had a lot of trouble with large files and updates.

How large was the catalog you tried this with?
http://www.brearleyphoto.com graham

I tried this with (albeit a very large) LR catalog and dropbox struggled to cope with it. I'm a dropbox fanatic with a paid 100Gb subscription. It seemed the dropbox had a lot of trouble with large files and updates.

How large was the catalog you tried this with?
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Great idea HEK! I’ll have to give that a try.
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Great idea HEK! I'll have to give that a try.
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Hi graham! I’ve tried this with catalogs ranging from 100 to 1,000 images. I don’t recommend this for a main catalog but, rather, for short term processing which is later imported into your main catalog.

Still, there shouldn’t be an issue while you are working on one computer since the dropbox files are local. It may just take more time for larger files to sync up. But, as I said, I don’t recommend this for very large main catalogs.
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Hi graham! I've tried this with catalogs ranging from 100 to 1,000 images. I don't recommend this for a main catalog but, rather, for short term processing which is later imported into your main catalog.

Still, there shouldn't be an issue while you are working on one computer since the dropbox files are local. It may just take more time for larger files to sync up. But, as I said, I don't recommend this for very large main catalogs.
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