Welcome to Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 3. This document contains late-breaking product information, updates, and troubleshooting tips not covered in the Lightroom documentation.
Windows
- Intel® Pentium 4
- Microsoft® Windows® 7, Windows Vista® Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise (certified for 32-bit and 64-bit editions) or Microsoft® Windows® XP with Service Pack 2
- 2 GB RAM
- 1 GB of available hard-disk space
- CD-ROM drive
- 1,024x768 display
Macintosh
- Intel-based Mac
- Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6
- 2 GB of RAM
- 1 GB of available hard-disk space
- CD-ROM drive
- 1,024x768 display
If you have a previous version of Lightroom on your computer, or a trial version, you do not need to remove it before installing Lightroom 3.
To install your software, do one of the following:
64-bit installation notes
Mac: By default, Lightroom 3 is a 64-bit application. To use Lightroom 3 as a 32-bit application, navigate to Applications/Adobe Lightroom 3, choose File > Get Info (Command+I), and select Open In 32 Bit Mode.
Windows: The Lightroom installer contains both a 32-bit and 64-bit version of the application. By default, the 64-bit version installs only on Windows Vista and Windows 7 64-bit operating systems. All other operating systems install the 32-bit version by default.
- You can find the 24-digit serial number (e.g. 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000) on the back cover of your CD holder. Online or Electronic Software Delivery (ESD) customers can find the serial number both on the receipt page from the online store and in the e-mail confirmation you received. You will be asked for this number when installing Photoshop Lightroom.
- To update a Lightroom 1, Lightroom 2, or Lightroom 3 Beta catalog, launch Lightroom 3 and you will be able to select and upgrade your previous Lightroom catalog. See Upgrade a catalog in Lightroom 3 Help.
- Upgrading a catalog to Lightroom 3 does not erase or remove the previous Lightroom catalog. If you wish to try the Lightroom 3 30-day trial by upgrading your existing catalog, you may always return to earlier versions of Lightroom and continue using your previous catalog.
Note: Any changes or work completed in your catalog once it has been upgraded to work with Lightroom 3 will not be available in previous versions of Lightroom.
Note: The upgrade process modifies the image preview information of an upgraded catalog. (This information is stored in the .lrdata file that is located adjacent to a catalog file in the file system.) Returning to a previous version of Lightroom requires that the previews be re-rendered. This can be a lengthy process for those with hundreds of thousands of images.
- (Windows) Upgrading a library from Photoshop Elements 6, Photoshop Elements 7, or Photoshop Elements 8 requires that Photoshop Elements be installed on the computer at the time of upgrade.
- If you attempt to upgrade the same Lightroom catalog more than once, Lightroom will inform you of the location of the previously upgraded catalog.
For release notes on feature enhancements (additional camera support) and bug fixes, see the following PDF files:
Known issues
- Burning exported images to disc is not available for the Lightroom 64-bit Windows application.
- Lightroom performance can be affected when the Window’s Recycle Bin contains thousands of files.
- Lightroom may not automatically launch an import dialog box when a memory card is attached to a Windows Vista computer. Please click the Import button in the Library module and select the attached card reader to begin the import.
- Printing watermarked output on a Japanese language 64-bit system can cause Lightroom to crash.
Supported file formats
- JPEG
- TIFF (8 bit, 16 bit)
- PSD (8 bit, 16 bit)
- DNG
- Raw (See Digital camera raw file support for a full list of raw file support.)
- Common DSLR video formats
Lightroom does not support:
- PSD files saved without a composite image (saved without the Maximize Compatibility setting).
- Files larger than 65,000 pixels per side or 512 megapixels total.
Lightroom and Photoshop Camera Raw share the same image processing technology to ensure consistent and compatible results across applications that support raw processing. These applications include Photoshop CS5, Photoshop Elements 8, and Premiere Elements 8.
Photoshop Camera Raw 6
Adobe applications must be updated with the Camera Raw 6.1 or later plug-in in order to ensure compatibility with Lightroom 3 Develop module settings. Photoshop CS5 users can update the Camera Raw plug-in automatically by choosing Help > Updates. You can also manually download and install the most recent Camera Raw plug-in. Please follow the installation instructions carefully.
Sharing Lightroom settings with Camera Raw 6
By default, Lightroom Develop module settings are stored in the Lightroom database. In order to ensure that Lightroom Develop settings can be viewed by Camera Raw 6.1 or later, the settings must be written to the XMP metadata block for that file. This metadata is stored in an XMP sidecar file (imagename.xmp) in the path of the proprietary raw files, or stored directly within DNG files. To update images with the latest Develop settings, go to the Library module and select the group of images. Press Ctrl+S (Windows) or Command+S (Mac OS) to save the settings to the XMP metadata block. See About metadata and XMP in Lightroom Help.
Viewing Lightroom settings in Camera Raw 6
Before working with Lightroom and Camera Raw, set the Camera Raw preference to Save Image Settings In Sidecar ".Xmp" Files. By default, Camera Raw will display the image adjustments exactly as performed in the Lightroom Develop module. See Work with Camera Raw and Lightroom in Camera Raw Help.
Viewing Camera Raw settings in Lightroom
Raw files edited by previous versions of Camera Raw maintain their previous appearance when imported into Lightroom as long as the Camera Raw preference is set to Save Image Settings In Sidecar “.Xmp” Files. To update files edited in Camera Raw after they have been imported into Lightroom, choose Metadata > Read Metadata From Files in the Lightroom Library module. See Synchronize Lightroom metadata with Camera Raw and Adobe Bridge in Lightroom Help.
Additional notes on Camera Raw and Lightroom
Camera Raw reads only the current settings for the primary image in the Lightroom catalog. Virtual copy adjustments and snapshot adjustments are not available in Camera Raw 6.
Free troubleshooting resources include Adobe's support knowledgebase and Adobe user forums.
For paid support the US, contact Customer Support and Customer Service. Outside of North America, go to the same page click the drop-down menu Need A Different Country Or Region, choose an option, and then click Go.
- For getting started tutorials and videos, go to the Learn Lightroom 3 page.
- For web-based documentation, go to Lightroom Community Help.
- For a PDF of the current documentation, click here (10MB).
- For additional inspiration, learning content, and support, visit the Photoshop Lightroom Help and Support page.
© 2010 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.
Twitter™ and Facebook posts are not covered under the terms of Creative Commons.
