# location of user-installed plug-ins?



## PhilBurton (Nov 17, 2019)

I made the mistake of installing all my plug-ins in the Modules subfolder, and now I can't REMOVE any of them, per the FAQ book, p. 344, for LR 9.0.  So I tried to follow this instruction, also on  p. 344, to create a different folder for my user-installed plug-ins.  






However, selecting the Preferences dialog > presets tab does have a Show Lightroom Presets Folder button.





When I clicked on the Show Lightroom Develop Presets button, the folder that Lightroom showed me was in the CameraRAW directory:





So what do I do to create a folder for my plug-ins and configure Lightroom to find that folder?  Lightroom 9.

Phil


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## Victoria Bampton (Nov 17, 2019)

Ah yes, those buttons changed slightly when they changed the Develop Presets. I would click the Show All Other Lightroom Presets button instead, to find the Lightroom presets/templates rather than the Camera Raw one. It doesn’t have to be there, it’s just an easy place to remember.


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## PhilBurton (Nov 18, 2019)

Victoria Bampton said:


> Ah yes, those buttons changed slightly when they changed the Develop Presets. I would click the Show All Other Lightroom Presets button instead, to find the Lightroom presets/templates rather than the Camera Raw one. It doesn’t have to be there, it’s just an easy place to remember.


I followed your directions and created a Plug-ins folder.





I couldn't find some button to "Make Default Location for Plug-ins."  So I shut down Lightroom, then moved some plug-ins to the new folder using Windows File Explorer.  I restarted Lightroom, selected Plug-In Manager, and clicked the Add button.  Then I navigated from the Modules folder to my new Plug-Ins folder and selected various plug-in folders.  It all just worked, and it sounds more complicated than it really was.

Phil


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## johnbeardy (Nov 18, 2019)

My own preference (recommendation) is to install plugins elsewhere, and I prefer a Dropbox folder. That' s because:

putting plugins in Modules makes them load automatically
putting them in the presets/templates area occasionally causes permission problems especially updating some plugins on Mac
on Dropbox you update a plugin once for all computers


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## PhilBurton (Nov 18, 2019)

johnbeardy said:


> My own preference (recommendation) is to install plugins elsewhere, and I prefer a Dropbox folder. That' s because:
> 
> putting plugins in Modules makes them load automatically
> putting them in the presets/templates area occasionally causes permission problems especially updating some plugins on Mac
> on Dropbox you update a plugin once for all computers


John,

I don't like to use DropBox because I sometimes work on Lightroom on planes and other places where I don't have internet access.

I discovered that if I use Goodsync to synchronize my C:\Users\phil\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Lightroom (on Windows) between desktop and laptop, any changes I made on to plug-ins on one system are automatically carried over to the other system.

Why would you not want plug-ins to load automatically?

Phil


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## Johan Elzenga (Nov 18, 2019)

PhilBurton said:


> I don't like to use DropBox because I sometimes work on Lightroom on planes and other places where I don't have internet access.


You do not understand how Dropbox works. Dropbox creates a local 'Dropbox' folder. Everything you have in that folder is synched with the Dropbox servers, but is also locally available. Even when there is no internet connection. I use Dropbox for my plugins, presets, and other stuff I like to sync between my desktop and my laptop computer.


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## PhilBurton (Nov 19, 2019)

Johan Elzenga said:


> You do not understand how Dropbox works. Dropbox creates a local 'Dropbox' folder. Everything you have in that folder is synched with the Dropbox servers, but is also locally available. Even when there is no internet connection. I use Dropbox for my plugins, presets, and other stuff I like to sync between my desktop and my laptop computer.


Johan,

I did investigate DropBox once, but the amount available with a free account does not begin to cover the volume of data that I would need to synchronize between devices.  Since I'm dealing with a laptop and a desktop at the same location (except when I'm travelling), it's just much more straightforward to use Goodsync.  There are no capacity limitations and performance in a local network is much faster than web upload/download.

When I'm travelling, I run backups every night to an external HDD.

Phil


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## Johan Elzenga (Nov 19, 2019)

PhilBurton said:


> Johan,
> 
> I did investigate DropBox once, but the amount available with a free account does not begin to cover the volume of data that I would need to synchronize between devices.  Since I'm dealing with a laptop and a desktop at the same location (except when I'm travelling), it's just much more straightforward to use Goodsync.  There are no capacity limitations and performance in a local network is much faster than web upload/download.
> 
> ...


The advantage of Dropbox is that syncing is constantly done (in the background). That means you can never forget to sync your computers before you go on a trip, and you have an extra online bakup as well. I have a professional Dropbox account. Well worth it. The online space is twice the size of the hard disk in my laptop...


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