# Catalog & saving edits to file questions



## Steve8802 (Mar 16, 2018)

Operating System:
Exact Lightroom Version (Help menu > System Info): 6.14

If you save LR edits to the file itself and need to backup from original raw import files, does the catalog still keep track of the edits? The raw photos have the same renamed file names as the ones in the catalog but were taken when importing off memory cards. My wife has been changing the files to dng's and usually saves the edits to the file (no xmp sidecars) so I'm not sure if the edits are lost from the catalog or not if they are saved to the file. We may have to do a restore from a backup of the imported raws.

Thanks for any help!


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## Paul McFarlane (Mar 16, 2018)

Welcome Steve!

As long as the files match the ones Lightroom knows about (so same filename and extension) then the adjustments (edits) are in Lightroom's catalog, irrespective of whether you choose to write them out to the file (direct in the case of DNG, XMP sidecar in the case of raw)

Paul


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## Paul_DS256 (Mar 16, 2018)

I'm confused. If the changes are saved in the actual file, even though they are also saved in the catalog, how would you undo anything since you've lost the original image?


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## Jim Wilde (Mar 16, 2018)

Steve, you probably need to tell us what the exact problem is. If you've "lost the originals" we need to know how that happened, i.e. did you delete them from within Lightroom, or did you delete them from outside Lightroom? If there were deleted from within Lightroom then all the edit data will have also been removed from the catalog. If you deleted outside Lightroom (i.e. the catalog still shows the image preview, but the image is "missing") then the edit data should be still in the catalog, so it should be possible to reconnect the catalog with the restored files.


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## Roelof Moorlag (Mar 16, 2018)

DS256 said:


> I'm confused. If the changes are saved in the actual file,


In Lightroom you don't save changes in the actual file. Lightroom is Non destructive, edits are saved in the catalog as instructions only.


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## Paul McFarlane (Mar 16, 2018)

Roelof Moorlag said:


> In Lightroom you don't save changes in the actual file. Lightroom is Non destructive, edits are saved in the catalog as instructions only.



Essentially true . . . But take the example of a DNG file, if you write back to it in Lightroom, then these instructions are contained in the DNG file itself. Import it then into another catalog and the changes are there. However, the original state is also held so you can reset (in the new catalog) and you'll see the original file with no changes since shot


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## Roelof Moorlag (Mar 16, 2018)

I did'nt want things more complex for DS256


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## Paul McFarlane (Mar 16, 2018)

Roelof Moorlag said:


> I did'nt want things more complex for DS256



Fair point!!! And to be truthful the original is in there which was the point of that part of the question

We need to understand a bit more about the issue you have Steve


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## Paul_DS256 (Mar 16, 2018)

Thanks for the insights. I never knew of that aspect of LR. I only 'add' my RAW images into the catalog and make changes that are in the XMP file. Sorry for the distraction over what Steve8802 was asking but I didn't know of what he was asking actually existed in LR.


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