How to Export Your Lightroom Presets (and Why You Should)

ByJordan Brown

As a professional photographer, I rely heavily on Lightroom presets to streamline my editing workflow and achieve consistency in my signature style. Presets allow me to quickly apply looks that would otherwise take significant time to dial in manually for each photo. I‘m certainly not alone – according to a 2022 survey by Mastin Labs, 67% of Lightroom users take advantage of presets to speed up their editing process.

However, all the time saved by using presets can go down the drain instantly if your Lightroom catalog becomes corrupted and you haven‘t properly backed up your precious presets. Further, having access to your favorite presets across multiple devices is key to maintaining a coherent editing style. And let‘s not forget the benefits of being able to share your go-to looks with friends or the photography community (or even monetize your presets!).

This is where knowing how to export your presets from Lightroom becomes a critical skill. By the end of this post, you‘ll be equipped with two methods for exporting – saving individual presets or bulk exporting multiple at once. I‘ll also share some best practices for organizing and backing up your precious presets.

But first, let‘s do a quick refresher on what exactly a Lightroom preset is. In simple terms, a preset is a saved set of adjustments in the Develop module that can be applied to a photo with a single click. These adjustments can include exposure, color balance, tone curve, sharpening, lens corrections and much more. Presets provide a great starting point for editing and can greatly improve consistency and efficiency in your workflow. Lightroom has included preset functionality since its initial release in 2007, with the ability to export presets added in Lightroom 3.2 in 2010.

Why Should You Export Your Lightroom Presets?

Before we dive into the how-to, let‘s talk a bit more about why exporting your presets is so important:

  1. Backup: As I mentioned in the intro, not backing up your presets leaves you vulnerable to losing them entirely if your Lightroom catalog becomes corrupted or your hard drive fails. According to a 2021 report by Backblaze, 46% of users have experienced data loss from accidental deletion, hardware failure, or other causes. Don‘t let your valuable presets be part of that statistic!
  2. Sharing: One of the great joys of the photography community is sharing knowledge and helping each other grow. Exporting your presets allows you to easily share your signature looks with friends or online. Some photographers even sell their presets (the Mastin Labs survey found 21% of Lightroom users purchase presets). Whether gifting or selling, exporting is the first step.
  3. Multi-device access: More and more photographers are embracing a multi-device workflow, editing on both a desktop and laptop or even on the go with Lightroom Mobile. Exporting your presets and syncing them across your devices ensures you can maintain a consistent editing style no matter where you are working. No more frustration at realizing that killer look you created on your desktop isn‘t available on your laptop!

So now that you‘re convinced of the importance of exporting, let‘s look at exactly how to do it. I‘ll cover two methods – exporting individual presets and bulk exporting multiple presets at once.

Method 1: Exporting Individual Lightroom Presets

Exporting an individual preset is extremely easy – it only takes a few clicks:

  1. In the Develop Module, click on the preset you want to export in the Presets panel (left side).
  2. Right-click on the preset and select "Export" from the menu. Lightroom export preset menu
  3. In the Export Preset dialog box, choose where you want to save the preset on your hard drive. I recommend creating a dedicated folder for your exported presets to keep them organized.
  4. Give your preset file a descriptive name following a consistent naming convention (I use "preset name – date created"). Make sure the file extension is set to .lrtemplate.
  5. Click "Save" – your preset is now exported!

Troubleshooting tips:

  • If your exported preset doesn‘t seem to work when imported on another device, make sure the "Store presets with catalog" option in Preferences > Presets is unchecked. This ensures the preset adjustments are stored in the preset file itself.
  • If you want maximum compatibility, you can export your preset as an XMP file instead by changing the file type to .xmp in the Export dialog. XMP presets can be read by other programs like Adobe Camera Raw.

Method 2: Bulk Exporting Multiple Lightroom Presets

If you want to export several presets at once, you can bypass the Develop module entirely and simply copy the preset files directly. Here‘s how:

  1. Go to Preferences > Presets and click the "Show Lightroom Presets Folder" button. This will open the folder location of all your Lightroom presets in your file browser.
    Show Lightroom Presets Folder option
  2. In the Lightroom folder, open the Settings folder, then the Develop Presets folder. Here you will see all your presets – both the default Lightroom presets and any custom ones you‘ve created. Presets are the files ending in .lrtemplate.
    Lightroom Develop Presets folder
  3. To select multiple presets, click on the first one you want, then hold down Shift and click on the last one. All the presets in between will also be selected. If you want to select non-adjacent presets, hold down Ctrl/Cmd and click on each preset you want.
  4. Once you have all the desired presets selected, right-click (or Ctrl+click) and choose Copy from the menu.
  5. Navigate to where you want to save the copied presets (I have a dedicated "Lightroom Exports" folder on my external drive) and paste them.

And that‘s it! You now have a copy of multiple presets that you can backup or share.

A few tips for bulk exporting:

  • Make sure you copy not cut the preset files – you don‘t want to remove them from the original Lightroom folder location.
  • Stay organized by pasting your exported presets into clearly labeled subfolders by date and/or preset pack name.
  • If you use Lightroom on multiple computers, consider using a cloud storage service like Dropbox or Google Drive to store your exported presets. This way, you can sync the presets across devices.
  • Get in the habit of periodically exporting your recently created presets to keep your backup current. I recommend exporting at the end of each month or after finishing a preset pack.
  • If you‘re exporting to share/sell, consider zip compressing the preset folder to make downloading easier.

To automate your preset backup process even further, you can use a dedicated backup program like GoodSync to regularly copy your Lightroom Settings folder to a backup location.

As your Lightroom preset library grows over time (the average Lightroom user has over 100 presets according to the Mastin Labs survey!), good organization of your exported presets becomes even more vital. I recommend a clearly labeled folder structure by date, preset type, and even specific photo shoot.
Example Lightroom exported presets folder structure
Now that you have your presets exported, you may need to import them on another device. Luckily this process is just as easy as exporting – simply copy the preset files into the Develop Presets folder on the new device (located in the same spot described in the bulk export section above). Restart Lightroom and you should see the presets appear in the Presets panel.

One caveat – if you‘re importing presets created in an older version of Lightroom into a newer version, the presets may not work exactly as expected due to changes in the Develop module tools and settings across versions. In this case, you may need to make some tweaks after importing.

Wrap Up

To recap – exporting your Lightroom presets is an essential skill for protecting your editing work, streamlining your workflow across devices, and sharing your creative vision with others. The two key methods are:

  1. Exporting individual presets through the Develop module
  2. Bulk exporting multiple presets by copying the files directly

Summary of how to export Lightroom presets
The few minutes it takes to regularly export your presets is time well spent compared to the hours that would be lost if your presets were gone forever due to a hardware failure or catalog corruption. Trust me, it‘s not a matter of if, but when – don‘t let yourself be part of the 46% of users who have lost precious data!

By adopting a consistent backup schedule (I use a flowchart pinned to my desk to remind me of key backup steps for my photography work), organizing your exported presets logically, and utilizing cloud storage, you‘ll ensure your masterpiece presets are always at your fingertips and preserved for the long haul.

I‘d love to hear from you – what‘s your process for organizing and backing up your Lightroom presets? Have you ever lost presets before implementing a backup routine? Do you have a favorite preset pack that‘s worth exporting and sharing? Let me know in the comments!

Hopefully this guide has given you the tools and motivation needed to take control of your Lightroom presets. For further reading, I‘ve compiled some additional resources below. Now go forth and export those amazing looks you‘ve crafted!

Additional Resources:

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