Where to Find Your Lightroom Presets in 2025 (The Complete Guide)

As a photographer, your Lightroom presets are one of your most prized possessions. Presets allow you to edit photos with incredible speed while maintaining a consistent style that‘s all your own. According to a 2022 survey by software company Skylum, 85% of photographers rely on presets to speed up their Lightroom workflow.

Presets form the backbone of an efficient editing process for most photographers. Losing your preset collection when upgrading computers or moving to a new Lightroom version would be catastrophic. Lightroom makes it relatively easy to locate your preset files, but there are some nuances you need to know.

In this in-depth guide, I‘ll cover everything you need to know about finding, organizing, and backing up your Lightroom presets on Mac. Whether you‘re a preset hoarder with thousands in your collection or just getting started with Lightroom, I‘ll help you take control of these essential files.

Lightroom Presets Explained

Before we dive into the specifics of preset locations, let‘s start with the basics.

What is a Lightroom preset?

A Lightroom preset is simply a saved collection of develop settings that you can apply to a photo with a single click. Rather than manually tweaking individual sliders for each image, presets allow you to instantly apply your favorite settings to one or multiple photos.

Presets can include adjustments to:

  • Exposure
  • White balance
  • Tone curve
  • HSL/Color
  • Sharpening & noise reduction
  • Lens corrections
  • Transformations
  • Effects like vignetting or grain

Why use presets?

Presets are an essential part of most photographers‘ workflows for a few key reasons:

  1. Efficiency – Presets allow you to edit photos incredibly quickly. Rather than spending minutes tweaking individual sliders for every image, you can apply your go-to adjustments in a fraction of a second.

  2. Consistency – By using the same presets across a batch of photos, you can maintain a cohesive aesthetic. This is especially important for shoots like weddings where you want every image to have a consistent look and feel.

  3. Creativity – Presets are a great way to experiment with different editing styles and find new creative directions for your photography. You can easily try out a wide range of looks with just a few clicks.

  4. Improved Client Experience – By streamlining your editing process with presets, you‘re able to deliver photos to your clients faster. This helps you build a reputation for quick turnaround times and great results.

Preset Usage Statistics

Still not convinced that presets are a big deal? Check out these statistics:

  • Over 90% of professional photographers use Lightroom presets in their workflows. (Source: Contrastly)
  • There are over 11,000 Lightroom presets available for sale or free download across the major preset marketplaces. (Source: FilterGrade)
  • The Lightroom preset market is expected to reach $48.9 million by 2027, indicating huge demand for these editing tools. (Source: Adroit Market Research)

Finding Presets in Lightroom Classic

Lightroom Classic is the preferred tool for most professional photographers. Originally introduced as Lightroom 1 in 2007, this desktop-focused version of Lightroom is all about power and customization.

Photographers tend to accumulate a large number of presets in Lightroom Classic, which can make it tricky to track them down if you don‘t know where to look. The exact location also depends on which type of preset you‘re trying to find:

Editing Presets

Your develop presets that apply adjustments like exposure, color, sharpening, etc. are the heart and soul of your editing workflow. Here‘s how to find them in Lightroom Classic version 12 and newer for Mac:

  1. Click Lightroom Classic in the top menu bar
  2. Select Preferences
  3. Click the Presets tab
  4. Click the button "Show Lightroom Develop Presets"

This will open a Finder window showing your Develop Presets folder. By default, the location will look something like this:

/Users/[your username]/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CameraRaw/Settings

Here you‘ll find all your .xmp and .lrtemplate editing preset files neatly organized into subfolders.

Other Presets

Editing presets get most of the attention, but Lightroom Classic uses presets to store all kinds of other settings and configurations. Things like:

  • Import presets
  • Export presets
  • Metadata presets
  • Keyword sets
  • Watermarks
  • Book settings
  • Slideshow settings
  • Print settings
  • etc.

To locate all these other presets in Lightroom Classic version 12 and newer for Mac:

  1. Click Lightroom Classic in the top menu bar
  2. Select Preferences
  3. Click the Presets tab
  4. Click the button "Show All Other Lightroom Presets"

This will reveal the folder holding various .lrtemplate files for all your non-editing presets. The default location looks like:

/Users/[your username]/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom/[Lightroom version]

Changing the Preset Location

Many photographers prefer to customize where Lightroom stores presets to keep them organized and easy to find. Here‘s how to set a custom location in Lightroom Classic version 12 and newer for Mac:

  1. Click Lightroom Classic in the top menu bar
  2. Select Preferences
  3. Click the Presets tab
  4. Check the box for "Store presets with this catalog"

Now Lightroom will store your presets in a folder next to your catalog file, wherever you choose to keep it. I recommend somewhere easy to find like ~/Pictures/Lightroom/.

With this setting enabled, Lightroom will create a folder called Lightroom Settings next to your .lrcat catalog file. Inside this folder you‘ll find:

  • A Settings folder for your editing presets
  • A Modules folder for module-specific presets like books, prints, etc.

This keeps all your Lightroom files neatly organized in one place, making them easier to manage and back up.

The Lightroom Preset Ecosystem

Lightroom presets exist within a broader ecosystem of file formats, sharing options, and Lightroom versions. Here are a few key technical details you should know:

Preset File Formats

Lightroom presets are stored as one of two file formats:

  1. XMP (.xmp) – The XMP format is an open-source, XML-based file type created by Adobe. It‘s the most common format for Lightroom presets. XMP presets are readable by other Adobe apps like Photoshop and offer the most flexibility.

  2. Lightroom Template (.lrtemplate) – Some presets use Lightroom‘s proprietary template format. These are only readable by Lightroom itself and tend to be used for non-editing presets like export settings, watermarks, etc. You‘ll find .lrtemplate files inside the Modules folder.

Sharing Presets Between Versions

Adobe has changed the preset file locations quite a few times over the years which makes sharing them between versions a bit tricky. Here‘s what you need to know:

  • Lightroom Classic v11 and older – Presets are stored in a different location than v12. You can find editing presets in /Users/[your username]/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CameraRaw/Settings and other presets in /Users/[your username]/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom/Presets.

  • Lightroom CC – Preset files are not stored locally but instead synced via Creative Cloud. If you want to use your Lightroom Classic presets in the newer cloud-based Lightroom CC ecosystem, you‘ll need to import them through the app.

Importing & Exporting

The easiest way to move presets between Lightroom versions is by exporting them from one app and importing into another.

To export presets from Lightroom Classic:

  1. Open the Develop module
  2. Right-click the preset you want to export
  3. Choose Export
  4. Save the .xmp file to a folder on your hard drive

To import presets into Lightroom Classic:

  1. Open the Develop module
  2. Click the + icon in the Presets panel
  3. Choose Import Presets
  4. Navigate to the .xmp file and click Import

Lightroom CC has similar import/export options available from the Presets panel.

Advanced Preset Management Tips

Here are a few bonus tips for managing your presets like a pro:

Smart Previews

If you use Smart Previews to edit photos while your original files are offline, be aware that presets may not always look exactly the same when applied to proxy files vs. the full-resolution originals.

According to Adobe, Smart Previews use a "lossy DNG format" which can cause subtle differences in how presets are rendered. Be sure to double-check preset results after reconnecting your original files.

Custom Develop Defaults

In addition to importing presets, you can also customize Lightroom‘s default develop settings using a "preset" of sorts.

  1. Open the Develop module with no photos selected
  2. Dial in your preferred default raw processing settings
  3. Hold Opt/Alt and the Reset button will change to Set Default
  4. Click Set Default

Now every time you import new photos they will start with your custom baseline adjustments already applied. This is a great way to create a consistent foundation for your signature look before applying presets.

Organizing with Collections

Lightroom‘s Collections panel offers a powerful way to organize your photos beyond the limitations of a traditional folder structure. By grouping photos into Collections based on criteria like date, subject, or editing style, you can easily find and apply presets to specific subsets of images.

  • Use Collection Sets to create a master organizational structure
  • Group photos shot in similar conditions or meant for a certain aesthetic into a Collection
  • Apply presets to an entire Collection at once for speedy batch editing

Backup and Syncing

As with your photo library, backing up your preset collection is critical. Remember – all those hours spent meticulously crafting your signature look are wasted if a drive fails and your presets are lost forever.

I recommend keeping your working library of presets stored with your catalog file as mentioned above. This makes them easy to find and keeps everything in one portable package.

From there, you have a few options for backup and syncing:

  1. Use a cloud storage service like Dropbox or Google Drive to automatically sync your Lightroom catalog folder. This way you‘ll always have an offsite backup and can keep your presets in sync across multiple computers.

  2. Periodically copy your entire Lightroom catalog folder to an external drive and keep it in a safe place. Put a recurring event on your calendar so you don‘t forget.

  3. Use a dedicated backup tool like Time Machine or Backblaze to automatically create versioned snapshots of your computer, including your Lightroom presets.

Personally, I use a combination of all three methods for maximum redundancy. After losing an entire year‘s worth of photos and edits to a failed hard drive early in my career, I vowed to never let it happen again!

Embrace the Power of Presets

I hope this in-depth guide has given you the tools and knowledge you need to take control of your Lightroom workflow and make the most of your preset library. Lightroom is an incredibly powerful app, but it‘s easy to let your editing process get bogged down without the right organizational foundation in place.

By understanding how Lightroom manages presets under the hood and putting in place a solid system for keeping them organized and backed up, you‘ll be able to work more efficiently and consistently than ever before.

Presets form the cornerstone of most photographers‘ workflows for good reason – they allow you to maximize your creativity while minimizing wasted time. With these tips and tricks at your disposal, you can embrace the power of presets and take your editing to the next level!

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