Lightroom (two users, same iMac)

instinkt · Feb 22, 2013

Hi,

I am buying a new iMac and plan to install Lightroom (first time mac and Lightroom user!).

My wife and I will each have our separate user accounts on the iMac, but with full admin privileges; except for iTunes and Mail, we plan on sharing everything on the iMac, including all applications and Lightroom and the main Lightroom catalog (we don't want nor need our own separate catalog).

When I'm logged into my user account iMac, I want to be able to make all edits that I want in Lightroom, move photos, rename photos, and I want those changes to stick to my user account, but I also want those changes to stick and show up on my wife's user account next time she logs in, and vice versa when she makes changes in Lightroom.

Is this possible with Lightroom? Is there anything special I need to do during the installation process?

Thanks!

acearchie · Feb 22, 2013

instinkt said:
Hi,

I am buying a new iMac and plan to install Lightroom (first time mac and Lightroom user!).

My wife and I will each have our separate user accounts on the iMac, but with full admin privileges; except for iTunes and Mail, we plan on sharing everything on the iMac, including all applications and Lightroom and the main Lightroom catalog (we don't want nor need our own separate catalog).

When I'm logged into my user account iMac, I want to be able to make all edits that I want in Lightroom, move photos, rename photos, and I want those changes to stick to my user account, but I also want those changes to stick and show up on my wife's user account next time she logs in, and vice versa when she makes changes in Lightroom.

Is this possible with Lightroom? Is there anything special I need to do during the installation process?

Thanks!

Not sure about with the users but I would recommend having two catalogs. Both catalogs will probably appear when you are logged in but you can just make sure that you open yours and not your wife's.

EDIT: sorry, I realised I completely misread the original post!

snberk103 · Feb 22, 2013

Yes. You should be able to do that. Just off the top of my head, I can think of three ways.... I will let others debate the pros and cons.

First some background on how OS X users work. At the very top you have the Mac HD. At this top level is a folder called Users, as well as one called Applications. Lightroom (the application) will go into Applications, obviously. All users of the iMac will have access to Lightroom.

In the Users folder will be a folder structure for each user. In your case, you will have one and your wife will have one. Depending on how you set things you may or may not easily see what is in each others User folder. As Admin users you will each be able to "authenticate" the request. Or you can set it up to be more private. Inside each User's folder structure are the folders for Photos, Documents, Music, etc etc

So your three easy options (in no particular order) are:
1) Create a 3rd User (called Lightroom for instance) and put the Lightroom Catalogue and folders with the photos into that User's Photo folder. Then change that User's File Permissions to Read And Write for Everyone. Then you and your wife will use Lightroom in your own accounts but the Catalogue will set in a middle ground. In case one of your user accounts gets corrupted, Lightroom is protected since it is sitting off to the side.
2) Create a folder just for Lightroom (Lightroom Images, for example) way up at the root level. Make sure Permissions are set for you and your wife to Read and Write. This also has the advantage of putting the catalogue and images in a middle ground between you and your wife. However, some people advise against adding anything at this top (or root) level.
3) Create a folder in one of your User accounts (yours or wife's) specifically for Lightroom Images and the catalogue. Then change the Permissions to give the other Read and Write access (this eliminates the authentication step that would otherwise happen. Though do note I am writing this off the top of my head and not trying these things out... I am confident that things work this way, but try it out before committing yourself to a course of action, eh?). This last option puts means that the Lightroom images are then technically 'owned' by one of the Users... which means nothing at all, in this case, I believe.

Creating a special folder for Lightroom images and the catalogue, separate from that user's Photo folder means that they can have images of their own, and not in Lightroom, in their Photo folder. It's neater this way... but you could just dump Lightroom into the Photo folder of a User, if you wanted.

Make sure you are getting a good back up.

instinkt · Feb 22, 2013

snberk103 said:
Yes. You should be able to do that. Just off the top of my head, I can think of three ways.... I will let others debate the pros and cons.

First some background on how OS X users work. At the very top you have the Mac HD. At this top level is a folder called Users, as well as one called Applications. Lightroom (the application) will go into Applications, obviously. All users of the iMac will have access to Lightroom.

In the Users folder will be a folder structure for each user. In your case, you will have one and your wife will have one. Depending on how you set things you may or may not easily see what is in each others User folder. As Admin users you will each be able to "authenticate" the request. Or you can set it up to be more private. Inside each User's folder structure are the folders for Photos, Documents, Music, etc etc

So your three easy options (in no particular order) are:
1) Create a 3rd User (called Lightroom for instance) and put the Lightroom Catalogue and folders with the photos into that User's Photo folder. Then change that User's File Permissions to Read And Write for Everyone. Then you and your wife will use Lightroom in your own accounts but the Catalogue will set in a middle ground. In case one of your user accounts gets corrupted, Lightroom is protected since it is sitting off to the side.
2) Create a folder just for Lightroom (Lightroom Images, for example) way up at the root level. Make sure Permissions are set for you and your wife to Read and Write. This also has the advantage of putting the catalogue and images in a middle ground between you and your wife. However, some people advise against adding anything at this top (or root) level.
3) Create a folder in one of your User accounts (yours or wife's) specifically for Lightroom Images and the catalogue. Then change the Permissions to give the other Read and Write access (this eliminates the authentication step that would otherwise happen. Though do note I am writing this off the top of my head and not trying these things out... I am confident that things work this way, but try it out before committing yourself to a course of action, eh?). This last option puts means that the Lightroom images are then technically 'owned' by one of the Users... which means nothing at all, in this case, I believe.

Creating a special folder for Lightroom images and the catalogue, separate from that user's Photo folder means that they can have images of their own, and not in Lightroom, in their Photo folder. It's neater this way... but you could just dump Lightroom into the Photo folder of a User, if you wanted.

Make sure you are getting a good back up.

I really appreciate this. I "think" the third option may be the best one. Thanks again.

chrfr · Feb 22, 2013

snberk103 said:
3) Create a folder in one of your User accounts (yours or wife's) specifically for Lightroom Images and the catalogue.

Even simpler: Put your Lightroom catalog file in /Users/Shared. By default, everyone has read/write privileges to that folder.

snberk103 · Feb 22, 2013

chrfr said:
Even simpler: Put your Lightroom catalog file in /Users/Shared. By default, everyone has read/write privileges to that folder.

Yep. I had forgotten that option.... good recommendation.

pete78 · Feb 23, 2013

chrfr said:
Even simpler: Put your Lightroom catalog file in /Users/Shared. By default, everyone has read/write privileges to that folder.

Thanks!!!!!

mofunk · Feb 27, 2013

You can store your photos on an external drive. HD are cheap now days. Each time you log in to LR, you basically house your photos on the HD. This way you can have separate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVYkkPa2aZw

http://lightroomkillertips.com/

Here is another example

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvXOwmZSJs0

Sarmiento · Feb 27, 2013

chrfr said:
Even simpler: Put your Lightroom catalog file in /Users/Shared. By default, everyone has read/write privileges to that folder.

I've been doing this since I read your suggestion and its working perfectly. My catalog is sitting in the shared folder which is in a faster internal drive and my actual photos are on a Synology NAS. My wife and I can access the Lightroom catalog and photos independently on each others login and its working.

memoxx · Dec 30, 2013

Sarmiento said:
I've been doing this since I read your suggestion and its working perfectly. My catalog is sitting in the shared folder which is in a faster internal drive and my actual photos are on a Synology NAS. My wife and I can access the Lightroom catalog and photos independently on each others login and its working.

I am planing to set up almost same configuration for my wife and i. One question poped on my mind...
What happens if your wife leaves lightroom open (running) and at the same time you logged in to your account? (with fast users swithcing)
I guess that would be a problem? Every user must be sure to close lightroom when finished working i guess...

MCAsan · Dec 31, 2013

The solution to all these multi user questions.....get separate machines. Theen there is no conflict over access time and duration, who owns which file, who edited or deleted which photo or other file....etc.

We each have our own rMBPs, iPads, and iPhones. This keeps the wife happy. A happy wife is a happy life.

Consultant · Dec 31, 2013

Totally off topic. Solution already mentioned.
BTW, it's easy to share an Apple computer due to fast user switching.

MCAsan said:
The solution to all these multi user questions.....get separate machines. Theen there is no conflict over access time and duration, who owns which file, who edited or deleted which photo or other file....etc.

We each have our own rMBPs, iPads, and iPhones. This keeps the wife happy. A happy wife is a happy life.

MCAsan · Dec 31, 2013

A solution was mentioned. There are many ways to address this. Two users two machines is a valid option. I can understand it not being implemented for budget reasons.

chrfr · Dec 31, 2013

memoxx said:
I am planing to set up almost same configuration for my wife and i. One question poped on my mind...
What happens if your wife leaves lightroom open (running) and at the same time you logged in to your account? (with fast users swithcing)
I guess that would be a problem? Every user must be sure to close lightroom when finished working i guess...

Indeed, if both logged in users try to use Lightroom, it's quite conceivable that the library database would be corrupted.

talmy · Dec 31, 2013

Indeed it is almost certainly written not to be multi-user -- only one person should access at a time. The safe approach is to either have separate libraries for each user or to have an additional account set up solely for using Lightroom.

nebulight · Jan 19, 2014

I know this is an old thread, but I want to rehash. I am able place the catalog file in the users/shared and I'm able to open with no problem. With the photos stored on the NAS, I'm having an issue with lightroom able to see the files on the has after the other person logs into Lightroom. I have a Share on my NAS setup as Photos and I have the user password saved in keychain. I have the folder automatically mount at login and I've tried both AFP and SMB and I run into the same problem.

When I'm logged in, I have the folder on my NAS added to lightroom (you can see the path and how it's mounted in the OS):

However when I log in as the other user, it comes up with questions marks for all the files:

I can right click and Find Missing Folders:

And go to the same spot:

And then everything shows up:

However if I log back in as the other user, I get the same questions marks, and when I click on a file I get this:

So when I have the same volume mounted on two different user accounts, I guess it adds the -1 on the end of one of them so it looks like this solution will not work for me. Anyone that has this setup have any pointers? I tried using NFS instead of AFP or SMB, but I've got mavericks and I'm running into problems setting up the auto mount. Thanks!

lance-72 · Dec 26, 2015

I had this problem when I tried to access the files from my second account. I solved the solution using "chmod -R 777 /Users/Shared/Lightroom" - the last part is the path to where I'm keeping the files.

What I'm not sure about is whether newly copied photos etc will keep these permissions or whether they will be specific to the users.

nebulight said:
I know this is an old thread, but I want to rehash. I am able place the catalog file in the users/shared and I'm able to open with no problem. With the photos stored on the NAS, I'm having an issue with lightroom able to see the files on the has after the other person logs into Lightroom. I have a Share on my NAS setup as Photos and I have the user password saved in keychain. I have the folder automatically mount at login and I've tried both AFP and SMB and I run into the same problem.

When I'm logged in, I have the folder on my NAS added to lightroom (you can see the path and how it's mounted in the OS):

However when I log in as the other user, it comes up with questions marks for all the files:

I can right click and Find Missing Folders:

And go to the same spot:

And then everything shows up:

However if I log back in as the other user, I get the same questions marks, and when I click on a file I get this:

So when I have the same volume mounted on two different user accounts, I guess it adds the -1 on the end of one of them so it looks like this solution will not work for me. Anyone that has this setup have any pointers? I tried using NFS instead of AFP or SMB, but I've got mavericks and I'm running into problems setting up the auto mount. Thanks!

dwig · Dec 26, 2015

memoxx said:
I am planing to set up almost same configuration for my wife and i. One question poped on my mind...
What happens if your wife leaves lightroom open (running) and at the same time you logged in to your account? (with fast users swithcing)
I guess that would be a problem? Every user must be sure to close lightroom when finished working i guess...

If you intend to share access to any database, such as the Lr Catalogue, you should consider disabling the ability to switch users. This forces one user to log out, and thus close all user launched applications, before another can log in.

talmy · Dec 26, 2015

lance-72 said:
I had this problem when I tried to access the files from my second account. I solved the solution using "chmod -R 777 /Users/Shared/Lightroom" - the last part is the path to where I'm keeping the files.

What I'm not sure about is whether newly copied photos etc will keep these permissions or whether they will be specific to the users.

They will end up being specific to the users. The fix is to use ACLs (Access Control Lists) which will allow multiple owners of a file and which can let permissions be inherited from the parent folder. Unfortunately Finder doesn't offer full control of ACLs, you either need to use the command line or have Server.app installed.

Olaf_Pfeifer · Jan 4, 2017

Sorry for excavating, but this is still of interest to me:

1) Has anyone tried to keep the LR catalog on a drive / partition (~ of the internal SSD) where permissions are being ignored (this is a feature that can be switched to in the "Info"-window of a drive, except for your boot drive). I used iPhoto in this way and it worked well except when fast-user-switching ...

2) Does anybody know of a way to force LR to quit when fast-user-switching, like apple script etc? Obviously, you need to prevent the catalogue from being opened twice.

3) Some people seem to sync the LR catalog across multiple computers via dropbox while hosting the photos on a local external drive or share. Seems quite adventurous to me. Any experience?

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