If you’re running Adobe Lightroom 4, 5, 6, or an earlier version of Lightroom CC (2015), this quick installation guide will show you how to install your presets on a Mac computer.

Please note that the presets downloaded from Contrastly are compatible with Lightroom 4, 5, 6, CC, and Classic CC as well as the latest version of Adobe Camera Raw (ACR).

Our preset Collections come bundled in a zip file. Simply unzip the file to a location you’ll remember such as your desktop or your downloads folder.

.lrtemplate or .xmp?

Once you’ve unzipped the file, you will notice there are two folders contained within the main Contrastly folder: lrtemplate, and xmp.

Historically, the .lrtemplate file format has been used by Adobe to store adjustments and settings that are readable by Lightroom. Since April 2018, Adobe has moved to another format called .xmp.

We provide both the .lrtemplate and .xmp file formats so that our customers can install our presets in most versions of Lightroom. Here’s the low down:

• If you use Adobe Lightroom 4, 5, 6 or an older CC version (2015), use the .lrtemplate files.
• If you use Adobe Lightroom Classic CC, Adobe Lightroom CC, or Adobe Camera Raw (newer version released since April 2018), use .xmp.

How to install presets in Lightroom 4, 5, 6 or CC 2015

Installing presets in Lightroom 4, 5, 6, or an older version of LR CC is easy. Here’s how

1. Open Lightroom
2. In the top menu, go to Lightroom > Preferences
3. Click the Presets tab at the top
4. Click the Show Lightroom Presets Folder button
5. It will open a window with the folder Lightroom selected
6. Open up the Lightroom folder
7. Find the Develop Presets folder and open it
8. Go to the location where you unzipped the presets and open the lrtemplate folder
9. You will see a few folders within the lrtemplate folder, select all of them and hit command+C to copy them
10. Go back to the other window where you have the Develop Presets folder open, and hit command+V to paste the folders inside
11. Now you should have the Contrastly preset folders inside the Develop Presets folder
12. Restart Lightroom

Alternative Installation Method

If you’re having issues installing the presets by copying them over to the presets folder location on your computer, there is another way!

1. Open Lightroom
2. Go to the Develop module
3. On the left side, find the Presets panel
4. Next to the Presets panel heading you will see a small + icon
5. Click the + icon and it will open a window where you can browse your computer for the preset files
6. Import your presets and they will appear in the Presets panel in Lightroom
7. Note that by using this method, each folder of presets may need to be imported one by one