Lightroom Classic Catalog Migration

You can migrate your Lightroom Classic catalog to Luminar for Desktop with folders, collections, metadata, and many basic edits.

Before starting the migration, please make sure that:

• You are using Lightroom Classic 15.0 or newer version

• Lightroom Classic is completely closed

To migrate a Lightroom Classic catalog to Luminar for Desktop, follow these steps:

1. Make sure Lightroom is closed before starting the migration.

2. Open Luminar for Desktop.

3. Сlick File > Catalog > Import Lightroom Catalog.

4. In a newly opened window, click Continue.

5. Luminar for Desktop will automatically search for Lightroom Classic catalogs (.lrcat files) in your Pictures folder.

6. Select the catalog you want to migrate from the detected list, or click Browse to manually locate a catalog stored in another location or on an external drive.

7. Click Start Import to start the migration process.

8. Wait for the migration to complete. Migration time depends on the size of your catalog and the number of photos it contains.

9. Once completed, your imported folders will appear in Folders, and your imported collections will appear in Albums.

10. Select an imported photo and open the Edit tab > Edits to view the adjustments migrated from Lightroom.

11. Feel free to fine-tune the imported adjustments or continue editing with Luminar for Desktop tools.

As a result of migration, Luminar for Desktop automatically creates a new catalog named Luminar Neo Catalog Imported.

Important Notes

Why Additional Photos May Appear After Migration

Lightroom Classic allows you to import only selected photos from a folder while keeping the entire folder's information in the catalog.

Luminar for Desktop currently uses a different catalog architecture and does not support this type of selective photo import. During the migration process, entire folders are imported rather than only the photos selected in Lightroom.

As a result, if your Lightroom Catalog contains photos imported with the selective photo import option, you may notice additional images appear in Luminar for Desktop that were not previously displayed in Lightroom (those are the images in the same folder).

Which Data Is Not Transferred

Please note that not all Lightroom Catalog data can currently be transferred to Luminar for Desktop.

The following attributes are not migrated:

• Keywords

• Smart Collections

• Masks

• Generative AI adjustments

• Black & White conversions

• Color profiles

• Adjustments made with Lightroom tools that do not have an equivalent in Luminar for Desktop

We hope to support additional Lightroom attributes in future updates.

Why Migrated Photos May Look Different

Migrated photos may appear slightly different in Luminar for Desktop compared to Lightroom.

This is because Luminar for Desktop uses a different image rendering engine, which can result in variations in color, temperature, and overall appearance. At the moment, this is expected behavior.

We are continuously working to improve color rendering and migration accuracy and hope to reduce these differences in future versions of Luminar for Desktop.

Why Unedited Photos May Be Marked as Edited in Luminar for Desktop

Lightroom may automatically apply adjustments based on camera and lens metadata stored in the photo file. For example, automatic crop settings and lens corrections.

These adjustments are transferred during migration. As a result, some photos may have an edit badge even if no manual adjustments were made in Lightroom.

This is expected behavior and reflects adjustments that were automatically applied by Lightroom.

Why Migrated Photos May Not Open Properly in Luminar for Desktop

If your Lightroom Catalog contains RAW files from a camera that is currently not supported by Luminar for Desktop, those photos will still appear in the migrated catalog.

However, it is an expected behavior that they may not open correctly or be unavailable for editing in Luminar for Desktop.

For more info on supported cameras and formats, see Supported File Types and Cameras.