How to manage multiple Lightroom catalogs with SmugMug

lmirante · August 3, 2013

Hi, I'm new to SmugMug so I don't have any issues regarding upgrading from old to new versions. I do have a question about coordination between Lightroom 5 and the new SmugMug.

I currently have LR5 set up with multiple catalogs, organized by years. I've setup a new site on SmugMug and would like to include photos from more than 1 catalog. If I have synching turned on in LR, how is that going to work? On SmugMug I want photos from multiple LR catalogs to show up in a single folder or gallery. But will SmugMug delete photos from catalog X when I sync from catalog Y and the catalog X photos don't exist in catalog Y?

CanvasOfLight · August 3, 2013

I think you are misunderstanding how LR5 and Smugmug work together

You just upload the photos you want from any catalog you want to Smugmug from within LR, it doesn't sync by itself. You create galleries on Smugmug and select the photos you want to upload.

lmirante · August 3, 2013

(Please excuse the obsessive capitalization - anywhere I've capitalized it's to emphasize using terms specific to either Lightroom or SmugMug.)

I have actually used the SmugMug Publish Service from within Lightroom to create Galleries and Folders on SmugMug, which show up in Lightroom as Collections under the SmugMug Publish Service, populated the Collections from my Lightroom catalog and published the galleries and folders to SmugMug. This all worked perfectly. I didn't have to go to the SmugMug site to do this. It even created the hierarchy. For example, I have a private folder with multiple galleries within it and they worked fine.

My problem is with wanting to have a private Folder on SmugMug containing multiple Galleries but the photos for the galleries exist in different catalogs in Lightroom.

CanvasOfLight wrote: »

I think you are misunderstanding how LR5 and Smugmug work together
You just upload the photos you want from any catalog you want to Smugmug from within LR, it doesn't sync by itself. You create galleries on Smugmug and select the photos you want to upload.

CanvasOfLight · August 3, 2013

You just have to open the new catalog in Lightroom and reupload new images from that specific catalog to the SM galleries.

Every time you open a new catalog (for the first time), you'll have to re-sync Smugmug so that it pulls out the same hierarchy. And then you are good to go!

Hope that answers your question

lmirante · August 3, 2013

Ok, thanks. I tried hitting sync and it didn't work so I removed the SmugMug publish service and reinstalled it with sync hierarchy and it worked in that it got all Galleries contained within Folders. It didn't get root level Galleries though but I can certainly work around that.

Thanks for your help.

CanvasOfLight wrote: »

You just have to open the new catalog in Lightroom and reupload new images from that specific catalog to the SM galleries.

Every time you open a new catalog (for the first time), you'll have to re-sync Smugmug so that it pulls out the same hierarchy. And then you are good to go!

Hope that answers your question

mfkkoeln · June 11, 2015

still unclear to me
I am pulling up this old thread because I have the same issue and I am not sure I fully understood how this works.
First question: how would I sync or re-sync and what is sync-hierarchy. I have a German version of LR4 but nowhere is a button oder context menue which is called "Synchronise" (The German word is similar)
From a smugmug folder in LR4 I have available in the right-klick menue "jetzt veröffentlichen" - "publish now" and this is what I use when I upload a new folder or new pictures in a folder.

So far I have only one LR catalog but it is getting to big and I would like to split is .
Can someone explain to me step by step how it would work if I create a new catalog and then want to feed smugmug from both catalogs ?
kind regards
Manfred

devbobo · June 11, 2015

1. Right-click on the Publish Service and select "Edit Settings..."

2. Check "Sync Hierarchy", uncheck "Sync Photos" and click "Sync Now".

This process will recreate the hierarchy locally in LR that exists on SmugMug fro your entire account. To keep both catalog in sync, you should run a hierarchy sync on the other catalog. Note, that you can also run a hierarchy sync for a single branch of a your LR tree, by selecting "Edit Folder" at the folder level and then checking "Sync Hierarchy" and clicking the "Edit" button.

mfkkoeln · June 14, 2015

Thank you !
That helps.

How to manage multiple Lightroom catalogs with SmugMug

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