When I go directly from Photolab to Nik [the call up for which is on the lower right as NikCollection and directly adjoining Export to Lightroom] and I use a Nik program then save the resulting file, it goes … I don’t know where it goes. I cannot find it in the Photolab nor Lightroom catalog. It’s as though it went poof!
Reveal the magic trick: where did it go?
Saving in NIK should create another file of the same name in the same folder with “.nik” appended to the title.
Huh. I found it where you said it would be; on a previous occasion I hadn’t, I only found the DOP file. However: it is not in the PhotoLab PhotoLibrary, and an ADD import in Lightroom doesn’t bring it out. Neither is it in the collection for DxOPhotoLab in LR.
One or more of the Nik apps (e.g., HDR Efex) have saved images to another location by default - I think the user’s Documents folder. I’m not sure if that’s still the case with Nik Collection 3.
Josh,
I just tested a file in all the NIK programs, saving after applying changes. The default save location is the original folder for each NIK program. I also note, except for HDR, none of the file names identify which Nik program was used although a sequence number was appended to each file name. The program name does appear in the EXIF data.
curiouser and curiouser .I’m seeing files where I hadn’t seen them before, and not seeing them where I see them now … except when I don’t.
I think this is about my ignorance of how the PhotoLab Photolibrary works. Consider:
If I start with a tif file, process it in PL, then invoke NIK in PL, when I come back to PL, the end result of the work done in Nik is visible in the PhotoLibrary.
However: If I start with a RAW file, process it in Nik from within PL, when I come back out the image is unchanged in the library but for a small check in the lower right corner. However, if I go to Lightroom and perform an ADD import for that folder, the tif file that resulted from the work in Nik in Photolab appears.
So: why can’t I see that same tif file in Photolab? Is there some way to import it that I’m unaware of?
It works for me in Windows (2004). Image is next to raw file. Do you have show RGB images ticked?
I absolutely have them all checked. I also unchecked the RAW images thinking the tif images would be isolated. They were – except the ones saved in Nik. Is there some manual import that I’m missing here?
Hello Josh,
The NIK output is created in the same original folder beside the original image (PL never overwrites the original RAW):
This is the expected behavior. So, please, double check and if it’s not the case for you, you can create a ticket for support.dxo.com
Regards,
Svetlana G.
Ohhhh. Perhaps the issue is that I have Lightroom 5.7.1. I have no such plug in selector; instead I have a plug in manager whose only option is plug in options, and the only available option is DxO PhotoLab, whose only option is transfer to DxO Photolab. 
Therefor, the transfer takes place as a RAW file only [in my case as CR2 files] so that when you look at the Photolab Library the transfer is there because it was always there.
Is it however included in something called “external selections” a panel on the lower left portion of the library. When you call up Nik, make adjustments and save, none are visible in the Photolab library, however, as seen in your screenshot, there is a small check mark on the bottom right of the thumbnail.
In preparing my reply I stumbled upon a library drop down I never worked with much before, image, and one of the choices is to see the output image with the check mark in explorer. 
. and once you select it there is the output image where everyone has said it would be: adjoining the unprocessed original. 
Nevertheless, it will not be seen in the library.
This makes the last step in the process to return to Lightroom and perform an add import to situate the new image in the proper folder and location.
And that, dear readers, is the story, much as I have been experiencing it all along,
Good morning @jdkoerner,
Okay, I see you workflow differs from mine (I worked with file system directly from PL without attracting Lightroom).
In your case External selection is created and the new images can’t be added there. But anyway the NIK output is still added to the original folder beside the original image. You can see it if you call “Load original image folder” from the context menu:
Regards,
Svetlana G.
It happened to me. I had the sort function on so I would see only picked images, with the green dot. So when the tif Nik file was created it would not show because it was not picked. I changed the sort fields and the files showed up in the folder where I had expected it.
