# What happens to existing photos if you delete a preset used to develop it?



## boevermann (Oct 4, 2014)

In my early days with Lightroom I created some development presets that I would rather see go away forever.  Given that the history for the photos where I used such presets simply contains an entry of "used x preset", how would a photo be able to reconstruct the development instructions if the preset no longer exists?  I don't want to inadvertently compromise photos already developed if the preset goes away.

Or am I simply worrying about a non-existent issue?

Thanks for any insights!

Brian


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## clee01l (Oct 4, 2014)

Lightroom stores the develop instructions in the database that is the catalog. A preset is a defined set of catalog instructions.  The develop instructions are stored with the image (or many images). Those develop instructions that match up with a defined set of catalog instructions are labeled with the Preset name associated with the defined set of catalog instructions.  If you delete the preset, the instructions remain associated with the images.  
If you use the metadata filter and set one of the columns to "Develop Preset"  You will see a list of all of Develop presets in use.  If you scroll down the list, you will come across severs labeled "Unavailable Preset".  These represent Develop presets that have been deleted.  Further down the list will be listed "Custom".  These are images where the develop adjustments were made on individual images manually moving the sliders,


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