It has been a while since we have looked in depth at the process of installing Lightroom presets. Recent operating system upgrades (especially OS X Lion) have caused preset locations to change and/or become hidden from normal view.
When we wrote up the documentation for of our currently available presets, we were primarily using Windows XP and Vista and OSX Leopard and Snow Leopard. We have also seen the upgrade from Lightroom 2 to Lightroom 3.
So let’s take a few minutes to refresh everyone on the process and to introduce new users to the installation of presets.
In general, there are 2 primary methods by which we install presets:
- internally within Lightroom and
- direct copies directly in the host operating system
When installing just a few presets, it is often easiest to do so from within Lightroom, but when installing large amounts of presets, such as any of our preset collections; it is quicker and easier to do so via the operating system.
So let us take a quick look at both methodologies.
In general, there are 2 primary methods by which we install presets
Installation within Lightroom
Installing just a few presets is insanely easy to do from within Lightroom. Right from within the Develop Module, you can install a few Develop Presets quick and easy.
Before we get into the process, we want to consolidate any presets we wish to import into one folder on our system. So, make a temporary folder on you desktop and get all the presets you want to install in there.
Now, make sure you are in the Develop Module. Head over to the Presets panel.
Open the folder you wish to install the presets to, or create a new preset folder by right/control-clicking in the preset panel and selecting New Folder.
Once you are at the folder you desire installation to occur within, right/control-click and select Import…
This will now bring up an installation dialog. Navigate the dialog to the folder on your desktop containing the presets you wish to install. Select the preset or presets you wish to import, control-click to select more than one preset at a time. Click OK, and you are done.
As I mentioned earlier, this is the best way to install a few presets at a time. So, if you pick up a few presets from our digest or anywhere else on the web, this is probably the method you would want to use. It is quick and does not require you to restart Lightroom.
However, if you are installing a large collection, collections split up into folders or you are installing any other type of preset; it is probably pest to install via the operating system.
Installation via the Operating System
When it is not feasible to install presets inside of Lightroom, installing via the OS is your best option. Large amounts of presets, collections with defined folders, local adjustment presets and so forth are best installed this way.
Previously, we simply gave you the different paths by which you would navigate to install the presets. With changes to the OS and many people keeping presets with catalogs, this method is not quite as simple as once before.
However, Lightroom can point you to the folder you need to install your presets to for you. We will use the Preferences dialog to locate our presets folder.
Lightroom’s Preferences dialog can be found in the Edit menu (Windows) or Lightroom menus (Mac) of the menu bar. Simply look towards the bottom of the drop down and choose Preferences… Alternately, you can also use the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl/Cmd + ,) to launch the Preferences dialog.
Once the dialog opens, click on the Presets tab. Look toward the middle portion of the dialog in the Location section. First, notice if the Store presets with catalog option is enabled. If it is, you will need to install the presets into each catalog you wish to use. If not, presets will be installed into the Lightroom settings folders and will be available in any catalog.
Now, click the Show Lightroom Presets Folder… button. This will open up a Mac Finder or Windows Explorer window, navigated to the destination folder for Lightroom settings.
Open the Lightroom folder.
Once this window has opened, you will need to navigate to the appropriate folder within it. If you are installing Develop Presets, select the Develop Presets folder. If they are Local Adjustment Presets navigate to the Local Adjustment Presets folder. Adjust the folder based upon the type of presets that you are installing.
If you are installing a mass of random presets, you may want to create a new folder within the Develop Presets folder, such as Downloaded Presets. Open your new folder to prepare to copy. If you are installing any of our preset collections, do not bother with creating a new folder, as we will just copy over the folders from the download archive.
Once the final destination folder is open, go back to the folder where you have your presets unzipped to. Click on one of the presets you are going to copy and use the keyboard shortcut CTRL/CMD+A to select all files. Now simply drag and drop to the destination folder.
If you are installing X-Equals collections, read the X-Equals Installations section below for specific details.
Once all files have been copied, you can close your Explorer/Finder windows. You will now need to exit Lightroom and restart to complete installation. Once back in, check the Presets tab to make sure presets installed correctly and to desired locations. You can then move individual presets from folder to folder as desired.
Large amounts of presets are best installed via the OS method.
X-Equals Installations
Now, let’s quickly cover the details needed to install our different preset collections. If you have purchased the Big Box, containing all of our collections, you will want to follow the instructions for each individual collection.
XeL: Black and White:
- Extract archive to a new folder on your system. That folder will contain the individual preset family folders.
- Using the Installation via Operating System method, navigate to the Develop Presets folder.
- Copy all of the sub-folders from the XeL: Black and White folder to the Develop Presets folder, keeping all presets in their proper folders. Don not simply copy over the root folder.
- Start Lightroom and the new folders will be visible in the Presets tab.
We highly recommend keeping the XeL presets in their folders. This will sort them properly by family and effect, and we will be adding to these folders as time goes on with booster packs and free presets.
XeL: Local Adjustments:
- Extract archive to a new folder on your system. That folder will contain the individual preset family folders.
- Using the Installation via Operating System method, navigate to the Local Adjustment Presets folder.
- Copy all of the presets from the XeL: Local Adjustments folder to the Local Adjustments Presets folder.
- Start Lightroom and the new folders will be visible in the Local Adjustments tab in the Effect drop down menu.
Creative Production Presets Vol 1:
- Extract archive to a new folder on your system. That folder will contain the individual preset family folders.
- Using the Installation via Operating System method, navigate to the Develop Presets folder.
- Copy all of the sub-folders from the Creative Production Presets Vol 1 folder to the Develop Presets folder, keeping all presets in their proper folders.
- Start Lightroom and the new folders will be visible in the Presets tab.
We highly recommend keeping the CPP presets in their folders. This will sort them properly by general effect.
Cold Storage Vols 1 & 2:
Extract archive to a new folder on your system. That folder will contain the individual emulation folders. Each folder contains the 3 presets that the emulations offer.
Due to user preferences as I was developing the emulations, I packaged each set into its individual folder. This has become an issue for many users who want all the presets and not a selection of emulations.
The best option is to condense the presets after extracting the archive. To do this, use the OS search feature on the preset folder searching for *.lrtemplate.
This will cause the OS to find all the presets in the subfolders and show them in the search dialog. Use CTRL/CMD+A to select all once the search is complete. Cut the presets from the search dialog and then paste them into a new folder. Name the folder appropriately and copy to the destination folder as you normally would.
Final Thoughts
As Lightroom progresses, I am sure that these instructions will change again. But for now this will get you up and running. Hopefully, some of this runabout in installing and using presets will be alleviated in the future, especially if Adobe sees fit to allow nested preset folders within Lightroom. Even allowing one more tier of folders would greatly improve organization of presets.
We are aware of an issue with the latest release of OSX (Lion) that has made the user libraries hidden by default. Hopefully these instructions allow you to bypass this issue, but if not, you will need to look for a method to make your libraries visible in Finder again.
If you are having any issues or find any other solutions, feel free to let us know in the comments section or drop us a line via the contact page.
Michael W. Gray – X-Equals – image, workflow, technology, business
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