# Mac Lightroom %CPU maxed out



## LeeMiller (May 7, 2018)

I recently had to have my OS (OS 10.13.4) reinstalled on my macbook pro. They also reinstalled LR. Now when I launch it the fans start screaming in about 30 seconds and the %CPU runs over 150 when it's just sitting there open without any editing or scrolling through images. What on earth is going on? Can anyone help?

Lightroom version: CC 2015.7 [ 1090788 ]
License: Creative Cloud
Operating system: Mac OS 10
Version: 10.13 [4]
Application architecture: x64
Logical processor count: 8
Processor speed: 2.8 GHz
Built-in memory: 16,384.0 MB
Real memory available to Lightroom: 16,384.0 MB
Real memory used by Lightroom: 2,827.7 MB (17.2%)
Virtual memory used by Lightroom: 8,262.9 MB
Memory cache size: 2,039.6 MB


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## clee01l (May 7, 2018)

I think your problems will disappear when you use the Adobe Creative Cloud App manager to update LR to Lightroom Classic version: 7.3.1 [ 1167660 ]


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## LeeMiller (May 7, 2018)

clee01l said:


> I think your problems will disappear when you use the Adobe Creative Cloud App manager to update LR to Lightroom Classic version: 7.3.1 [ 1167660 ]


Sounds promising, but I'm a bit confused. What's the relation between CC 2015.7 and Classic version: 7.3.1 ?


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## Johan Elzenga (May 7, 2018)

LeeMiller said:


> Sounds promising, but I'm a bit confused. What's the relation between CC 2015.7 and Classic version: 7.3.1 ?


Lightroom CC2015.7 is quite old. Lightroom Classic CC is the next major upgrade of this application.


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## LeeMiller (May 8, 2018)

Interesting. That's the version  I got through our university site license. Just how old is it?


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## clee01l (May 8, 2018)

LeeMiller said:


> Interesting. That's the version  I got through our university site license. Just how old is it?


About 2-3 years old.  Adobe sells LRCC and PhotoshopCC package only as a subscription.  This is managed using the app called Adobe Creative Cloud Application Manager. This app should be running on your computer and this keeps your apps up to date with patches and bug fixes.   I do not know how Adobe manages site license subscriptions.  But you need to take this up with your University IT that manages site licenses to get a legal up to date version of Lightroom Classic CC


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## LeeMiller (May 12, 2018)

So much for that fix. After several days with IT, I discovered that the University  doesn't have the updated LR, so I bought it separately. Activity Monitor is now bouncing between 300-500%. It's bad enough plugged in, but I suppose this will give me about 30 minutes on battery. Any ideas?


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## LeeMiller (May 12, 2018)

My problem with wildly excessive CPU usage is clearly related to the catalog. Following a clean OS upgrade, I needed to to go back to a backup version and the problem went away -- from 400% (even during idle) to 10% for an slightly older catalog, both of which have ~30k images. I needed to pull something from that catalog into the new one, and in the process, I decided to optimize the new version, even though it said it had just been done. That worked like magic. Unfortuanely, I was back up to 400% the next morning. Once again optimization immediately did the trick, but I assume it will be temporary. Is that enough for any of you gurus to offer some advice?


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## LeeMiller (May 21, 2018)

I'm still looking for help on this. Immediately after optimizing the catalog, the CPU activity is normal. It remains normal provided I don't stop and restart lightroom (I've left it running multiple days). As soon as I do, CPU% goes above 300 and stays there, even when LR is just sitting in the background. When I optimize it again, usage drops immediately to 10-15%.  Any ideas?


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## LouieSherwin (May 21, 2018)

You have looked at the Activity Monitor and confirmed that it is Lightroom that is consuming all the CPU time?

Are there any progress bars at the top of Lightroom window indicating some background processes?

-louie


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## LeeMiller (May 21, 2018)

No.


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## LouieSherwin (May 22, 2018)

Sorry I don't quite understand. Is that no to both questions or just the last one?

-louie


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## LeeMiller (May 22, 2018)

Sorry -- I only paid attention to the last one, since I've been reporting LR %CPU from the activity monitor all along. 

I haven't bothered going to Adobe, but perhaps I should. I've just assumed that would be kind of hopeless. Does anyone know?


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## LouieSherwin (May 22, 2018)

It sounds like maybe Lightroom is re building the previews. That would certainly cause the symptoms you are seeing. Did your ""<catalog name> Previews.lrcat" file somehow get renamed or moved when you OS was reinstalled. 

-louie


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## LeeMiller (May 22, 2018)

I don't think so. The files are there with the right names, LR says all smart previews are built. The high CPU use continues as long as I care to let it go, and the reoptimization takes only a minute for 30k images. Something get screwed up as the catalog gets written or read.


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