# Using Dropbox to Host Catalogue Files



## RobertA (Jul 17, 2015)

Has anyone used Dropbox as the location to store the catalogue files for Lightroom so LR can be accessed on all my computers from any location?  I am testing the CC application now but don't know that I need all my changes synching to all my devices. I have been using the stand alone versions of LR for years and usually copy my catalogue to an external HD when I travel. I'm a little hesitant to make the change to CC and commit to the monthly payments.


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## clee01l (Jul 17, 2015)

I've not seen a need to use Dropbox to keep LR computers in sync.  In stead I use a travel catalog for my laptop and merge this into the master catalog when I'm at home. 
 Dropbox is certainly an alternative and many people do use this as you have described. 

Here are the issues that need to be addressed.

The LR catalog needs to be closed and sync'd on each computer before you open LR on another computer.  The last version saved will overwrite the previous version stored in the Dropbox cloud server. 
The Previews folder need to be stored in the same folder as the LR catalog file.  It can consume 10's of GB of preview images and Dropbox only gives you a small amount of free cloud storage.  You can use a symbolic link (alias) to store your actual previews locally and let the alias do the work of the actual previews folder in the drop box folder.
Master image files should be stored in a location accessible to all computers.  Again because of Dropbox storage costs, this local need not be in the Dropbox cloud but can be on a file server of your choosing in your local network.


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## LouieSherwin (Jul 17, 2015)

Hi Robert,

Another good use of DropBox is to relocate your Lightroom presets to a folder in DropBox. Then use symbolic links on each computer to point to the DropBox folder instead of the default location. This helps considerably with keeping the to working environments the same.

I tried but have stopped including the Lightroom Preferences in DropBox. Too often especially when getting ready for or returning from a trip would have Lightroom running on two computers and the preferences file seems to be much more sensitive to multiple instances of the application running at the same time.

-louie


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## theWeissGuy (Jul 17, 2015)

With due respect to Cletus, I beg to differ. I use GoogleDrive regularly to keep my laptop and desktop catalogs in sync. Images are stored on both machines and backed up on external drives. I don't bother about previews since I only work on a small subset of images at any one time. This all works for me and Dropbox should work as well.


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## tspear (Jul 17, 2015)

Robert,

Yes. I have used Dropbox for this. I then switched to Google Drive, and now I am on Microsoft OneDrive. I switched due to price/features. Dropbox was by far the most expensive but I had used it for work for years so it was a natural fit to start with. Google then came out with a great price for a terabyte of online storage, and Microsoft then matched the price and threw in MS Office. So that is how I managed to switch between all three 
Anyway, I currently switch between my desktop and my laptop. I almost never use both machines in the same day, so it is much easier for me to verify all files have synced.
A few things I did to make life easier.
-- Create a "master" directory in my cloud drive. It has the following sub directories: Plugins, Images (cataloged and converted images), Catalog, raw-copy 
-- Make sure to store all preferences with the catalog
-- All plugins are stored under the master directory as a sibling to the catalog directory, makes easier to deal with plugin updates and changes.
-- Images represents the master image collection of everything in the catalog
-- The raw-copy is the second copy of the images off the camera used at import. Part of my backup process to have a second original copy (I convert to DNG on import).


Tim


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## Victoria Bampton (Jul 18, 2015)

Yeah, I use Dropbox to store my catalog. Works great as long as you make sure it's completely synced before you switch machines. If you make a mistake, you can end up with conflicted copies of the catalog, which is a pain to fix.


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## Peter O'Reilly (Aug 18, 2015)

I am trying to setup my Lightroom catalogue in Onedrive, so that I can work on my images at work (desktop PC, Windows 7, Lightroom CC 2015) and my laptop at home (Windows10, Lightroom CC 2015).
All my images, catalogue, previews etc are stored on an external drive connected to my PC. To start with, I have copied the Settings folder, the Previews folder and the catalogue to a "Lightroom" folder inside the Onedrive folder on the PC. This folder then appears in my Onedrive folder in the cloud, but does not appear in the Onedrive folder on the laptop.
So I've tried running Lightroom from the catalogue in the cloud, and I get a message that "Lightroom cannot use the catalogue because it is not writeable and cannot be opened". I believe this is something to do with file permissions, but don't know how to  fix it.
Am I on the right track, or have I gone wrong somewhere?
Thanks


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## rob211 (Aug 19, 2015)

We were discussing this on another forum, but something you might wanna try is Syncthing. It's peer-to-peer syncing, but can work over the internet as long as your register with their discovery server (basically so your devices can find each other). Open source.

I have a laptop that is far slower than my desktop, and I don't want the same catalog on each device. So I use the method of exporting then importing then exporting, which works best for me for how I use Lr. But the syncing capabilities of Syncthing work great for other uses, so they should work fine for a whole Lr folder.

Another good tool is Mylio, if you don't need to pass a catalog back and forth, but do need to pass the images back and forth. It works sorta like Lr Mobile, but doesn't need cloud storage. And it has way more flexibility: it can sync computers, iOS devices, NAS, hard drives, etc. And it can pass basic Lr edits and metadata back and forth quickly, like exposure, B&W, contrast, and other more common stuff like metadata. Free for three devices and a limited amount of images. Has an Lr plugin. And it can pass originals, thumbnails, or previews.


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## rob211 (Aug 19, 2015)

Peter O'Reilly said:


> I am trying to setup my Lightroom catalogue in Onedrive, so that I can work on my images at work (desktop PC, Windows 7, Lightroom CC 2015) and my laptop at home (Windows10, Lightroom CC 2015).
> All my images, catalogue, previews etc are stored on an external drive connected to my PC. To start with, I have copied the Settings folder, the Previews folder and the catalogue to a "Lightroom" folder inside the Onedrive folder on the PC. This folder then appears in my Onedrive folder in the cloud, but does not appear in the Onedrive folder on the laptop.
> So I've tried running Lightroom from the catalogue in the cloud, and I get a message that "Lightroom cannot use the catalogue because it is not writeable and cannot be opened". I believe this is something to do with file permissions, but don't know how to  fix it.
> Am I on the right track, or have I gone wrong somewhere?
> Thanks


One problem that might be occurring is that Lr catalogs can only be used by one application on one device at a time. Was the catalog open on another device? did the lockfile get copied in a state where the catalog was open?


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## tspear (Aug 19, 2015)

Peter O'Reilly said:


> I am trying to setup my Lightroom catalogue in Onedrive, so that I can work on my images at work (desktop PC, Windows 7, Lightroom CC 2015) and my laptop at home (Windows10, Lightroom CC 2015).
> All my images, catalogue, previews etc are stored on an external drive connected to my PC. To start with, I have copied the Settings folder, the Previews folder and the catalogue to a "Lightroom" folder inside the Onedrive folder on the PC. This folder then appears in my Onedrive folder in the cloud, but does not appear in the Onedrive folder on the laptop.
> So I've tried running Lightroom from the catalogue in the cloud, and I get a message that "Lightroom cannot use the catalogue because it is not writeable and cannot be opened". I believe this is something to do with file permissions, but don't know how to  fix it.
> Am I on the right track, or have I gone wrong somewhere?
> Thanks



If the catalog does not appear on the OneDrive on your laptop you need to first verify OneDrive is installed and working on the laptop. Second verify it is set to include the new catalog directory (assumption is you have selective sync turned on).
Once those two steps are done, let me know if you still have issues.
I have OneDrive working just fine for this replication between a laptop and a desktop.

Tim


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## Peter O'Reilly (Aug 19, 2015)

Tim, in my online Onedrive folder, there are four folders, one of which contains my Lightroom data. Only one of these folders - Documents - appears in the Onedrive folder on my laptop. Not sure how to tell Onedrive to copy the other folders.
Also, could you explain how to turn on selective sync?
Thanks, Peter


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## tspear (Aug 20, 2015)

Peter O'Reilly said:


> Tim, in my online Onedrive folder, there are four folders, one of which contains my Lightroom data. Only one of these folders - Documents - appears in the Onedrive folder on my laptop. Not sure how to tell Onedrive to copy the other folders.
> Also, could you explain how to turn on selective sync?
> Thanks, Peter



Peter,

It is located in the OneDrive Settings as "choose folders".
Here is a summary:
http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2905-onedrive-selective-sync-choose-folders-windows-10-a.html

Tim


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## Victoria Bampton (Aug 20, 2015)

That error message (and a related OneDrive issue) are both in my latest blog post Lightroom and Windows 10 Compatibility


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