Lightroom stores information like edits and ratings in a locked away Lightroom catalog file, which can make syncing other apps with it a bit tricky.
We’ve described a few common scenarios relating to syncing data between Lightroom Classic and Narrative Select below – make sure to read them carefully to find the scenario that fits your specific situation, and follow the steps in order.
Please contact our Support team if you would like any extra help or you have a scenario that’s not covered.
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You imported all of your project’s images to Lightroom Classic, but you want to cull in Select.
All project images have been imported to Lightroom Classic
You have not edited any of them
Follow these steps:
Create a new project in Select and import the folder of images if you haven’t done so already. Complete your selection in Narrative Select.
Now in Lightroom, select all images and right-click. Click on ‘Metadata’ > ‘Read Metadata from File’ – This will update the metadata to reflect ratings shown in Narrative.
Note: Any edits or rating you previously did in Lightroom will be overwritten.
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You imported some of your project's images into Lightroom Classic, but you want to cull in Select.
Some project images have been imported to Lightroom Classic
You have not edited any of them
Follow these steps:
Create a new project in Select and import the folder of images if you haven’t done so already. Complete your full selection in Narrative Select, click the [SHIP] button and choose the images you want to ship.
Now in Lightroom Classic, you'll see the import screen. Images you previously imported into Lightroom won't be shown in a selected state (as they have already been imported).
Still in Lightroom Classic, select all images and right-click. Select ‘Metadata’ > ‘Read Metadata from File’ – This will update the metadata to reflect ratings shown in Narrative Select.
Note: Any edits or rating you previously did in Lightroom will be overwritten.
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You want to preserve any edits or ratings you did in Lightroom Classic before importing to Narrative Select.
Some or all project images have been imported to Lightroom Classic
You have edited some or all of them
The images are not imported to Narrative Select yet
Follow these steps:
Open the project in Lightroom Classic.
Select all images in the project with ⌘ A (mac) or Ctrl A (windows) and right-click on one of them.
Select ‘Metadata’ > ‘Save Metadata to File’ – This will write any edits and ratings done in Lightroom to sidecar (.XMP) files in the folder where your images are stored.
Now you can import the project into Select.
Important notes:
If you don't 'Save Metadata to File' before adding or changing ratings in Select, then you 'Read Metadata from file' – any edits or rating done in Lightroom will be overwritten for the selected images.
If you 'Save Metadata to File' after adding/changing ratings in Select, the ratings you did in Select will be overwritten.