# How to get a larger preview of a preset



## jlbgt2005 (Feb 15, 2011)

Hello,
I've just started playing around with lightroom 3.2 and my new dslr and I was wondering if there was a way to preview a preset without having to actually use it.  It has a tiny preview in the navigator section but its not really big enough to see well.  I was hoping there was either a way to make that larger or do the preview on a 2nd monitor or such.  I'm getting tired of clicking them and then clicking reset. I tried a search on here for it but nothing came up.  Also if anyone has any good lightroom sites or such I would love to look into them. I'm trying to learn all I can to help out with a class at college that does a lot of photography of architecture.  Thanks for all your help and I look forward to getting to use these forums.
Jeff


----------



## Mark Sirota (Feb 15, 2011)

Welcome to Lightroom Forums.

Please see the discussion on this thread from a week or two ago on exactly the same question.


----------



## Hog4n (Feb 15, 2011)

Maybe this one could help!

http://lightroomkillertips.com/2011/lightroom-presets-calendar-print-templates/


----------



## jlbgt2005 (Feb 15, 2011)

Hello and thanks for your reply.  It does towards the last 2 posts get to talking about what I am curious about.  When I hover over a preset, the image in the left hand navigation panel will change to represent what that image will look like if the preset is applied.  I am hoping to find a way to see a larger version of that preview in the corner to avoid the whole applying and resetting altogether until I do find one I like and apply it.  I'd even take a plugin or something that would add it to another monitor if that was the only solution.


----------



## Mark Sirota (Feb 15, 2011)

It really is the same question.  The navigator isn't big enough, so you have to do the select-and-undo dance, which is what the poster in that thread is also complaining about.

There's no way to make the Navigator bigger, and if you did, it would be too slow to be usable anyway.  Hence the various feature request suggestions in there as a workaround.


----------



## jlbgt2005 (Feb 15, 2011)

Ahh ok  I was hoping there was some magical way to get around that or an option for a preview on a 2nd or 3rd monitor.  Thanks for your help


----------



## Bruce J (Feb 15, 2011)

Mark Sirota said:


> There's no way to make the Navigator bigger, and if you did, it would be too slow to be usable anyway.  Hence the various feature request suggestions in there as a workaround.


 
Depending on your starting point, you might be able to make the Navigator bigger by dragging the left-hand pane boundary to the right.  If I increase mine as far as it will go, I find the Navigator a bit more useful for previewing presets.  Not the answer the OP is looking for, but it might help a bit.  Cheers,


----------



## jlbgt2005 (Feb 15, 2011)

Thanks for the suggestion.  I'll try that later today and see if I can make that panel any larger.


----------



## Mark Sirota (Feb 15, 2011)

Another trick is to do a temporary crop on some portion of the image, so that portion looks nice and big in the Navigator.  Then reset the crop after you've made your preset selection.


----------



## Victoria Bampton (Feb 16, 2011)

One of the LR3 betas had the second window showing the preview - I never did figure out whether that was a trial run or a bug - but if you put in a Official Feature Request/Bug Report Form, it may come back in the future.


----------

