PhotoLab 3 Mac installation best practices

PL2 already installed.
What to keep and what to delete when installing PL3?
Thanks.

Unless you’ve added your own custom presets, layouts, etc, simply delete the PL2 app bundle and the user/Library/PL2 folder.

Although the two versions can co-exist as long as you don’t edit a file in PL3 and try to reopen it in PL2

  1. Make a backup
  2. Settings: Set DPL2 to not automatically import and export sidecars.
  3. Library module: Select a folder that contains no images, quit DPL2.
  4. Install DPL3
  5. Set DPL3 as in step 1
  6. Quit DPL3
  7. Open DPL2 and point to a folder that contains a few images, customize images and export sidecars, quit DPL2
  8. Open DPL3, point to same folder as in step 6
  9. import sidecars and see if you get the expected results.

Notes: You can use both versions of DPL side by side as long as you take care of when you export sidecars. Sidecars exported by DPL3 cannot be read by DPL2. You cannot have sidecars of both versions for one image file in the same folder. DPL3 sidecars are not backwards compatible. If you export sidecars by accident, you can always get old settings back by exporting sidecars in DPL2.

Going through the steps mentioned above should help you keep out of a few undesired effects. Anyway, use a duplicate folder of images to play with until you feel confident with DPL3

4 Likes

Thanks for the replies.
If PL3 is a completely separate installation I might be able to grab the PL2 presets files and dopworkspace file and drop them into the corresponding PL3 folders.

You can without a problem

I want to clearly understand the sidecar behavior.
Will PL3 read existing sidecars only if import sidecars is checked?
Does PL3 overwrite existing sidecars when export sidecars is checked?
Will there ever be duplicate sidecars, side by side in a folder, as a result of installing PL3 and PL2 on the same computer?

DPL imports sidecars if you tell it to by either adjusting the settings or through the menu.

DPL exports sidecars if you tell it to by either adjusting the settings or through the menu.

There will be no duplicate sidecars unless you rename them manually which will make DPL IGNORE the renamed sidecars.

If PL2 was installed when you install PL3 then you should find that all your personal Presets & Workspaces have been cloned (and converted, as required) into the new PL3 structure … at least, that’s how it works in the Win environment.

Regards, John M

PS. For anyone migrating from PL2 to PL3 (with existing PL2 sidecars) then steps outlined here, by @platypus, are well recommended … You will not encounter problems with spurious duplicated Virtual copies if you follow these steps.