# Import Lightroom 3 catalog in Lightroom 4?



## GarfieldKlon (Apr 5, 2012)

Hi 

I'm thinking about upgrading from 3 to 4. Is this possible (just to be sure...)? If yes, what do I have to do? Just save my directory where the old catalog is saved? Collections are saved to? I've spent many hours to sort them etc., don't want to loose this.


greez
GarfieldKlon


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## Happy Haggis (Apr 5, 2012)

Yes it is possible to upgrade. All you need to do is install the upgrade. It will ask for the serial number for LR 4 and that's it. It should pick up the serial number for LR3 from your system. Once installed, it will identify your LR 3 catalog and ask you to confirm that you want to upgrade it to Version 4. Once that's done, it will load and all your collections etc should be present. The old catalog is in fact copied, so the LR 3 catalog will still be available to you should you need it.
It would be a good idea to make sure you have a backup of your catalog in another location, just to be on the safe side. You may already have a suitable backup strategy in place to cover that.


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## GarfieldKlon (Apr 6, 2012)

Ok, thanks 

Is this also possible with a fresh installation?


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## Kiwigeoff (Apr 6, 2012)

Yes, the catalog files are independent of the application. Or do you mean a new computer??


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## GarfieldKlon (Apr 6, 2012)

No, on the same PC. But I'm going to deinstall LR3 first. I don't like upgrading software, I prefer a fresh, new installation.


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## Happy Haggis (Apr 6, 2012)

All you need to do is have the LR 3 serial number available.You will be prompted to enter it during the installation.


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## Matte (Apr 22, 2012)

*Can you help?*



Happy Haggis said:


> Yes it is possible to upgrade. All you need to do is install the upgrade. It will ask for the serial number for LR 4 and that's it. It should pick up the serial number for LR3 from your system. Once installed, it will identify your LR 3 catalog and ask you to confirm that you want to upgrade it to Version 4. Once that's done, it will load and all your collections etc should be present. The old catalog is in fact copied, so the LR 3 catalog will still be available to you should you need it.
> It would be a good idea to make sure you have a backup of your catalog in another location, just to be on the safe side. You may already have a suitable backup strategy in place to cover that.



Happy, I upgraded to L4 and the download was successful, but it didn't "load all my collections" as you suggest it does.  Now, I'm having to "import" from my L3 catalog.  This is taking lots of time . . . any suggestions on how to do this as quickly and painlessly as possible.  Thanks for any support you can offer.

Cheers,

Matte


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## Victoria Bampton (Apr 28, 2012)

Hi Matte, welcome to the forum!  Sorry we missed your post.

When you say it didn't "load all your collections," can you tell us more?  Did you upgrade your LR3 catalog or import into a new LR4 catalog?


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## Matte (Apr 30, 2012)

Victoria Bampton said:


> Hi Matte, welcome to the forum!  Sorry we missed your post.
> 
> When you say it didn't "load all your collections," can you tell us more?  Did you upgrade your LR3 catalog or import into a new LR4 catalog?



Since my last post, all heck has broken lose.  First, in response to your question: I upgraded to L4 and downloaded the upgrade.  I created an lrcat alias and when I click on it, it takes me to Lightroom, but doesn't recognize my photos so I've had to "right click" on each catalog to try to find it's path, however, that's not working at all.  Now, when I connect my canon and try to download photos it tells me there are no images (and there are).  Now it's just freezing up and I'm having to force quit.  I think I'll just have to start all over again--uninstall and re-download.

I would think that once I upgraded it would be smooth transition with little else to do on my part....like when I upgraded from L2 to L3.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.


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## Victoria Bampton (Apr 30, 2012)

Something sounds really odd Matte.

It doesn't recognize your photos - you mean it thinks they've moved?  Where are they stored - internal or external drive?

First things first, update to 4.1RC2 which was released a couple of days ago.  http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom4-1/

Then go to File > New Catalog and just create a test catalog somewhere.  See if that works as expected, and if so, then it gives us a few clues about where to go from there.


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