When you launch the Lightroom Classic application and open a catalog from an older version, Lightroom upgrades the catalog automatically.
#Adobe lightroom free upgrade upgrade
Remember the upgrade to Lightroom Classic is only available to Creative Cloud subscription members.
#Adobe lightroom free upgrade install
When you are ready to upgrade, download and install the latest version of the application. Starting with Lightroom CC 2015.8/Lightroom 6.8 release, Lightroom compresses all the catalogs when creating a backup - including the ones that are larger than 4 GB. The one built into your Mac can corrupt files larger than 4GB. Tip: If your catalog is larger than 4GB, be careful not to use a Zip utility. Quit the application and let the backup run through completely.I suggest you choose When Lightroom next exits. Choose Edit > Catalog Settings (Windows) or Lightroom > Catalog Settings (Mac OS) and specify a frequency in the Back-Up Catalog option in the General panel.Launch a previous version of Lightroom (the one already installed on your computer).Remember, backing up your catalog does not back up the photos that it references. If you turn this option on and launch the old Lightroom first, you can invoke an application backup. It’s a very good idea to get in the habit of letting Lightroom backup your catalog automatically every time you quit Lightroom. It is possible to have multiple catalogs for different clients or projects, so be sure to back them all up. If you’ve moved your catalog and can’t find it, just search for “lrcat” in the Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac OS). By default, Lightroom saves catalogs in the following folders: Find the Catalogįirst, locate the catalog file and manually copy it to another disk or cloud-based location. But a little caution is still a good idea. In theory, Lightroom Classic CC will create a new copy of your catalog, so your Lr6 catalog remains intact. I strongly suggest that you backup your existing catalog a few different ways BEFORE upgrading your application. When you first launched Lightroom, it created a new catalog, when you go to upgrade it will try to open up the last catalog you were using. Remember, your actual photo files themselves are not stored in the catalog. If you edit photos, apply ratings, or organize with keywords, for example, those changes are stored in the catalog. Your catalog is your database that tracks the location of your photos and all of the information about them and their adjustments. But it does take some time - Don’t Panic. This is expected to improve the overall responsiveness of Lightroom Classic CC. This is because Adobe is compressing the Develop History and Metadata values in lrcat. This process WILL take longer (even a lot longer) than you are used to. When you go to install the Lightroom Classic update, your existing Lightroom catalog is going to go through a significant upgrade process.