Upgrading from Lightroom 1 to Lightroom 2
So, you’re ready to make the jump? You’ve been using Lightroom 1 (hopefully 1.4.1, right now) for a while, and you think you’d like to try out version 2? Well, good idea. The switch isn’t too painful at all. In fact, you can download the trial of Lightroom 2 for free and try it out for 30 days.
Getting Lightroom 2
The easiest (and fastest) way to get Lightroom 2 is to download it from Adobe’s website. You can purchase the software there and receive a link to download it along with your serial number, or you can just download the free trial. They are the exact same thing. If you’ve downloaded the Lightroom 2 trial (not the Beta, the trial) you don’t need to re-install once you’ve purchased Lightroom 2 and obtained a serial number.
Click here to go to Adobe’s website to download Lightroom 2. (You’ll need it for the rest of this tutorial.)
If you prefer to have a boxed copy of Lightroom with an installation CD, you can also order that from Adobe, or Amazon
Installing Lightroom 2
Once you download your copy of Lightroom, there will either be an EXE file on a PC or DMG file on a Mac. If it doesn’t run automatically, double click on it to run. The Windows installer will walk you through the process. On a Mac, there will be a setup file you run from inside the disk image which will walk you through the process. (If you need help installing from a disk image on a Mac, check out this excellent article from MyFirstMac.com.
Installing Lightroom 2 will not overwrite your copy of Lightroom 1. It will just install next to your existing installation.
Launching Lightroom 2
When you first launch Lightroom 2 (if you’ve been using Lightroom 1), you’ll see a dialog box asking you to upgrade your existing Lightroom 1 catalog for use with Lightroom 2.
The Lightroom Catalog Upgrade Dialog Box
When you click “Upgrade”, Lightroom makes a duplicate copy of your existing Lightroom 1 catalog and places it in the same directory as your original catalog, adds a “-2″ to the end of the catalog’s file name, converts this copy to Lightroom 2-compatible catalog, and opens it in Lightroom 2. Note: if you have more than one catalog, you’ll have to perform this task on all of your catalogs.
Lightroom 1 and Lightroom 2 Catalogs side-by-side
So, what does this mean? It means that, if you prefer to go back to Lightroom 1, you’ll have your original Lightroom 1 catalog right where it was in case you’d like to re-open it in Lightroom 1. You cannot, however, open your new Lightroom 2 catalog back in Lightroom 1. So, if you make any changes in your Lightroom 2 catalog, then decide to go back and open your Lightroom 1 catalog, you won’t see any of your changes since the conversion.
Once you get Lightroom 2 open, you should see all the photos you had in your original Lightroom 1 catalog, along with their collections, keywords, flags, labels, develop history, and presets. Check out this article for some of the new features in Lightroom 2.
Once you’ve fully made the switch to Lightroom 2, and you’re happy with everything, feel free to go ahead and uninstall Lightroom 1 from your computer. Once you’ve installed the Lightroom 2 upgrade, you won’t need to keep Lightroom 1 installed. Be sure and keep your license number from your Lightroom 1 installation in case you need to reinstall your Lightroom 2 upgrade in the event you need to restore your computer.
About the Author: Scott Rouse is an Adobe Certified Expert (ACE), photographer, teacher, and graphic- and web-designer in Missoula, MT. His photography focuses on wildlife and adventure sports.
Scott | Sep 12, 2008 | Reply
I had a couple questions about your Lightroom 1 settings copying over to Lightroom 2. I failed to point it out in the article, but all of your presets and templates that you created in Lightroom 1 are either stored in a central location that would be available to all Lightroom catalogs (including your new Lightroom 2 catalog), or in a folder called “Lightroom Settings” that exists in the same directory (folder) as your original Lightroom 1 library. [See the image above titled "Lightroom 1 and Lightroom 2 Catalogs side-by-side."]
Since Lightroom creates a copy of your library and converts it for use in version 2 in the same directory, those presets will be available to you once you upgrade to Lightroom 2.
Questions? Please let me know in the comments.
caryn | Nov 4, 2008 | Reply
hey scott,
hope you’re doing great!
what happens if the ‘upgrade’ dialog box never comes up? it will let me open my catalogs, but says nothing about upgrading.
thank you!!!
-caryn
caryn | Nov 4, 2008 | Reply
sorry to bother you, i found it!
Scott | Nov 4, 2008 | Reply
Glad you found it. No problem. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Wesley | Dec 27, 2008 | Reply
Hi Scott,
I stumbled upon your website for Lightroom while trying to solve a problem I have been having with Lightroom 2. Recently I decided to upgrade to from Lightroom 1.4. I decided to do the download and use a MacBook Pro labtop. The problem I have been having is that everytime I try to open up an old catalog, and go through the “upgrading process of the catalog, Lightroom opens up only partially. I cannot see anything in the “grey” areas where the images usually and I cannot see the left and right panels. I can only see the sections that say at the top with the module names and the black areas below the grey. When I click onto the Library or Develop modules I get a dialog box saying “An error occured when attempting to change modules”. This does not occurs when I open up the application itself with a new catalog.
Since Lightroom allows you to download two copies of the program I installed one in another Power Mac computer tower. When I open up Lightroom using the same old catalogs as I use in the labtop I don’t seem to have this problem and everything is fine.
Can you offer some suggestions as to how I can resolve this problem ???
Thanks, Wesley Wong (wesleywongphoto@yahoo.com)
Scott | Jan 4, 2009 | Reply
Wesley,
Sorry about the problems your having (and my delay in responding). I would suggest removing/uninstalling Lightroom 2 from your MacBook Pro and then reinstalling it. See if that works for you. If it’s working on the tower, then the catalog itself is probably fine.
Let me know how it goes.
-Scott
Sam | Jan 24, 2009 | Reply
I purchased Lightroom, and then upgraded to 2.2 when it was available, but it does not accept my serial number. It shows it on the screen with a big red “X”. I retype it and still does not accept it. What do I need to do?
Thanks,
Sam
Scott | Jan 27, 2009 | Reply
That’s weird, Sam. For that, you’d have to contact Adobe directly.
First, you might try fully uninstalling Lightroom (keep your catalog and images) and reinstalling it. See if that works.
Michelle | Apr 13, 2009 | Reply
Hi Scott,
I had the same problem as caryn.
I had played with Lightroom 2 as a sample and then months later upgraded. It never asked me to upgrade my catalog during the second time and I didn’t do it the first time because I didn’t know if i wanted to keep it.
Suggestions on how to get it to do that step now that it’s upgraded and didn’t ask for it initially (or secondly?)?
Thank you for your help.
-Michelle
john | Apr 29, 2009 | Reply
I’m upgrading from 1.4.1 to 2.0 on a Mac. The “create new lightroom catalog” appears, with two choices: “Upgrade the Lightroom 1 Catalog” or “Create a new Lightroom catalog.” The default setting is the first choice.
So, should I upgrade or create? Thanks!
Scott Rouse | Apr 29, 2009 | Reply
John,
If you want your photos from your Lightroom 1 catalog to appear in Lightroom 2, you’ll want to upgrade. Lightroom will keep a copy of your original Lightroom 1 catalog, as explained in the article above.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Thanks,
Scott
Scott Rouse | Apr 30, 2009 | Reply
Michelle,
Sorry for the delayed response. If you are currently using Lightroom 2 and you see your images in the catalog, then it has been upgraded. Lightroom 2 cannot open and view a Lightroom 1 catalog without converting (upgrading) it to a Lightroom 2 catalog. That Lightroom 2 catalog is not backwardly compatible to Lightroom 1.
Let me know if that doesn’t answer your question. I promise to get back to you in a more timely fashion in the future.
-Scott