# preview creation...how to turn off



## crbuckjr (Jul 3, 2018)

I mistakenly turned on preview creation for my entire catalog of 90k pics.   Now my LR is hung up churning on that task ....  How can I turn that off.  And, what preview setting should I use?

thanks a lot


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## LouieSherwin (Jul 3, 2018)

Hi,

There should be a progress bar in the upper left cornet of the main screen right under your catalog title. You may have to click the disclosure triangle to completely see it if you have the top panel hidden. Once it is fully disclosed there is an x at the end that you can click to stop the background preview building process.

-louie


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## Linwood Ferguson (Jul 3, 2018)

To the preview setting: Most people use standard, and size auto (the size is on the preferences screen).  The "auto" part is that it sizes the standard preview according to your monitor size. You can choose to build 1:1 if you plan to zoom in, but it takes a lot longer to build and a lot more room.  If you zoom in (in library mode) without 1:1 built, it will build it on the fly, which makes the zoom-in take longer.  

Note that with the current LR you also have the option of using embedded previews, if your camera includes them (most do).  In this mode LR initially uses the embedded JPG preview your camera provides, and does not build any preview itself (well, to be fair, it extracts and resizes it a bit, so there is a small amount of processing involved).   Embedded is only available on initial import, once you start editing or after it is imported you cannot go back to embedded; its primary use is to get previews displayed fast so you can cull after import.

By the way, there's no harm (if you have space) to let it build previews for all 90k.


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## crbuckjr (Jul 3, 2018)

LouieSherwin said:


> Hi,
> 
> There should be a progress bar in the upper left cornet of the main screen right under your catalog title. You may have to click the disclosure triangle to completely see it if you have the top panel hidden. Once it is fully disclosed there is an x at the end that you can click to stop the background preview building process.
> 
> -louie


Louie

Did that ,,,thanks.  Noe when I click on a recently imported pic it takes a long time to snap into focus.   thx


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## LouieSherwin (Jul 3, 2018)

crbuckjr said:


> Louie
> 
> Did that ,,,thanks.  Noe when I click on a recently imported pic it takes a long time to snap into focus.   thx



That implies that the preview has to be rebuilt. As Ferguson said there is no harm letting the preview build complete.  Just CPU time and disk space. The standard previews are pretty compact but 1:1 can consume a lot of disk.

-louie


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## crbuckjr (Jul 3, 2018)

Ferguson said:


> To the preview setting: Most people use standard, and size auto (the size is on the preferences screen).  The "auto" part is that it sizes the standard preview according to your monitor size. You can choose to build 1:1 if you plan to zoom in, but it takes a lot longer to build and a lot more room.  If you zoom in (in library mode) without 1:1 built, it will build it on the fly, which makes the zoom-in take longer.
> 
> Note that with the current LR you also have the option of using embedded previews, if your camera includes them (most do).  In this mode LR initially uses the embedded JPG preview your camera provides, and does not build any preview itself (well, to be fair, it extracts and resizes it a bit, so there is a small amount of processing involved).   Embedded is only available on initial import, once you start editing or after it is imported you cannot go back to embedded; its primary use is to get previews displayed fast so you can cull after import.
> 
> By the way, there's no harm (if you have space) to let it build previews for all 90k.


In the preferences screen I don't see where to select"standard" and "auto"........

I have a D750 so I assume it has the feature you mention.  Where/how do I set it up the way you sugges.

thanks a lot

Chuck


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## crbuckjr (Jul 3, 2018)

is there a way to build standard previews for, say, my last 2000 pics?


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## Victoria Bampton (Jul 3, 2018)

You can select whichever photos you need previews for, and go to Library menu > Previews > Build Standard or 1:1 Previews (depending on whether you need to zoom in or not).

For new imports, you'll find it in the File Handling panel, top right.


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## Linwood Ferguson (Jul 3, 2018)

crbuckjr said:


> In the preferences screen I don't see where to select"standard" and "auto"........
> 
> I have a D750 so I assume it has the feature you mention.  Where/how do I set it up the way you sugges.



Embedded: Yes, the D750 has them, that option is available on import.

Size for standard: Sorry, I was wrong, it's under catalog settings, File Handling, Standard Preview Size.


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## crbuckjr (Jul 3, 2018)

Victoria Bampton said:


> You can select whichever photos you need previews for, and go to Library menu > Previews > Build Standard or 1:1 Previews (depending on whether you need to zoom in or not).
> 
> For new imports, you'll find it in the File Handling panel, top right.


I shut off the previous "build previews"....then selected most recent 200 pics....and selected "build 1:1 previews".......went away for about an hour......when I came back...the progress


Ferguson said:


> Embedded: Yes, the D750 has them, that option is available on import.
> 
> Size for standard: Sorry, I was wrong, it's under catalog settings, File Handling, Standard Preview Size.



thanks


bar showed no progress.......


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## crbuckjr (Jul 3, 2018)

crbuckjr said:


> I shut off the previous "build previews"....then selected most recent 200 pics....and selected "build 1:1 previews".......went away for about an hour......when I came back...the progress bar showed no progress......and photos didn't pop into focus.......not sure what's going on????
> 
> 
> thanks
> ...


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## Linwood Ferguson (Jul 3, 2018)

crbuckjr said:


> I shut off the previous "build previews"....then selected most recent 200 pics....and selected "build 1:1 previews".......went away for about an hour......when I came back...the progress  bar showed no progress.......



That sounds simply broken, though not sure why.  There are some cases where the screen is not updating fully, e.g. it might finish more than indicated, but not that many.  

I'd try backing down to 1, then 5 or so, etc. and see what happens and how fast each goes. 

But 200 should be easily done in an hour.

Maybe (not suggesting for any good reason) restart lightroom as well before trying again.  Lightroom to me has assumed the mantle that Windows had many years ago -- just restart it periodically and it will work better.


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## crbuckjr (Jul 4, 2018)

I should have thought of that myself.  restarting LR and the computer.....helped a lot........thanks


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