Dropbox is a great online service, giving you access to your stuff from anywhere in the world there’s a net connected computer. Use this link to setup a free account and download the Dropbox software. (Using that link increases my Dropbox space, just so you know!).
To backup your Presets, first create and then open your Dropbox folder. Create a new folder in this, call it something like ‘LR Presets’. Now in Lightroom, open Preferences (Edit> Preferences on PC, Lightroom>Preferences). Click the Presets tab. In the centre, on the right, there’s a button marked ‘Show Lightroom Presets Folder’. This opens the Presets folder. Now copy the contents to the ‘LR Presets’ folder you created earlier. Dropbox will then upload these to your account, so they’re saved online, and you can access them from any other computer when online via your Dropbox account.
Update: Victoria Bampton has suggested in the comments that you could setup a symbolic link between this folder and dropbox, for automatic backup. I’ve covered these links in the past in relation to moving the Previews folder. While this was a Mac post, there are Win related links in the comments of the post.
Update 2: Again from the comments: http://lifehacker.com/5154698/sync-files-and-folders-outside-your-my-dropbox-folder
someone shared their presets with me via Dropbox, how do i get the presets from Dropbox to Lightroom?
Open Lightroom Preference (edit menu on PC, Lightroom menu on Mac).
In the Preset tab, click Show Lightroom Presets Folder. This opens an Adobe folder with the Lightroom Folder visible.
Open the Lightroom folder and look for the Develop Presets Folder.
Place the files from Dropbox into this folder and restart Lightroom.
Did it with SyncToy. Great!
Another approach, for PC users anyway, would be to download the Microsoft Sync Toy utility and simply sync the LR folder that appears within your user account folder in C:users
In ECHO mode, you set Sync Toy up so that the left pane points to the LR folder and the right pane points to your backup target folder. ECHO mode treats the LR folder as the source and only syncs left to right. Other sync options are available, but this one seems most appropriate.
Via Windows task scheduler in System Accessories, you can set any update schedule you need.
To auto-magically update your presets between multiple computers you could use this technique to link your preset folder to dropbox.
http://lifehacker.com/5154698/sync-files-and-folders-outside-your-my-dropbox-folder
Sean, you were the one who introduced me to symlinks – so check out using them to sync your whole LR settings folder, rather than just a one-off backup.
Never considered that Victoria. It’s an excellent idea.
Great tip.
Just need to work out how to script an automatic backup to dropbox once a week or so.
Andy
I’m wondering if someone has a plugin for Dropbox.. (Yeah too busy now to look at it myself).