HOW TO INSTALL YOUR LIGHTROOM PRESETS

I'VE HAD MANY PEOPLE ASK ME HOW THEY CAN INSTALL THEIR PRESETS IN LIGHTROOM AND ACR. THE PROCESS CAN BE SURPRISINGLY SIMPLE IF YOU ARE CAREFUL AND ATTENTIVE.

To make things easier, I’ve put together some basic instructions that will help you make the process much easier and take the guessing out of it. Your presets will be available in a zip file, and before installing them, they will need to first be decompressed.

First, you need to know which version of Lightroom you're working on. This will determine the way in which you'll import your presets. To find out which version you are using,

For MAC = You can find this by checking the version number that shows up when you click on the 'About Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic CC' button (or Lightroom CC, if you are using that app).

PC = You’ll find it by selecting Help > About Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic CC.


HOW TO INSTALL LIGHTROOM PRESETS FOR NEWER VERSIONS

1. From the menu bar, choose File > Import Profiles Cc Presets.

2. In the Import dialog that appears, browse to the required path and select the presets that you want to import. Check the file location for Lightroom Classic presets on Win and macOS.

3. Click Import.

how to install lightroom presets

HOW TO INSTALL LIGHTROOM PRESETS FOR NEWER VERSIONS

You can also just go to DEVELOP - Click on the plus (+) sign symbol next to PRESETS and import your Preset folder from where it was saved.

how to install lightroom presets

HOW TO INSTALL LIGHTROOM PRESETS FOR OLDER VERSIONS

1. THE FIRST STEP IS TO OPEN LIGHTROOM
AND OPEN PREFERENCES.

This part will be different on PC’s and Mac. On a PC, you will find Preferences on the Edit tab. For a Mac, you will find it on the tab labeled Lightroom. When you click on Preferences, you will have a pop-up box open. The pop-up should have six tabs on the top. You will choose the Presets tab.

2. Before moving on to installing the presets, you will need to make sure that “Store presets with this catalog” is unchecked.

3. After, you will click on the box titled “Show Lightroom Presets”. This will open your Finder or Folder window. The Lightroom should automatically be highlighted, but if it’s not just make sure this is the folder you double click on.

4. Inside the Lightroom folder, there will be another folder
labeled “Develop Presets”. Once this folder is open you will copy and paste the unzipped file that you downloaded into the Develop Presets folder.

Once your presets are pasted into the folder, the last step would be to close and restart Lightroom.

When you open Lightroom again, your presets should be available in the Presets Panel. To access the individual presets, you will need to choose the collection and click on the triangle to display them.

If you’re still having trouble installing, there are two things to consider. How you downloaded the presets or how they were installed into Lightroom.

When you’re downloading the presets, make sure not to open the file after it has finished download. If you’re having trouble unzipping the file on a PC, try using WinRar. It’s a completely free unzipping program.

If your presets are not showing up in Lightroom, double check that you copied the presets into the Develop Presets folder.


HOW TO INSTALL PRESETS FOR ACR (PHOTOSHOP)

Please note that if you install the XMP presets/profiles in Lightroom 7.5, they will automatically be synced to ACR as well.

Follow these steps to import presets for ACR only:

For Mac Users: Users>Your Name>Library>Application Support>Adobe>Camera Raw> Settings

For Windows Users: Application Data>Adobe>Camera Raw>Settings OR C: Users-[user name]>AppData>Roaming>Adobe>Camera Raw>Settings

Copy and paste the .xmp files into your Settings Folder.
Please note, only paste the .xmp files (not the folder) into the setting folder, as ACR does not recognize folders, only the individual files.

Please note, if you are using a Mac and cannot locate the Settings folder you should go to Finder and select Go > Go to Folder from the menu. Then copy and paste: ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CameraRaw/Settings into the box


Still need help?