Believe it or not, sometimes I actually enjoy reading the names of the Adobe Lightroom folks as I wait for Lightroom to start, because I know some of these folks and appreciate what they do.
After a couple times, though, I’m ready for something new, so I now display photos:
It is relatively easy to change Lightroom 5’s splash screen — it just involves dragging one or more JPEG photos into a particular folder. If you put more than one photo in the folder, Lightroom will display a different photo each time you open the program. (Note that you cannot change the flash screen in previous versions of Lightroom.)
Here’s how to change your Lightroom 5 splash screen:
- Export JPEG copies of each photo you would like to use. Put your photo(s) in a temporary folder for now, and size them to 900 pixels by 600 pixels. I put mine in a subfolder on my Desktop. Here are the settings I use in the Export dialog:
- In the menu bar in the top left of Lightroom, go to Edit (PC) or Lightroom (Mac) > Preferences.
- On the General tab, make sure “Show splash screen during startup” is checked.
- On the Presets tab, if Store Presets with Catalog is checked, uncheck it.
- In this Preferences dialog, click on the Show Lightroom Presets button. This will open up Windows Explorer or Mac Finder with a Lightroom folder highlighted, that stores presets and more.
- Open the Lightroom folder, and then open the Splash Screen folder within it.
UPDATE: If there is no Splash Screen folder, create one and open it.
- Drag your photo(s) from where you exported them into this Splash Screen folder, and then close Windows Explorer / Mac Finder.
- Back in Lightroom, if Store Presets with Catalog was previously checked, check it again. (If it wasn’t, don’t.)
- Close the Preferences dialog.
- Close and Reopen Lightroom, and enjoy your new flash screen(s)!
The splash screen I am displaying these days is a picture of my cat Sunny, who died recently after 19 years. Seeing her is a wonderful way to start my Lightroom day!
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Got as far as “Open the Lightroom folder, and then open the Splash Screen folder within it.” but there was no splash screen folder. I did a search in Explorer for the folder and couldn’t find it either. I had the box unchecked that displayed the splash screen so on the off chance that was related, I checked the box and restarted LR.but still no folder. Thoughts? Maybe the name of the file that is being displayed? I’m running LR 5.2RC
I have the same problem no Splash Screen folder? and I am running the Lightroom 5 final version not the release candidate, so it seems something is different perhaps it is only the CC version that has that option! or perhaps a MAC only feature
Thank you for telling us how to change our Lightroom splashscreen. I’ve got to give it a try! I’d much rather be greater with one of my favorite photos than Lightroom’s splashscreen.
I had the same problem as Paul did. I had previously unchecked the “Show splash screen during startup” in the Preferences / General tab, so I had to turn that back on by rechecking the box. This however did not create (or recreate?) a folder called “Splash Screen”.
I went ahead and created a folder in the “Lightroom Presets Folder” called “Splash Screen”. I then exported the image I wanted for the splash screen per Laura’s instructions. Lightroom created a temp folder in a folder of my choosing and called it “Untitled Export” since I didn’t bother typing in a name in the “Put in Subfolder” text field.
I then copied the exported image into the “Splash Screen” folder I created, started Lightroom, and the image displayed in place of the LR5 splash screen just as Laura instructed. However, the splash screen displayed for such a brief period of time before disappearing, that I really couldn’t enjoy the picture. Maybe there’s a setting to increase the amount of time the splash screen displays.
Thanks for the instructions Laura,
Dean
I had the same experience as Dean. The chosen image was displayed but only briefly.
As far as I know, it should stay up as long as the official splash screen stayed up — which won’t be long if Lightroom opens quickly on your system.
Using LR5.1 Same result .. no Splash File.
Hope for answers to the above soon in “Tip of the week.”
Thanks, Laura, for all the tips and tutorials.
Hi folks, I am sorry to hear it isn’t working. Try what Dean did — go to the Lightroom folder I indicated, and create a folder called “Splash Screen”, then put your photo in it. Also, on the Preferences General tab, make sure “Show splash screen during startup is checked.” Then close and reopen LR as instructed. Let me know how it goes.
ThanKs for your wonderful tip. I was intrigued why I didn’t see the splash screen in the other laptops and thanks to this tip I disvered that the box wasn’t checked. Have a good weekend, Laura.
Maria Sacadura
working on a mac, Mavericks 10.9.1, Lightroom 5.3. I put the PNG file I created. but the splas screen is still the original. What am I dining wrong.
png files work as well, although if they are transparent the splash screen may have less impact.
Mine is working but how do get it back to default status….
I assume you can just remove the photo from the folder, Carlo.
Worked perfectly!!! Also didn’t have a spash screen folder so simply made one, placed the photo in it, closed LR, reopened and basked in my grandeur. Thank you – this is pretty cool.
Hmmm, this is a puzzler.
I unchecked the “store presets with this catalog” option, clicked the “Show Lightroom Presets Folder…” and then created a new “Splash Screen” folder in the “Lightroom” folder. The folder wasn’t originally there, and so I created this.
Saved an image following Laura’s instructions, moved it to the “Splash Screen” folder. Re-checked the “store presets with this catalog” option. Stopped, and re-started Lightroom without any change to the splash screen. The old one is still displayed.
I noticed that when I unchecked the “store presets with this catalog” option, clicking the “Show Lightroom Presets Folder” took me to a different directory compared to when the option is checked. So, I created a new folder called “Splash Screen” in this other location – copied the image into it and tried again. No joy unfortunately.
So, I have two folders in different locations called Splash Screen, each with a 900×467 sized jpeg. Neither is being used for the splash screen at start up.
Any thoughts folks?
Cheers
Kev
Unfortunately I don’t know what the issue would be, Kev.
Also not working in LR5.7.1. I created Splash Screen folders in both Library folders (App Sup –>Adobe–>Lightroom), but only the Adobe splash screen shows up.
How do you create a new folder for Splash screen?
Cindy, in Windows Explorer (My Computer) or Mac Finder, go to File>New Folder, and name the folder Splash Screen.
Wow – thank you. That’s brilliant!!! Now, if I could only do this in PS CC too……