The missing Lightroom (Classic & CC) Touch Bar = Lightroom LightBar

mtbmatysek · August 14, 2021, 7:14am

IMPORTANT UPDATE 18.12.2022 - I created new touchbar preset for Lightroom CC (cloud based Lightroom). For more information & download please see separate post below.

There are tons of great touch bar presets here and on the web however I could not find any useful Lightroom Classic touch bar preset. So I decided to create one and here it is! I call it LightBar, the missing Lightroom Classic Touch Bar.

I’ve spent more than 24 hours of designing and tweaking it to fit my needs as a professional photographer. I use Lightroom and Photoshop on daily basis and am familiar with most of keyboard shortcuts. Therefore when designing my touch bar I decided to focus on less common/hidden features and features I seldom use keyboard shortcuts for because they are a) too hard to remember or b) have no keyboard shortcuts (that’s where the Menubar-Item trigger came in handy). For that reason you will not find routine stuff like “Show Highlights Clipping“ (J), “Show Before/After“ (), “Toggle Fullscreen“ (F) and even setting attributes (Labels, Stars, Flags) are hidden bit deeper in the depths of my touch bar because it’s waaaay easier to press J, , 1, 2, 3, …. 9, 0 etc. than tiny buttons on the touch bar. Photographers and frequent Lightroom users will understand and those to those who do not I strongly recommend to get familiar with at least the most common shortcuts

Here is what Lightroom LightBar looks like:

I created different touch bars for all Lightroom modules except “Web“ which I never used. Each touch bar has a few sub-menus and most of the buttons work on single press/long press basis (see the list of all shortcuts below).

If you do not want to use simple keyboard shortcuts for switching modules (D for Develop, L for Library), you can hold Control button and Module switching bar will show up. Here you can easily jump between different Lightroom modules as well as change display brightness and turn on/off True Tone (which you should do before any photo editing session).

First, let me show you some screenshots. Followed by super long list of all buttons and shortcuts you can use with Lightroom LightBar:

Library Module buttons/shortcuts:
MENU = Sub Menu, (LP) = Long Press

ATTRIBUTES MENU
Rejected - No Flag - Flagged
No Star -1 Star - 2 Stars - 3 Stars - 4 Stars - 5 Stars
No Label - Red Label - Yellow Label - Green Label - Blue Label - Purple Label
Toggle Auto Advance

EDIT METADATA MENU
Copy Metadata
Paste Metadata
Edit Capture Time
Read Metadata From File
Save Metadata To File
Show in Finder

PANELS MENU
Module Picker
Filmstrip
Left Module Panels
Right Module Panels
Toolbar
Filter

EXPORT MENU
Export
Export JPG (my custom preset)
Export JPG small (my custom preset)
Export Smart Preview to Photoshop
Edit in Photoshop
…as Smart Object
…as Layers
Merge Panorama in Photoshop | Merge HDR in Photoshop (LP)
Edit in Luminar AI

Develop Module buttons/shortcuts:
MENU = Sub Menu, (LP) = Long Pres

MAIN DEVELOP TOUCH BAR
Loupe View | Soft Proofing (LP)
Reference View
Before/After | Before/After MENU (LP)
Automatic Adjustments | Match Total Exposures (LP)
Automatic White Balance | White Balance Selector (LP)
Tone Curve Target Adjustment | Target Adjustments MENU (LP)
Crop | Crop Overlay (LP)
Spot Removal | Red Eye (LP)
Graduated Filter
Radial Filter
Adjustment Brush
Copy Settings
Paste Settings
Paste Settings from Previous | Reset All Settings (LP)
New Snapshot | History MENU (LP)
Show/Hide Overlay | Fullscreen (LP)
Attributes MENU | Filtering On/Off (LP)
Show/Hide Filmstrip | Panels MENU (LP)
Export | Export MENU (LP)

BEFORE/AFTER MENU
Before/After
Left/Right
Top/Bottom
Split Screen/Side by Side

TARGET ADJUSTMENTS MENU
None
Tone Curve
Hue
Saturation
Luminance
Black & White Mix
Guided Upright
Fringe Color Selector

HISTORY MENU
Clear History
Copy After’s Settings to Before
Copy Before’s Settings to After
Swap Before and After Settings

ATTRIBUTES MENU
Rejected - No Flag - Flagged
No Star -1 Star - 2 Stars - 3 Stars - 4 Stars - 5 Stars
No Label - Red Label - Yellow Label - Green Label - Blue Label - Purple Label

PANELS MENU
Module Picker
Filmstrip
Left Module Panels
Right Module Panels
Toolbar

EXPORT MENU
Export
Export JPG (my custom preset)
Export JPG small (my custom preset)
Export Smart Preview to Photoshop
Edit in Photoshop
…as Smart Object
…as Layers
Merge Panorama in Photoshop | Merge HDR in Photoshop (LP)
Edit in Luminar AI

Map Module buttons/shortcuts:
MENU = Sub Menu, (LP) = Long Pres

MAIN MAP TOUCH BAR
Lock Markers on Map
Map Style MENU
Location Filter MENU
Load Tracklog
Auto Tag Photos
Set Time Zone Offset
Turn Off Tracklog
Delete GPS Coordinates
Show/Hide Filmstrip | Panels MENU (LP)

MAP STYLE MENU
Road Map
Hybrid Map
Satellite Map
Terrain Map
Light Map
Dark Map
Show/Hide Map Info
Show/Hide Map Legend

LOCATION FILTER MENU
Visible On Map
Tagged
Untagged
None

PANELS MENU
Module Picker
Filmstrip
Left Module Panels
Right Module Panels
Toolbar
Filter

Book Module buttons/shortcuts:
MENU = Sub Menu, (LP) = Long Pres

MAIN BOOK TOUCH BAR
Save Book
Go to Beginning
Go to Previous Page
View Modes MENU
Go to Next Page
Go to End
Page Panel
Guides Panel
Cell Panel
Text Panel
Type Panel
Background Panel
Book Settings Panel
Auto Layout Panel
Show/Hide Info Overlay
Show/Hide Guides | Guides MENU (LP)
Show/Hide Filmstrip | Panels MENU (LP)

VIEW MODES MENU
Zoom -
Zoom +
Multi Page
Spread
Single Page
Zoomed

GUIDES MENU
Page Bleed
Text Safe Area
Photo Cells
Filler Text
Guides Panel

PANELS MENU
Module Picker
Filmstrip
Left Module Panels
Right Module Panels
Toolbar
Filter

Slideshow Module buttons/shortcuts:
MENU = Sub Menu, (LP) = Long Pres

MAIN SLIDESHOW TOUCH BAR
Save Slideshow
Play Slideshow MENU
Options Panel
Layout Panel
Overlays Panel
Backdrop Panel
Titles Panel
Playback Panel
Show/Hide Filmstrip | Panels MENU (LP)
Export PDF Slideshow
Export Video Slideshow | Export JPEG Slideshow (LP)

PLAY SLIDESHOW MENU
Run Slideshow
End Slideshow
Previous Slide
Pause
Next Slide
Playback Panel

PANELS MENU
Module Picker
Filmstrip
Left Module Panels
Right Module Panels
Toolbar
Filter

Print Module buttons/shortcuts:
MENU = Sub Menu, (LP) = Long Pres

MAIN PRINT TOUCH BAR
Page Setup
Print Setup
Save Print
Layout Style Panel
Image Settings Panel
Layout Panel
Guides Panel
Page Panel
Print Job Panel
Show/Hide Info Overlay
Show/Hide Guides | Guides MENU (LP)
Show/Hide Filmstrip | Panels MENU (LP)
Print

GUIDES MENU
Rulers
Page Bleed
Margins and Gutters
Image Cells
Dimensions
Guides Panel

PANELS MENU
Module Picker
Filmstrip
Left Module Panels
Right Module Panels
Toolbar
Filter

Few notes:

LightBar only works with Lightroom Classic CC (tested with the most current version 10.3).
My Lightroom language is set to English therefore LightBar works fine with all English language version of Lightroom. For those who use Lightroom in different language you may find some shortcuts to be broken. Some shortcuts (those where no keyboard shortcuts exist in Lightroom) use “Menubar-Item“ trigger with exact menu item name string (in English). What you will need to do is to change the menu item string to your language in BTT.

Installation:

Download (link below)
Import (open the downloaded file) to BTT
Make sure that there are 6 conditional activation groups for Lightroom in your sidebar and they look like the one on the screenshots below. If not edit it accordingly.

Enjoy

Known issues:

Usually (like 90% of time) when Lightroom is started, the LightBar does not appear. Even though everything is set correctly in BTT there are some issues that prevent the touch bar to be loaded upon startup (@Andreas_Hegenberg can you help?) but by simply jumping to desktop (or any other app) and jumping back to Lightroom loads the touch bar. After that everything works fine.

Download:

You can download the preset from this link: https://hjk.tw/LRtBar

Any support is welcomed if you enjoy my creation.
You can thank me here on PayPal https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/mtbmatysek or buy me a coffee here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/martinhajek

BTW I am travel photographer and writer based in beautiful Taiwan. If you want to see how beautiful my home is click here: https://hajek.tw
Me and my wife also run a travel agency here and every week we post fresh photos and videos from our beautiful island on our Facebook Page (in Czech language only because our clients are mostly Czechs but as far as I know Facebook automatically translates posts to English). Our Facebook page is here: https://www.facebook.com/tofutaiwan

Joo_Yoon_Chung · October 24, 2021, 7:39pm

This looks like an amazing set of Touch Bar presets for Lightroom! Thank you for putting so much effort into it. Am checking it out now to see how well it works for me. Thank you!!

mtbmatysek · October 24, 2021, 9:01pm

@Joo_Yoon_Chung You are welcome. Hope you will like it.

NormG1 · March 22, 2022, 7:33pm

I know I should learn to use Lightroom, but just cannot bring myself to rent my software on a monthly basis for life.

I am still using Luminar 4 and getting good results. My photos are on Instagram @fogcitynative. Neo has promise, but a long way from being ready.Ad their developers are all in Ukraine, luckily still safe but scattered around the country and outside the cities.

I would love to see you develop a BTT toolbar for Luminar, especially for setting brush sizes in layer masks, which is now a click in a menu and then a slider.

Any chance you could work on some Luminar BTT tools? I know that Tim Cook and Craig Federighi at Apple are too stupid to see how good the TouchBar can be, since the Apple software for Touchbar does nothing and is essentially useless.

I would like to buy an M-1 to upgrade my 2018 Intel MacBook Pro, but without a TouchBar, I am sticking with me 2018. I might look for a used 2020 MBP with TouchBar and upgrade that way.

The Notch thing has promise, but it is a long ways from actual implementation. I am still hoping Apple changes their mind, but they have such a bad case of Not Invented Here syndrome.

mtbmatysek · March 23, 2022, 8:47am

Besides Lightroom I own Luminar AI (but barely use). However I have not find a way how to take advantage of Touchbar with Luminar yet. Luminar does not support keyboard shortcuts for most of it's tools and also there is no way to show different Touchbar screens when switching between modules (Catalog/Templates/Edit/Export) so after playing with Luminar AI and BTT for a while I ended up with simple Touchbar 5 button setup for switching modules and single image import.

mtbmatysek · December 18, 2022, 12:41pm

NEW LIGHTROOM CC TOUCH BAR PRESET

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD IT HERE: https://hjk.tw/LRccTBar

This one is much more simple than my Lightroom Classic touch bar however I still like it and you may find it useful. For detailed information about what each button does please see description upon importing to BTT. Most buttons have two functions - short press and long press (runs additional trigger or opens a menu).

Like it? Suggestions? Let me know in the comments below

Renner · January 10, 2023, 2:42pm

Hi, maybe its my own stupidity but how can I switch between the different bars that you created for the modules? I.e. in the sceenshots abaove I see that you have created different bars for the development module, however I always only get displayed the first one, how can I switch to one of the others?

Thank you!

And great initiative btw, I was so depressed when I got my new Macbook with TouchBar that there was no function for lightroom at all, I am really happy that you created it. Thank you!

mtbmatysek · January 11, 2023, 11:03pm

Hi @Renner , the different bars should change as you change the modules (i.e. Library, Develop, ...). If not please check the "Conditions for Group" (button you will find when you click the Lightroom Classic 1 - Library, Develop, ... in the left bar (with all your apps apps using BTT). The conditions for group should look like this:

Each Lr module window has different text string header (like Lightroom Classic - Print) and by setting correct conditions I can differentiate between each module and show corresponding bar on touchbar of your Macbook.

However occasionally bars do not change and than what helps is to simply leave Lr (four fingers swipe left/right to different desktop) and come back.

Hope this helped and hope you will like my Lightroom LightBar

EDIT:

I just realised that maybe you asked how to show different bars within each module. Well, the first bar on every module's screenshot is the one you will see when you open let's say Develop module. And the bars bellow are what you will find when you press correct buttons. Like when you long press (LP) Before/After button it will take you to "Before/After sub-menu) See my topmost post where you can find what each button does in detail:

Slideshow Module buttons/shortcuts:
MENU = Sub Menu, (LP) = Long Pres

Renner · January 13, 2023, 9:41am

@ mtbmatysek yes that was indeed my question how ro change the bars within the modules Thank you!

Samuel_Stewart · December 18, 2024, 8:34pm

Hey @mtbmatysek ! can you add a slider for developing please!! instead of say, the box next to RA, you could put a little thing that when you press, it has all of the lighting option things, like vibrance, saturation, blah, you get what I mean, but it would be grouped up by the box that they are in, in photoshop, or you could do something like that, a slider button, when u press it, it shows basic, tone curve, grading, etc.
and then there are more options, like sharpness, or vibrance, and then when u click on those, there is a slider!! it would be really helpful if you could add that please!!!