# Setting quality and dpi when doing a custom export



## charleskinghorn (May 8, 2021)

When exporting a photo as a jpeg using C_ustom Settings_ in LR CC, the procedure shows _Quality _but does not allow me to set a value; it defaults to 90%. It also does not allow a dpi setting; it defaults to 240 dpi. Is there any way to set the export quality and dpi? I am setting my own dimensions.


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## charleskinghorn (May 8, 2021)

That should read _ppi_, not _dpi_.


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## Replytoken (May 9, 2021)

PPI settings are just an instruction set and have no influence on the photo you are exporting.  All is does is tell aware applications, of which there are not a lot, that if they are going to print the image, print it at 240PPI.  Set your dimensions and quality and you are good to go.

--Ken


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## clee01l (May 9, 2021)

The quality settings are not a percentage. The JPEG compression consists of 12 levels. The same 12 levels that you see in Photoshop. Any quality setting between 86 and 93 results in the same amount of compression. A setting of 93 to 100 is the least compression Visually you can not tell the difference between 90 or anything above 93. Your purpose for the Jpeg should determine the quality level. A quality setting of 60-80 is more than adequate for the web and produces a smaller faster loading file. If you need a higher quality image. Save as a lossless TIFF. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Jim Wilde (May 9, 2021)

charleskinghorn said:


> When exporting a photo as a jpeg using C_ustom Settings_ in LR CC, the procedure shows _Quality _but does not allow me to set a value; it defaults to 90%. It also does not allow a dpi setting; it defaults to 240 dpi. Is there any way to set the export quality and dpi? I am setting my own dimensions.


The "Quality" box should have a drop-down arrow after the default 90%. Click on the arrow to reveal all the selectable quality options, which includes 100%.

The PPI value has no relevance when exporting using pixel dimensions, the only time it would be relevant is if you choose to set the dimensions as a physical printable size, i.e. inches or centimetres. In that situation you would then need to set the PPI value, which Lightroom would use in conjunction with the size value to determine the number of pixels that would be needed in the exported file....and Lightroom does then indeed show the PPI box when you set dimensions in inches or centimetres.

Please drop the term "LR CC"....CC was dropped several years ago for almost all Adobe applications, and given that at various times in the past it was associated with both the Classic and the cloud-centric Lightroom, it's continued use within the community sometimes causes uncertainty to those users trying to respond to questions/problems posted on the various forums.


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## charleskinghorn (May 9, 2021)

Thank you all for your responses. They have enabled me to get to the point at which I want to be. There are a couple of issues, however.



clee01l said:


> Your purpose for the Jpeg should determine the quality level. A quality setting of 60-80 is more than adequate for the web and produces a smaller faster loading file. If you need a higher quality image. Save as a lossless TIFF.


I can find no way to actually set the Quality value of a jpeg. The label for the value is there; but no matter how I set my custom settings, it never offers me any options (see attachment). And if I want a jpeg, I don't want a lossless tiff. If the Quality option is there, I should be able to set it to any reasonable value I want. It makes no sense to export a tiff and then do the conversion to jpeg sizing and quality I want in another program.



Jim Wilde said:


> Please drop the term "LR CC"....CC was dropped several years ago for almost all Adobe applications, and given that at various times in the past it was associated with both the Classic and the cloud-centric Lightroom, it's continued use within the community sometimes causes uncertainty to those users trying to respond to questions/problems posted on the various forums.


Ah, the conundrum of what to call it. Every time I post on this, and other forums, I will write the word _Lightroom _(or_ LR_) and then pause and think "what do I add to this to differentiate it from Lightroom Classic and avoid confusion?" Sometimes it's _Cloudy_; sometimes _CC_. This time it was _CC_. In future I will follow your instructions and stick to a simple Lightroom or LR; but I don't think that will solve the confusion problem entirely, certainly not on other forums I visit. At least one presentation in the just-finished Lightroom Virtual Summit referenced "Lr Classic and Lr CC". Adobe really screwed up in their naming of these two products. _Lightroom Classic_ I can accept because this is the original (and classic version of) Lightroom; but the new version should have been named something like _Lightroom Cloud_ or something similar. Of course, this would have messed up their pretty icons.


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## clee01l (May 10, 2021)

Your last screen shot is in the Print dialog. Your first post was about exporting to JPGs. Everything said about JPEG quality in reply has been about the Export dialog. If you want to create a JPEG from your imported images file, you want to use the Export dialog. “Printing” to a JPEG file is a special case, often used to create a montage of several images in one JPG file.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## charleskinghorn (May 10, 2021)

clee01l said:


> Your last screen shot is in the Print dialog. Your first post was about exporting to JPGs. Everything said about JPEG quality in reply has been about the Export dialog. If you want to create a JPEG from your imported images file, you want to use the Export dialog. “Printing” to a JPEG file is a special case, often used to create a montage of several images in one JPG file.



I am not sure what you are really saying here. I am in LR, not LR Classic. I am trying to export a jpeg file in a format which someone else can print to my specifications.


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## Replytoken (May 10, 2021)

Unless you are wanting to limit the resolution of an image to limit the size of a quality print, you should export the image with full resolution as a jpeg file in sRGB color space.  The exception to this would be if the person you are sending this file to specifically asked for it to be saved in a larger color space like Adobe RGB.  You can drop down the quality to somewhere in the range of 70-90 to save a bit of file space with little to no loss of IQ in the file, but since 90 is the default in LR, I suggest just using that.  But you are best served by exporting the file and not using the print module.

--Ken


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## Jim Wilde (May 10, 2021)

charleskinghorn said:


> I can find no way to actually set the Quality value of a jpeg. The label for the value is there; but no matter how I set my custom settings, it never offers me any options (see attachment). And if I want a jpeg, I don't want a lossless tiff. If the Quality option is there, I should be able to set it to any reasonable value I want. It makes no sense to export a tiff and then do the conversion to jpeg sizing and quality I want in another program.



The fact that the Quality value is not shown, along with the drop-down list of selectable values, would suggest there's an issue with your installation. Have you tried exporting different files and file-types, and do you get the same problem each time? If so, I would first try resetting the preferences: How do I reset Lightroom's Preferences? | The Lightroom Queen
If that doesn't work, perhaps try uninstalling Lightroom and re-installing it (all via the Creative Cloud desktop app).




> Ah, the conundrum of what to call it. Every time I post on this, and other forums, I will write the word _Lightroom _(or_ LR_) and then pause and think "what do I add to this to differentiate it from Lightroom Classic and avoid confusion?" Sometimes it's _Cloudy_; sometimes _CC_. This time it was _CC_. In future I will follow your instructions and stick to a simple Lightroom or LR; but I don't think that will solve the confusion problem entirely, certainly not on other forums I visit. At least one presentation in the just-finished Lightroom Virtual Summit referenced "Lr Classic and Lr CC". Adobe really screwed up in their naming of these two products. _Lightroom Classic_ I can accept because this is the original (and classic version of) Lightroom; but the new version should have been named something like _Lightroom Cloud_ or something similar. Of course, this would have messed up their pretty icons.



Yes, I do understand, but I'm simply asking that we try to use a term that is unambiguous (as I've said, LRCC is ambiguous). So Lightroom cloudy could be used (though even that could be ambiguous in terms of separation between the Desktop and Mobile versions), or how about Lightroom Desktop? Some Adobe staff use that (in fact that's the name that is used on the official Adobe feedback site), and I've never heard any use of that name when referring to Classic, so it would be pretty unambiguous.


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## clee01l (May 10, 2021)

charleskinghorn said:


> I am not sure what you are really saying here. I am in LR, not LR Classic. I am trying to export a jpeg file in a format which someone else can print to my specifications.



My mistake. I am using TapaTalk and can not see the LR version that is only expose on the browser link to LightroomQueen Forums.
Now that I see you are  using Lr v4.2, I am even more confused.  The screen shot that you post is not available on my iPhone or iPadPro when choosing “Export As” or any of the Share options. 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Jim Wilde (May 10, 2021)

Cletus, the OP is talking about the *desktop *version of Lightroom. iPhone/iPad versions are at 6.2, not 4.2.


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## charleskinghorn (May 10, 2021)

Jim Wilde said:


> how about Lightroom Desktop? Some Adobe staff use that (in fact that's the name that is used on the official Adobe feedback site), and I've never heard any use of that name when referring to Classic, so it would be pretty unambiguous.


Lightroom Desktop seems to be a good choice. I'll stick to that.



Jim Wilde said:


> The fact that the Quality value is not shown, along with the drop-down list of selectable values, would suggest there's an issue with your installation. Have you tried exporting different files and file-types, and do you get the same problem each time? If so, I would first try resetting the preferences: How do I reset Lightroom's Preferences? | The Lightroom Queen


I checked LR Desktop on my Surface Pro tablet and it showed the Quality drop down setting. I then did the preferences reset as you suggested and that fixed my problem; I now have the Quality drop down setting on my desktop. The only problem was that the reset also changed where I store my originals to the default setting on the C drive without me realizing it. I got a box saying that my photos were being checked which made sense, but then I realized that my 80,000+ photos were actually being moved to my smallish ssd. It took a couple of tries to correct the situation as I had set the preferences a year ago and Adobe adds two more directories to the one I specify for storing my originals; this misled me initially. But all is good now.

Thanks, Jim, and thanks too to everyone else for your assistance.


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## Jim Wilde (May 10, 2021)

charleskinghorn said:


> The only problem was that the reset also changed where I store my originals to the default setting on the C drive without me realizing it. I got a box saying that my photos were being checked which made sense, but then I realized that my 80,000+ photos were actually being moved to my smallish ssd. It took a couple of tries to correct the situation as I had set the preferences a year ago and Adobe adds two more directories to the one I specify for storing my originals; this misled me initially. But all is good now.


Sorry, Charles. I forgot to mention that issue when I made the suggestion. I did in fact point out this potential issue to Adobe a couple of months back, and I'm hoping that they'll be doing something about it soon.


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## charleskinghorn (May 11, 2021)

No problem, Jim. I sorted it out in the end. As I said, it took me a couple of tries to get it right, during which time files were copied from the Cloud to incorrect locations. On a regular basis I mirror my photography drive, which is inside my desktop, to a portable one as backup. I just did a comparison of the two hard drives and discovered 1231 files had had their timestamps changed from the original day they were taken to today. I can correct that by doing a reverse mirror of the two drives. There were, however, 5 new files added from the Cloud, all -3 versions of existing files which already had -2 versions. They are photos I have not worked on in a long time so I don't know why Adobe would have created these new copies. Which makes me think further of copies of files created during migration, but that is an issue for another time.


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## charleskinghorn (May 11, 2021)

The reverse mirror to fix those changed timestamps may not be a good idea, especially if the Cloud keeps track of such things.


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## charleskinghorn (May 11, 2021)

(Ran out of time trying to add this to the previous post.) Looking at the files in Windows Explorer, the main date is still the date taken. The _*Date created*_ and _*Date modified*_ are todays date. Those that were unaffected have the migration date as the _*Date created*_ and the taking date as the _*Date modified*_. See the attached screen print. I don't think the date change is as significant as I first thought and should be left as it is now. In other words, no reverse mirror.


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