# Transferring Images



## kitjv (May 29, 2018)

I recently bought a older MacBook as my traveling computer.  On a recent trip to Alaska, I imported images from my camera into a Collection on the internal drive in Lightroom. Although I do not plan to edit these images until I get home, I did keyword & added captions to the images to keep them organized & jog my failing memory.

What would be the best way to export these images (with all keywording & metadata) from my MacBook to my iMac?  My search on this forum was more confusing than clarifying. Thank you for your help.

Kit


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## clee01l (May 29, 2018)

You have a catalog and image files with everything on the travel computer .   If you can copy these files and folders to your master computer You can use the Import from another catalog and import the travel catalog (and associated images) to the master catalog on the iMac.    If this is not easy, then you can   (on the travel computer) use the Export as a Catalog function to create a package consisting of a folder (I'll designate this as Travel Catalog Export folder) that contains the exported catalog file and folders containing the images associated with that catalog.   Copy the Travel Catalog Export folder) including its contents to a location available to the Master catalog  (This can be a portable drive) Then use the  Import from another catalog function to bring the travel catalog work and the associated image into the iMac,


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## kitjv (May 29, 2018)

clee01l said:


> You have a catalog and image files with everything on the travel computer .   If you can copy these files and folders to your master computer You can use the Import from another catalog and import the travel catalog (and associated images) to the master catalog on the iMac.



By importing the files & folders from the travel computer, are you suggesting connecting the 2 computers via cable (e.g. USB)?


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## LouieSherwin (May 29, 2018)

Hi Kit,

Better to use either Wi-Fi or Ethernet. You need to have sharing turned on in System preferences on your laptop.  Use your home computer as the starting point and connect to your laptop by clicking in it in Shared section of the Finder sidebar or by using the Finger Go menu and select Connect to Server.  That will ask you to login on with a username/password on your laptop.  Then you can browse the laptop to find your travel catalog and image

Then do as Cletus has suggested.

-louie


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## kitjv (May 29, 2018)

Thank you, Louie. I will give it a try & report back.


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## kitjv (May 29, 2018)

Having followed your instructions, I selected the LR catalog (i.e. lrcat) on the laptop. However, I got an error message: " LR cannot import this catalog. The catalog does not appear to be a valid LR catalog".  Also (I don't know if this is relevant), the LR Catalog Previews (i.e. lrdata) was greyed out on the laptop.


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## Victoria Bampton (May 29, 2018)

kitjv said:


> Having followed your instructions, I selected the LR catalog (i.e. lrcat) on the laptop.



You need to copy the catalog over to the iMac, as it won't let you import a catalog over the network.


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## kitjv (May 29, 2018)

Victoria Bampton said:


> You need to copy the catalog over to the iMac, as it won't let you import a catalog over the network.


Thanks, Victoria. Does this means that I need to copy the catalog on the laptop to an external drive & then connect that drive to the iMac to import the catalog? Also, will I need to import anything else other than the catalog itself (i.e. the lrcat)?


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## clee01l (May 29, 2018)

kitjv said:


> Thanks, Victoria. Does this means that I need to copy the catalog on the laptop to an external drive & then connect that drive to the iMac to import the catalog? Also, will I need to import anything else other than the catalog itself (i.e. the lrcat)?


Yes.   Using an EHD to port the Travel catalog and images to a place where when connected to the iMac the master catalog can see both the travel catalog and the images referenced bt the travel catalog.    The "lrcat" file is the file. (Catalog) that contains the information about the image files.


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## kitjv (May 30, 2018)

Thank you much. You guys have always been most helpful.

Kit


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## kitjv (Jun 11, 2018)

Following Cletus' suggestion to export the catalog from my travel computer to an external drive & then import that catalog into my desktop computer, I must have omitted something -- specifically, the original files.  I discovered this when I attempted to delete several of the transferred images from the internal drive on my desktop computer. I got a message that "the original files are missing". Sure enough, when I looked in Folders, the files were not there.

As I recall, when I exported the catalog from my travel computer to the external drive, I selected the images to be transferred & then transferred the "lrcat" file only. I assumed that in doing so I was transferring the original images. I apparently assumed wrong.  Could you please help me? Thank you!


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## Victoria Bampton (Jun 11, 2018)

If you include the originals, and then delete them, they'll still be there on the desktop when you return. Instead, mark them as rejects on the travel catalog and then delete them you get home.


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## kitjv (Jun 11, 2018)

I'm sorry, Victoria, but I'm a bit confused (due to my lack of knowledge undoubtedly). Let me rephrase my question.

When I export images from my travel computer to an external drive & then finally to my desktop computer when I get home, specifically which files do I need to transfer (other than the "lrcat" file) in order to move the original images permanently from my travel computer to my desktop computer?

Thank you for your patience.


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## kitjv (Jun 11, 2018)

Victoria:  I might have been able to answer my own question. After I select "Import From Another Catalog" to transfer the lrcat file from the external drive to the desktop computer, I then navigated to Lightroom > Folders Panel > Volumes > External Drive. From the external drive, I selected transferred images & dragged/dropped them onto my Folders Panel. Now it seems that I now have all of the data in the transferred lrcat file plus the original images in Lightroom on my desktop computer. Am I correct???  Thank you kindly.


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## Victoria Bampton (Jun 12, 2018)

You are! Well done!


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## kitjv (Jun 12, 2018)

Once it occurred to me that the lrcat file only contained the metadata & the smart previews, I knew that I omitted transferring the original images. As usual.....thank you!


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