Set import and file-handling preferences

You set import preferences in the Import and File Handling panels of the Preferences dialog box. You can also change preference settings in the Auto Import Settings dialog box (see Importing photos automatically) and in the Catalog Settings dialog box (see Change catalog settings).

  1. From the Lightroom main menu, choose Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Lightroom > Preferences (Mac OS).
  2. In the Import preferences, do any of the following:

    • To allow the import dialog box to be opened automatically after connecting a camera or memory card reader to your computer, select the Show Import Dialog When A Memory Card Is Detected option. If this option is not selected, Lightroom does nothing when a camera or memory card is connected. (You can still choose File > Import Photos From Device.)

    • To not use the folder names that your camera creates, select Ignore Camera-Generated Folder Names When Naming Folders.

    • To import duplicate JPEG files and raw files separately, select the Treat JPEG Files Next To Raw Files As Separate Photos option. Deselect this option to import only a single file. Select this option if you want XMP metadata changes made in Lightroom to be applied to both the raw file and the JPEG file.

    • To specify how DNG files are imported, specify options in the Import DNG Creation section. For more information on DNG files, see Convert photos to DNG.

  3. In File Handling preferences, do any of the following:

    • To determine how periods and forward slashes are used to separate keywords, select options in the Reading Metadata area.

    • To specify which characters and spaces in the filenames of imported photos are illegal and to determine how they’re replaced, choose from the menus in the File Name Generation area.