If you’re having a problem with Lightroom, there are some general troubleshooting steps you can try. (As always, make sure you have backups before you try any troubleshooting steps.)
1. The magic reboot
If you’re having odd problems with any computer program, the age-old wisdom “turn it off and turn it on again” still works wonders. First, try restarting the program, and if that doesn’t solve it, reboot the computer.
2. Optimize the Catalog
Go to and wait for it to tell you it’s completed before moving on.
3. Check for Updates
Next, check for updates, as the issue you’re running into could be a bug that’s been fixed in a later release. Make sure you’re running the latest updates, both for Lightroom (by going to ) and also for your operating system. Also update drivers on your machine, particularly the graphics card drivers and any mouse or tablet drivers, direct from the manufacturer.
4. Reset Preferences
If you’re still having problems, resetting Lightroom’s Preferences file can solve all sorts of ‘weirdness,’ so it’s a good early step in troubleshooting.
On Lightroom CC / Lightroom 6, 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.
For more details on resetting preferences, click here.
5. Try a new catalog
If resetting the preferences doesn’t help, create a new catalog to rule out minor catalog corruption. (Note that this is only a test to check whether the problem is catalog-specific. Don’t delete your working catalog or start working in this temporary catalog!) To do so:
- Go to .
- If you can’t open Lightroom to access the menu, hold down Ctrl (Windows) / Opt (Mac) while restarting Lightroom, then click the Create New Catalog button.
- Choose a location for the temporary catalog such as the desktop.
- Import some photos into this new catalog to check everything is working as expected.
- If this works, the problem is likely specific to your catalog. Don’t panic, that can usually be fixed!
- To return to your normal catalog, go to File menu > Open Recent.
6. Rule out corrupted presets & fonts
The next thing to check for is corrupted presets, as they can cause strange problems like module hanging and performance problems. To do so:
Windows
- Go to.
- Press the Show Lightroom Presets Folder button.
Alternatively, you can navigate directly to C:\Users\[your username]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Lightroom\ 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\
- Whichever way you choose to find this folder, close Lightroom before going any further.
- Select the contents of the Lightroom folder, with the exception of the Preferences folder (as we’ve already ruled out preferences problems).
- Move these subfolders (e.g. Develop Presets, Print Templates, etc.) to another location, such as the desktop.
- Restart Lightroom.
Mac
- Go to.
- Press the Show Lightroom Presets Folder button.
Alternatively, you can navigate directly to Macintosh HD / Users / [your username] / Library / Application Support / Adobe / Lightroom / Note that this is a hidden folder, so the easiest way to do so is to open Finder and select the Hold down the Opt key so appears in the menu, then click on . Then navigate through .
- Whichever way you choose to find this folder, close Lightroom before going any further.
- Select the Lightroom folder and move it to another location, such as the desktop.
- Reboot your computer (because OS X caches some files), then restart Lightroom.
If the problem isn’t solved, you can copy the preset folders back, overwriting the default preset folders that have been automatically created.
If it does solve the problem, copy the presets back a few at a time, to narrow down which specific preset (or group of presets) is causing the problem.
Corrupted fonts have also been known to cause problems, particularly in the Print and Book modules. Fonts aren’t specific to Lightroom. If you’re not familiar with managing your operating system’s fonts, Google “uninstall font” and the name of your operating system for instructions on removing fonts.
7. Try a clean user account
Sometimes issues are specific to your computer’s user account. Testing a clean user account can rule out a lot of potential problems in one go. If you’re not sure how to create a clean user account, click here for Microsoft and Apple’s official instructions.
8. Check for hardware and operating system problems
Lightroom taxes your computers hardware more than most of the programs you use, so it often finds hardware and operating system problems that don’t show up in other software.
Damaged RAM can also cause some odd problems—Lightroom finds dodgy memory quicker than almost any other program. You can easily check that by running software such as Memtest.
Depending on the issues you’re having, check other hardware for issues, for example, if Lightroom’s running slowly, check the hard drives, particularly if it’s an intermittent problem. They could be dying or just running low on space. If the screen is behaving oddly, check your graphics card, monitor and calibration. If you’re having problems importing, check your card reader, USB ports and the destination hard drive. Also check your boot drive to ensure it has plenty of space available, as a lack of space for operating system temp files can cause all sorts of problems.
9. Ask for help!
If none of these troubleshooting steps solve the problem, post a description at http://www.lightroomforums.net and we’ll try to help you figure it out!