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Color Labels are Not Showing in Lightroom Classic

Fix color labels from Narrative showing as white or missing in Lightroom Classic when Lightroom isn't set to English.

Written by Ashton Smith

When you ship to Lightroom Classic, the color labels you add in Narrative come across with your photos. Lightroom CC doesn't show color labels.

Why are my color labels white or missing in Lightroom Classic?

Narrative always saves color labels with their English names: Red, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple. This is the same whatever language Narrative is set to, including Spanish and German.

Lightroom Classic matches color labels by name. If Lightroom Classic is set to a language other than English, its color label set uses that language's names, for example Rot and Blau in German. It then doesn't recognize Narrative's labels, so they show as white or don't show at all.

How do I fix my color labels?

You can either switch Lightroom Classic to English, or keep your language and add a color label set that uses the English names. To add the color label set:

  1. In Lightroom Classic, go to Metadata → Color Label Set → Edit.

  2. Type the English name next to each color: Red, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple.

  3. Click Save Current Settings as a New Preset.

  4. Name the preset Narrative, then click Change.

  5. Press ⌘ Command + J on Mac or Ctrl + J on Windows to open the view options, and check the options shown below are turned on.

Your Narrative color labels now show in Lightroom Classic, like this:

Do I need to do this every time I import?

You only need to create the Narrative color label set once. When you import photos from Narrative, check it's still selected under Metadata → Color Label Set → Narrative.

If your color labels still don't show, contact our support team.

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