Check your catalog
If it fails, email me at (not filled in yet) with what the page showed and which version of Lightroom you use. Please don’t send the catalog itself.
Not affiliated with Adobe. Your catalog stays on your computer: this page reads it in your browser, a part at a time, and sends nothing anywhere. It never changes the file.
1. Make a copy of your catalog
- Close Lightroom. While Lightroom is open it locks the catalog, and a copy made then can miss your latest changes.
- Find the catalog: a file whose name ends in
.lrcat. In Lightroom, open Catalog Settings (under the Edit menu on Windows, under the Lightroom menu on a Mac); the General tab shows where the catalog is, and Show opens its folder. - Copy the
.lrcatfile to another folder and use the copy here. The folders next to it that end in.lrdatahold previews; you don't need them.
2. Open the copy
.lrcat file here
Not yet tested on every Lightroom version: try it on a copy and tell me if it fails.
A large catalog takes a while: the page reads only the tables it needs, not the whole file.
3. What an export would lose
Collections and collection sets
Collections and collection sets exist only in the catalog; Lightroom doesn't write them to XMP. A smart collection is a set of rules (such as "rated 3 stars or more"), not a list of photos. Lightroom puts a few default smart collections in every new catalog.
Virtual copies
A virtual copy is not a file: it exists only in the catalog, with its own settings and metadata. Only the original photo has a file and XMP.
Videos
The metadata you give a video in Lightroom (title, caption, keywords, rating, colour label) is kept in the catalog; Adobe says it isn't available to other programs.
Pick and reject flags
Lightroom Classic 13.2 and later save pick and reject flags to XMP. Lightroom 6 and Lightroom Classic before 13.2 keep them only in the catalog.
The catalog
What it does
- You close Lightroom, copy your catalog (the file whose name ends in
.lrcat) and open the copy here. The page reads it in your browser, a part at a time, and never changes the file. - It counts your collections, collection sets and smart collections, and shows them as a tree with the number of photos in each collection. Lightroom’s default smart collections, which every new catalog has, are left out of the counts.
- It lists your virtual copies, and the videos that have a title, caption, keywords, rating or colour label in the catalog.
- It counts your pick and reject flags, and says whether your catalog’s version saves them to XMP. For Lightroom Classic 13 it can only say that 13.2 and later do: the catalog gives only the main version number.
- One line sums it up: what Save Metadata to File would write to XMP, and what it would leave behind.
It does not export anything yet. The export to darktable and digiKam is planned; join the waitlist to hear when it is ready.
This is a beta. It has been run on one real catalog, made by Lightroom 5. For Lightroom 6 and Lightroom Classic, the tables it reads were checked against public descriptions, not yet against real catalogs, and the results say so. What it says about XMP comes from Adobe’s help pages and other published sources, checked on 17 October 2026.
Who makes this
I’m Sven Verbeek. I build small tools for one specific problem each, in the Netherlands. If something is wrong or unclear, email me at (not filled in yet) and I answer myself.
Changes
- 17 Oct 2026 First version (beta): counts and lists the collections, virtual copies, flags and video metadata a catalog keeps.
Export to darktable and digiKam (planned)
The check above is free. A paid export to darktable and digiKam is planned, for what the check finds. It is not built yet and is not on sale; join the waitlist to hear when it is ready.
Export to darktable/digiKam: join the waitlist
Not on sale yet. Sold by ; see the terms and the refund policy.
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Questions
Does Save Metadata to File carry my collections over?
No. Collections and collection sets exist only in the catalog; Lightroom doesn't write them to XMP. A smart collection is a set of rules (such as "rated 3 stars or more"), not a list of photos.
Are virtual copies written to XMP?
No. Adobe says virtual copies are metadata in the catalog, not photos or duplicates of photos. Only the original photo has a file and XMP.
Are pick and reject flags written to XMP?
From Lightroom Classic 13.2 on, yes: Adobe says flag states are saved to XMP from that version. Lightroom 6 and Lightroom Classic before 13.2 keep them only in the catalog.
What happens to the metadata of my videos?
Adobe says that when you edit a video's metadata in the Library module, the changes are stored in the catalog and aren't available to other applications. The check lists the videos with a title, caption, keywords, rating or colour label.
Does Save Metadata to File write my keywords?
Yes. Adobe says keywords are saved to the files with Metadata > Save Metadata To File, or as you go with Automatically Write Changes Into XMP. For ratings, colour labels, titles and captions I found no Adobe page that says so, so check them in your new program.
Is my catalog uploaded?
No. The page reads the copy in your browser, a part at a time, and sends nothing anywhere. It never changes the file. This page sets no cookies and has no analytics.
Which catalogs does it read?
Catalogs from Lightroom 4 on; it refuses older ones. So far it has been run on one real catalog, made by Lightroom 5. For Lightroom 6 and Lightroom Classic the tables it reads were checked against public descriptions, not yet against real catalogs. If it fails on yours, email me.
Does it export my catalog?
No. It only shows what an export would lose. A paid export to darktable and digiKam is planned; it is not built yet. Join the waitlist to hear when it is ready.
Join the waitlist
One email when the export to darktable and digiKam is ready.
Sign-up is not open yet.
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