The Import dialog is very simple – select a source folder or device, then select all or a subset of the photos and videos in that source to import. Optionally, choose an album (collection) to assign the photos to as they are imported.

There are  functions to migrate your Lightroom Classic catalog and Apple Photos catalog into Lightroom CC.

Review photos in Loupe view prior to Import (grid view only)

Sort files in the Import dialog by file type or any other criterion except capture date

Apply a develop or metadata preset or keywords

Convert to DNG

Rename files

Make a Second Copy to (but files will be backed up to the cloud)

Assign a destination folder (The user does not manage files in LR CC. In Preferences you can choose whether to store a copy of all imported files on your computer rather than just in the cloud and specify the location for that.)

Import from Elements, iPhoto (though you can export from these programs and then import manually, or use Lightroom Classic to import from these and then migrate your Classic catalog to Lightroom CC.)

Tethered capture

Auto Import (from watched folder)

In Lightroom CC you can assign stars and pick and reject flags. You can work in grid view or in single-photo view (Edit, Information, or Keyword views).

Assign color labels

Survey view, Compare view

Auto advance to the next photo after rating or flagging

There are two grid (thumbnail) views that toggle with the shortcut G – Square and Photo. Square shows no photo information. Photo shows stars, flags and sync status.

You can’t change what information displays in the grid.

You can sort photos in the grid by capture date, filename, import date, modified date, star rating.

You can’t sort manually or by edit count, flag, aspect ratio, file type, or file extension.

You can add photos to  albums (known as collections in Lightroom Classic) and nest albums in folders (known as collection sets in Classic).

There is no album filter for finding albums in a long list of them.

There are no smart (rule-based) collections and no quick collection.

You can set an album to be the target album.

You can stack photos manually to link them together and so they take up less space in the grid when the stack is collapsed. (Stacking in either program is not visible in mobile or web.)

There is no auto-stack by capture time.

In the Information (I) panel you can type in the following metadata: Title, Caption, Copyright, and Location. You can view limited metadata: the before-mentioned fields, filename, camera, lens, file size, exposure, ISO, focal length.

There are no metadata presets and you can’t sync metadata from one photo to one or more others.

Reverse geocoding (population of city, state and country fields) is automatically done on files with GPS coordinates.

There’s no way to manually assign GPS coordinates (no Map module) or to define saved locations.

You can add keywords to photos, but they are flat.

Hierarchical keywords are not supported.

There is no available keyword list to manage, no keyword sets, and no synonyms. You can’t specify what keywords will export – all will.

There is no painter tool for “spraying” information onto photos.

In Lightroom CC you can right-click and Duplicate. While technically these are real-file copies, not virtual copies as Classic has, the functionality is essentially the same. Duplicates do take up cloud storage space.

You can change/correct capture date and time.

Lightroom CC does detect faces and you can name them

You can’t manually identify a face in a photo (i.e. draw a face region) if Lightroom CC doesn’t detect it.

File renaming

Conversion to or validation of DNG

You can filter on keywords, stars, flags, photo vs. video, camera, location, sync status and people. You can select two or more in a list – for example, two keywords – and an OR condition will be applied. 

AND conditions within one filter criterion (e.g. keyword A AND keyword B)

There are no filters for other metadata fields.

Searches are otherwise done with a single Search field. This feature requires internet access and requires that syncing of the photos to the cloud first be completed. (You won’t be able to use Search right after import.) Search is driven by Adobe’s “Sensei” technology, which can analyze image content.  You can do a search for “dogs”, for example, and it will find photos with dogs regardless of whether the photos have a “dogs” keyword.  Results can be impressive, but there will be false positives (photos will be returned that don’t have dogs in them) and false negatives (there will be photos in your library that have dogs but aren’t returned). Search facets (e.g. camera:) will give you a dropdown of available fields (like filtering, but requires an internet connection). This document has a list of all facets that are available.

AND and OR conditions cannot be explicitly specified with Search. (“dogs,cats”, “dogs and cats”, “dogs or cats” returns roughly the same results.)

Use of the Search field for finding images based on metadata for which there aren’t facets is hit and miss.

There is no way to do a text search of a particular field, such as title (unless it is on the predefined list of facets, such as camera:). You can search for files based on full filenames, but not partial ones. You cannot save searches.

Photomerge HDR, Panorama

Impromptu slideshow

View and respond to comments, likes in shared collections

Zoom beyond 2:1

Quick Develop (processing one or more images in Grid view)

Histogram in grid view

Customized identity plate

Collection-specific syncing (all photos are synced)

Dual monitor support

Most of Lightroom’s tools for editing individual photos are now present. Some have been rearranged into different panels. (For example, some sliders from Classic’s Basic panel are in Light, and some are in Color and Effects.)

Red Eye / Pet Eye tool

Range Mask (Luminance, Color, Depth)

Camera Calibration: color sliders (that almost no one uses!), process version (in LR CC, process version is automatically updated)

Change default Develop settings

You can create presets in Lightroom CC, and choose to include all or any subset of edits. Your presets automatically sync to Lightroom Mobile and Web.

You can use presets created in Lightroom Classic if you import them. (Update: starting with CC 1.4, the first time you open Lightroom CC after updating, your Classic presets will sync over just once – after that you’ll need to import new or updated ones manually.)

Copy and Paste all or a subset of global settings from one photo to one or more other photos. (This is now the equivalent of Sync in Lightroom Classic, except that there’s still no direct way to apply a preset to more than one photo.)

Work on many at once (Auto Sync)

Previous

Soft proofing

Reference view

Zoom beyond 2:1

Step-by-step edit history

Changing the definition of “Before” to a specific history step

Snapshots

Before/After side by side (Can toggle with “\” key)

Drag on histogram to edit tones

Display of RGB values

Detail preview window

You can right-click on an image and choose to Edit in Photoshop – this will create a TIFF file and send it to Photoshop.

Export directly to other editors like Elements, Paint, etc.

Control color space, file type, filename, bit depth

Import, watch, rate and flag, add other metadata and put them into albums

Trim

Capture poster frames (i.e. capture JPEG files of individual frames in the video)

Edit / Develop

Export full-size and resized JPEGs (specified by “Long Edge” size only), with custom Quality compression level, color space choice (but not with a printer profile)

Export full-size and resized TIFFs (specified by “Long Edge” size only), with bit depth, compression and color space options

Export in original file format (plus settings – contained in file, or in XMP file if proprietary raw file)

Export DNGs (except if this was the original file format), no compression or resizing of DNGs

Export with multiple export presets simultaneously (available in Classic 9.1+)

Watermark photos

Add exported files to catalog automatically

Specify what metadata to include

Output sharpening

Have Lightroom CC burn CDs/DVDs

Email directly from Lightroom CC

Publish services (manage exports so you know when you have edited something you already exported; upload to SmugMug, Flickr, other services). (You can upload to Adobe Portfolio.)

Share to Facebook (until August 1, 2018, at which time it won’t be possible from either Lightroom CC or Lightroom Classic due to changes at Facebook.)

Share URLs where recipients can view an album, play it as a slideshow, comment and like photos.

Print

Design and run slideshows within Lightroom CC (with or without music), export as video files or PDFs. (Classic’s Slideshow module)

Design and order photo books, design and export PDFs (Classic’s Book module)

Design and upload or export custom web galleries (Classic’s Web module)

There is no support for third-party plugins or peripherals.