Narrative is a standalone desktop app, so you don't need Lightroom to cull your photos. You only need Lightroom for some editing tasks, like applying an AI Preset.
Which software do I need?
This table shows what you need for each task:
What you want to do | What you need |
Cull and rate your photos | Just Narrative |
Edit your photos with an AI Preset | Lightroom Classic or Lightroom CC |
Try several AI Presets on the same photos | Lightroom Classic |
Train a Personal AI Preset | A Lightroom Classic catalog of your edited and exported photos, on a Premium or Ultra plan |
Have your Personal AI Preset learn from your edits | Lightroom Classic |
Edit in Photoshop or Capture One | Narrative opens your selected photos there, but AI Presets aren't applied |
Export finished JPEGs | Your editing software. Narrative doesn't export final images |
Where can I send my photos from Narrative?
When you click Ship + Edit, you can send your photos to Lightroom Classic, Lightroom CC, Capture One, Photoshop (Camera Raw) or another program.
Lightroom Classic and Lightroom CC: your photos arrive with their ratings, plus AI Preset edits if you turned on an AI Preset.
Photoshop and Capture One: Narrative opens your photos there, without AI Preset edits. This works on Mac. On Windows, drag your photos into the program instead.
Do all editing programs read Narrative's ratings?
Each editing program reads Narrative's ratings a little differently. Lightroom Classic and Lightroom CC read stars, color labels, tags and rejects. Capture One reads stars and color labels, but ignores tags and rejects.
Keep your RAW photos and their XMP sidecar files (the small files that store your ratings) together, so your ratings come with them.
Do I need the Lightroom Classic plugin?
You only need the plugin if you edit in Lightroom Classic, and Narrative installs it for you. It's what lets Narrative send your photos and AI Preset edits into Lightroom Classic. You still do your culling in Narrative.
Lightroom CC doesn't use the plugin.
Next: Ship with an AI Preset, Capture One, or metadata syncing.