To get your photos from Narrative into Lightroom on a Mac, use Ship + Edit. It sends your selected photos and their ratings to Lightroom Classic or Lightroom CC, with an AI Preset applied if you'd like.
How do I ship my photos to Lightroom Classic?
Once you've finished culling, follow these steps:
Click Ship + Edit in the top-right corner, or press ⌘E.
Check which photos you're shipping, and choose Lightroom Classic.
Choose a catalog. You can pick a recent one, an existing one or create a new one. If you have more than one version of Lightroom Classic, choose the version that opens that catalog.
To have your photos arrive edited, turn on Apply AI Preset for Lightroom and choose an AI Preset.
Click the ship button at the bottom and wait for Narrative to finish.
If a different catalog is open in Lightroom, Narrative asks to close and reopen Lightroom. Lightroom has to reopen to switch catalogs, but Narrative does this for you, so you don't need to quit Lightroom first.
Lightroom's import window opens with your shipped photos selected. If your photos are in subfolders, turn on Include Subfolders.
Choose how to import: Add, Copy, Move or Copy as DNG, then click Import.
Most photographers choose Add, which imports your photos from where they are now. Choose Copy or Move only if you want them in a new place.
Note: If Lightroom's import window is already open when you ship, close it and ship again.
How do I ship to Lightroom CC?
To ship to Lightroom CC, choose Lightroom CC in the Ship + Pre-edit window, then follow Lightroom CC's import steps. You can apply one AI Preset at a time. Applying more than one AI Preset and learning from your corrections only work with Lightroom Classic.
What other ways can I get my photos into Lightroom?
If Ship + Edit isn't right for you, there are three other ways.
Drag and drop: filter to your selected photos in Narrative and press ⌘A to select them all. Then drag them from the filmstrip onto the Lightroom app icon or into the Lightroom window. Make sure Lightroom's import window isn't already open.
Move or copy your selected photos: in the Ship + Pre-edit window, turn on Move or copy files, click Browse and choose a folder. You can apply an AI Preset at the same time. Once Narrative finishes, import that folder in Lightroom. Your XMP files go with your photos. Learn how to move or copy your photos.
Import the folder in Lightroom: in Lightroom, import the folder your photos are in, then filter by the ratings you gave them in Narrative. Check the number of photos before you import.
What if my photos are already in Lightroom?
If your photos are already in a Lightroom Classic catalog, Narrative skips them when you ship to that catalog, and shows how many "can't be Shipped as they are already in this catalog". You don't need to remove and import them again to update ratings or try another AI Preset. Learn how to sync metadata safely. Syncing can replace edits you've made since, so save those first.
If some photos are missing after you ship, see Some or all of my images aren't showing when shipping to Lightroom.