I’m planning to upgrade to PL 6. I know that DxO creates a separate version and doesn’t overwrite PL5. What’s the best way to get all my favorite settings into PL 6?
Thanks.
New versions import existing settings, be they workspace or editing settings as well as the previous version’s database.
I’ve seen occasions where some of the above has not worked. For such cases, it’s possible to copy (or import) the respective items.
- Database: Copy and rename to the new version
- Workspace: Copy
- Presets: Import in the Presets tool
Do you mean go out into the file structure and find the database, workspace and presets?
Yes, but only if it’s necessary. The respective locations have been listed by DxO somewhere in the forum.
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Hi, that’s some links I bookmarked
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@Soundchasr as a Win10 user the PL5 to PL6 upgrade went as it should, the same cannot be said for PL4 to PL5 but that is history and hopefully will no be repeated!
The database is upgraded, the presets are taken from their PL5 “hideout” and recreated in their “shiny” new PL6 “hideout” but please remember it is essentially a one way process from an old release (including DOPs from any number of previous releases).
If you want to continue to be able to use PL5 then once upgraded a DOP cannot be carried back to the earlier release, neither can any new presets created in PL6 and neither can the database etc…
Secure what you believe you should, i.e. dump the database, set up a trial directory to “play with” and load PL6 software and open the product but try to stay within a trial group until you are “happy” before starting to update previous edits because the DOP will move to PL6 format and cannot be taken back to a previous release!
PS:- Check the ‘Preferences’, ‘export options’ etc. to make sure they are as you expected they are not held in the database and are upgraded in a separate element of the upgrade process!
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DPL6 introduces a new working colour space that can disrupt how you’ve worked in the last few years. Read the posts about changed colours - and follow @BHAYT 's advice to keep DPL6 separate while you test it. I’d not delete anything yet as a safeguard for fallback, should you want or need it.
If you have a decent backup, you can always revert to an older version of DPL, at least if you’re working with a Mac.
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@platypus I suspect its the same with DxPL(Mac) as it is with DxPL(Win) but you cannot open (or guarantee to open) anything other than a PL5 (or earlier) database in PL5. Hence you should backup and secure or copy the PL5 database to somewhere safe so that it can be reused with PL5 if required. The default locations keep them apart and with DxPL(Win) the database can be located anywhere the locations for PL5 and PL6 databases should be kept apart.
If a DOP of any previous version is encountered by PL6 the data will be taken and placed in the PL6 database (if it didn’t come across in the migration). Providing no edits whatsoever of any type, including metadata are undertaken then the DOP should be left alone but the first change made will write the DOP as a PL6 DOP effectively overwriting a PL? DOP!
That DOP cannot travel back to a previous release! The edits are effectively “locked” in that DOP. Creating a preset and attempting to carry that back failed when I attempted that recently, just a test not for real I am glad to say! If you have multiple copies of your files, including DOPs then refrain from overwriting them until you are sure all is well with respect to your work on the new release.
This is not intended to “frighten” simply to inform!
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If the database has been moved to a non default location, the PL6 installer doesn’t take this into account. It installs a new DB in the default folder and ignores the existing one. Just tested a few moments ago when upgrading to PL6.
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I’ve restored the DPL6 database from databases of DPL5 and earlier. The Mac version seems to be quite tolerant, as I’ve restored from db-backups or directly from the db file.
This might not necessarily help our OP though. I propose to let @Soundchasr do his or her thing and come back posting about either success or help request, which should then be accompanied by a spoonful of info about the environment used.
@Pat91 That happened to me but I was unsure whether that was DxPL or me that caused that issue.
@platypus I have not explicitly tried to 'Restore from a PL6 database in PL5 nor try to “fool” the system by replacing a PL6 database with a PL5 database.
But that will only work, I believe, if DxO have not changed the database configuration between releases and I don’t know how much they tell about the in the release notes?
I just created a backup of my PL6 database and attempted to restore it in PL5 and it was immediately rejected
I have been cautious because I expected such a problem (such details are generally overseen). So I copied the existing PL 5 database to a new db folder beside the PL 5 one. Then I launched PL 6 after installation, saw that the previous location was ignored, changed it to the new db folder, exited PL 6 and restarted. No problem with the DB upon startup. Then I removed the new db in the default folder created in my Appdata.
Preferably, the installer should detect the non default location of the DB and upgrade it in-place instead of re-creating a new one in the default location. As many others, I don’t want databases to clutter my SSD system disk. After all, it’s my decision to put it on another drive. The installer should take this into account.
@Pat91 except there are issues that the databases all have the same name so the only way of keeping them safe (from the other/later software version) is to keep the directories separate. Once an upgrade is safely out of the way you can then copy(move) the “old” database wherever you like.
I prefer a system that leaves that kind of decision making to me!
One issue I didn’t check (actually I think I did but …) is whether the database I then started with in PL6 was actually an upgraded version of the PL5 database rather than a new one. Essentially you need to have ‘Projects’ declared in the old version and ensure that they are intact in the new version, which I think I did but the location had reverted to the default location!?
By the way, upgrading often means uninstalling the previous version. This time again, after uninstalling PL, VP and FP, I could observe that many leftovers were present on the disk and in the registry. This is not correct. My system is not a garbage can.
@Pat91 not something that worries me with DxPL, I currently have DxO 11, DxPL2, DxPL3, DxPL4, DxPL5 and DxPL6 installed!!
On the other hand I needed to clone my C: drive from a 240GB Sata SSD to a 480DB Sata SSD 2 days ago but the E: drive (Extension to C:) remains at 240GB but then I did buy some Magix software recently and if you have ever done that you will know how many additional “goodies” come with it and the kind of space they occupy!!
…you just wasted your time trying. Going from 6 to 5 does not work, period, basta, Ende. You might be able to write a converter if you’re masochistic enough 
Again: I have successfully restored databases of DPL “n” from a DB of DPL “n-i” with i being a natural number.
Database schemas mostly change between major releases, but I found that a change was also done in between minor updates of DPL5.
@platypus I misread your post and thought you had managed to go backwards but obviously not!
Yes I have moved from a prior release many times and that is fine, using any database file backup or “master” with no problem, and is exactly what DxPL does as part of the upgrade!!
Except the migration from PL4 to PL5 which seemed to lose the plot somewhat, for some users!