How to Export All Photos in Lightroom: A Comprehensive Guide

Exporting photos from Lightroom is a fundamental skill for any photographer, whether you’re sharing your work online, backing up your catalog, or preparing images for print. Knowing how to efficiently export all your photos, or a selected group, is crucial for managing your photography workflow. This guide will walk you through the process of exporting all your photos from Adobe Lightroom Classic and Lightroom (cloud-based), ensuring you understand the settings and options available to achieve the best results.

Lightroom offers powerful export capabilities, allowing you to customize various settings to suit your specific needs. From choosing file formats and quality to resizing and adding watermarks, mastering the export dialog is key to getting your photos ready for their intended purpose. Let’s delve into the steps for exporting all your photos in Lightroom.

Exporting All Photos from Lightroom Classic

Lightroom Classic, the desktop-focused version, provides a robust export feature set. Here’s how to export all your photos:

1. Select All Photos: The first step is to ensure you have selected all the photos you wish to export. In the Library module, navigate to the “Catalog” panel on the left and click on “All Photographs.” This will display every photo in your Lightroom catalog in the Grid view. Alternatively, if you want to export all photos from a specific folder or collection, select that folder or collection instead.

2. Initiate the Export Process: With all your photos selected, go to File > Export, or press Ctrl+Shift+E (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+E (Mac). This will open the Export dialog box, which is the central hub for customizing your export settings.

3. Choose Export Location: In the Export dialog, the first panel is “Export Location.” Here, you decide where your exported photos will be saved.

   • Export To: Choose “Hard Drive” to save to your computer or an external drive.
   • Specific folder: Select this option and click “Choose…” to browse and select a destination folder. Creating a new folder specifically for your exported photos is often a good practice for organization.
   • Put in Subfolder: You can choose to organize your exports further by putting them into a subfolder. Lightroom can create a subfolder based on your chosen settings.
   • Existing Files: Decide what Lightroom should do if it encounters files with the same name in the export destination. Options include “Ask what to do,” “Choose new name,” or “Overwrite.”

4. File Naming: The “File Naming” panel lets you customize the names of your exported files.

   • Rename To: You can keep the original filenames or rename them based on various presets or custom names. For example, you can rename files using a sequence, date, or custom text.
   • Custom Name and Sequence: This is a popular option, allowing you to add a custom name prefix followed by a sequence number, ensuring unique filenames.

5. File Settings: This is a crucial panel where you define the file format, quality, and color space of your exported images.

   • Image Format: Choose the desired file format. JPEG is the most common for web sharing and general use due to its balance of file size and quality. TIFF is better for archival and print due to lossless compression, but results in larger files. DNG is Adobe’s raw format, useful for archiving raw files. Original exports the photos in their original format (RAW or JPEG as imported).
   • Quality (for JPEG): Use the slider to adjust JPEG quality from 0 to 100. Higher quality means larger file sizes. A quality of 70-80 is often a good balance for web use, while 80-90 or higher is suitable for printing.
   • Color Space: sRGB is the standard color space for web and most consumer displays and print labs. AdobeRGB has a wider color gamut, suitable for professional printing workflows when the entire workflow supports it. ProPhoto RGB is even wider and used for archival masters, but not recommended for general export unless you have a specific need.

6. Image Sizing: The “Image Sizing” panel allows you to resize your photos during export.

   • Resize to Fit: Check this box to resize images.
     • Width & Height: Specify maximum width and height in pixels. Lightroom will maintain aspect ratio. This is useful for web uploads or specific size requirements.
     • Megapixels: Limit the total megapixels of the exported image, useful for controlling file size.
     • Percentage: Resize as a percentage of the original dimensions.
   • Don’t Enlarge: Check this to prevent Lightroom from upscaling smaller images to meet the specified dimensions.

7. Output Sharpening: In the “Output Sharpening” panel, you can apply sharpening specifically for the output medium.

   • Sharpen For: Choose “Screen,” “Matte Paper,” or “Glossy Paper” depending on the intended use.
   • Amount: Select “Low,” “Standard,” or “High” sharpening amount. “Standard” is usually a good starting point.

8. Metadata: The “Metadata” panel controls what metadata is included in your exported photos.

   • Include: You can choose to include “All Metadata,” “All Except Camera Raw Info,” “Copyright Only,” or “Remove All.” For sharing online, “Copyright Only” or “All Except Camera Raw Info” is often recommended to protect your copyright while removing potentially sensitive camera data.

9. Watermarking: If you want to protect your images online, the “Watermarking” panel lets you add a text or graphic watermark.

   • Watermark: Check the box and choose a watermark preset or create a new one. You can customize the text, font, size, position, and opacity of text watermarks, or import a graphic watermark (like a logo).

10. Post-Processing: The “Post-Processing” panel defines what Lightroom should do after exporting.

    • After Export: Options include “Do Nothing,” “Show in Explorer/Finder,” or “Open in [Application].” “Show in Explorer/Finder” is useful to quickly check your exported photos.

11. Export: Once you have configured all your settings, click the “Export” button. Lightroom will then process all selected photos and export them to your chosen location with the specified settings.

Exporting All Photos from Lightroom (Cloud-Based)

Lightroom (cloud-based), often referred to as just “Lightroom,” has a simpler export process compared to Lightroom Classic, but still provides essential options. Here’s how to export all your photos:

1. Select Photos: In Lightroom, select “All Photos” from the left panel to view all your images. You can also select specific albums if you don’t want to export everything. To select all, simply ensure you are viewing “All Photos.”

2. Initiate Export: Click the Share icon (square with an upward arrow) in the top right corner, and select Export. Alternatively, right-click on any selected photo and choose Export.

3. Export Settings: The Export dialog in Lightroom (cloud-based) is more streamlined.

   • Location: Choose where to save your exported photos (“Computer” to save locally).
   • File Type: Select the file format: JPEG, DNG, TIFF, or Original. JPEG is again the most common choice.
   • More Options: Click “More Options” to expand and see additional settings.
     • Quality (JPEG): Adjust JPEG quality using a slider.
     • Size: Choose “Small,” “Medium,” “Large,” or “Original” sizes. You can also specify custom dimensions or long edge.
     • Sharpening: Apply output sharpening for “Screen.”
     • Watermark: Add a text or graphic watermark, similar to Lightroom Classic.
     • Include Metadata: Toggle to include or exclude metadata.

4. Export Photos: Click the blue “Export Photos” button. Lightroom will export your selected photos with the chosen settings to the location you specified.

Tips for Efficient Exporting

• Use Export Presets: Save your commonly used export settings as presets in both Lightroom Classic and Lightroom. This will significantly speed up your workflow for future exports. In Lightroom Classic, you can create and manage presets on the left side of the Export dialog. In Lightroom (cloud-based), you can save export settings for reuse.
• Batch Export: Lightroom is designed for batch processing. Exporting hundreds or even thousands of photos at once is efficient. Let Lightroom run in the background while you do other tasks.
• Optimize File Settings: Choose the right file format, quality, and size for the intended use. Exporting high-quality TIFFs for web sharing is unnecessary and wastes space and bandwidth. JPEGs at appropriate quality are usually sufficient for online purposes.
• Organize Exported Files: Plan your export folder structure and file naming conventions to keep your exported photos organized and easy to find.

Conclusion

Exporting all photos in Lightroom is a straightforward process once you understand the export dialog and the various settings available. Whether you are using Lightroom Classic or Lightroom (cloud-based), mastering export settings allows you to prepare your photos perfectly for any purpose, from online sharing to professional printing. By following this guide and experimenting with the different options, you can optimize your Lightroom workflow and efficiently manage your exported images. Remember to leverage export presets to further streamline your process and save valuable time.