How do I reset Lightroom’s Preferences?

If you find you’re having odd problems with Lightroom, resetting Lightroom’s Preferences file can solve all sorts of ‘weirdness,’ so it’s a good early step in troubleshooting. Let’s take a look at how to simply reset Preferences, and also how to find and take a backup of the file(s) so you can check resetting helps.

How Do I Reset Preferences?

In Lightroom and Lightroom Classic, there’s a simple automated way of doing it—just hold down Alt and Shift (Windows) / Opt and Shift (Mac) while opening Lightroom and it’ll ask whether to reset the preferences. The timing is crucial—hold them down while clicking/double-clicking on the app/shortcut.

Alternatively, you can reset the preferences manually. Moving or renaming the preferences file, rather than deleting it, means that you can put it back if it doesn’t solve the problem, to save you manually recreating your preferences again.

Windows

1. Quit Lightroom.
2. Open Explorer and navigate to
   • Lightroom Classic, Lightroom 6 (or earlier): C:\Users\[your username]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Lightroom\Preferences Note that this is a hidden folder, so the easiest way to do so is to open the Start menu search box (Windows 7 / 10) / Search charm (Windows 8) and type %appdata%\Adobe\Lightroom\Preferences
   • Lightroom Desktop (cloud-based): C:\Users\[your username]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Lightroom CC\Preferences
   • Note: these are hidden folders, so the easiest way to find them is to open the Start menu search box (Windows 7 / 10) / Search charm (Windows 8) and type %appdata%\Adobe\
3. Rename, move* or delete the following files:
   • Lightroom Classic: Lightroom Classic CC 7 Preferences.agprefs, leave the Startup Preferences there.
   • Lightroom 6 (or earlier): Lightroom 6 Preferences.agprefs (earlier versions will be named similarly), leave the Startup Preferences there.
   • Lightroom Desktop (cloud-based): Lightroom CC Preferences.agprefs.
4. Restart Lightroom.

Mac

1. Quit Lightroom.
2. Open Finder and select the Go menu.
3. Hold down the Opt key so Library appears in the menu, then click on Library.
4. In the Finder window, open the Preferences folder.
5. Rename, move* or delete the following files:
   • Classic: com.adobe.LightroomClassicCC7.plist.
   • Lightroom 6 (or earlier): com.adobe.Lightroom6.plist and com.adobe.Lightroom6.LSSharedFileList.plist (older versions are named similarly).
   • Lightroom Desktop (cloud-based): com.adobe.LightroomCC.plist.
6. Reboot your computer (because macOS caches some preference files), then restart Lightroom.
7. If your presets are missing, go to Lightroom menu > Preferences > Presets tab, check Store presets with this catalog and they should reappear.

* Moving or renaming that preferences file, rather than deleting it, does mean that you can put it back if it doesn’t solve the problem, to save you recreating your preferences again.

What’s Stored in Preferences?

If you reset your Preferences file, the obvious settings that you lose are those in the Preferences dialog, but it also includes other details such as your View Options settings, last used settings, FTP server details, some plug-in settings, your country, etc.

Your original photos, Develop settings, Develop defaults, collections, presets and other important settings aren’t affected by deleting the Preferences file.

The Store presets with this catalog setting also reverts to default (unchecked) if you reset the preferences file, but the presets themselves are perfectly safe, and checking the checkbox in Preferences causes the presets to reappear.

On Lightroom Classic or Lightroom 6 (or earlier), there are also separate startup preferences which don’t usually need resetting. These include the last used catalog path, the recent catalog list, which catalog to load on startup and the catalog upgrade history.

On Lightroom 5 or earlier, don’t panic if Lightroom opens with a blank catalog or asks you to create one after trashing the preferences. If it finds a catalog at the default location, that’s the catalog it will initially open, but you can go to File menu > Open Catalog to navigate to your normal catalog.

For lots more information and tips on using Lightroom, see Adobe Lightroom – Edit Like a Pro (covers the cloud and mobile versions) and Adobe Lightroom Classic – The Missing FAQ (for the folder-based version). If you have a current Premium Membership, you can download the latest version of your book from the Members Area right now. (And if not, here’s the shop – go and buy your copy!)

Originally posted 22 December 2014, updated for latest Lightroom versions December 2019.

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