Lightroom answer
Do Client Picks Overwrite Your Lightroom Star Ratings?
Yes, on every photo the import matches. A like becomes 3 stars, a love becomes 5 stars and a Pick flag, and the client's colour label replaces yours. Here is the full list, and how to keep your own cull safe.
Updated 18 September 2026
The short answer is yes.
The ClientGallery pick import for Lightroom Classic writes the client's choices straight into the rating, the flag and the colour label of each matching photo.
It does not look at what those fields held before.
So a frame you rated 5 stars that the client only liked comes out at 3 stars.
That is a design choice, not a bug: the import stamps the client's answer onto the catalog so you can filter on it. But if your own stars carry meaning, you should know exactly which fields change before you press Import.
This page lists every field the import touches, every field it leaves alone, the two things it never undoes, and a workflow that protects your own rating pass. It is written from the plugin's source code, version 3.2.0, read on 18 September 2026.
What the import writes, field by field
The import runs from the Library menu, under Plug-in Extras, as Import ClientGallery Picks. It asks for your studio key and the gallery link, then searches the open catalog for each picked filename.
For every photo the search returns, it writes these fields and no others.
| Lightroom field | What the import writes | When |
|---|---|---|
| Star rating | 5 stars for a love. 3 stars for a like | Every matched photo the client liked or loved |
| Flag | Pick | Loves only. A like never touches the flag |
| Colour label | The client's colour: red, yellow, green, blue or purple | Only when labels are switched on for that gallery and the client set one |
| IPTC caption | The client's comments, one line per comment, signed with the author | Only when you tick the comments box in the import dialog, which is off by default, and comments are on for that gallery |
| Collection | Adds the photo to a collection named after the gallery, inside a ClientGallery collection set | Every matched photo, including labelled photos with no pick |
Nothing else is written. Develop settings, keywords and file names are not touched. The import sets metadata and adds photos to one collection. That is its whole footprint.
The two pick levels themselves are explained in the guide to star and love pick levels.
It overwrites. It does not merge
Each write replaces the current value outright. The code does not read your rating first, does not keep the higher of the two, and does not ask.
These are the cases that surprise people.
| Before the import | What the client did | After the import |
|---|---|---|
| You rated it 5 stars | Liked it | 3 stars. Your flag is unchanged |
| You rated it 1 star | Loved it | 5 stars and a Pick flag |
| You had flagged it Rejected | Loved it | 5 stars and a Pick flag. The love replaces the flag |
| You gave it a red label | Gave it a green label | Green label |
| You gave it a red label | Liked it, no label | 3 stars, red label kept |
| You had written a caption | Commented, and you ticked the comments box | Your caption is replaced by the client's comments |
| You had written a caption | Commented, comments box left off | Your caption is kept |
| You rated it 4 stars | Labelled it, no like or love | 4 stars kept, the label applied, the photo added to the collection |
The rule behind every row is the same. A field the client set is written. A field the client did not set is left as it was.
What it never does
The import only sets values and adds photos. It never takes anything away.
- It never clears a rating, flag or label. Photos that are not in the client's picks are not visited at all.
- It never undoes an earlier run. If the client removes a pick after your first import, running it again leaves that photo's stars, flag and label where the first run put them.
- A love that becomes a like keeps its Pick flag. On the next run the rating drops to 3 stars, but the like writes no flag, so the Pick from the earlier love stays.
- It never sets Rejected. The only flag it writes is Pick.
- It never removes a photo from any collection. Its own collection only grows. Your other collections are not touched.
- It does not queue a republish. The ClientGallery publish service does not mark a photo for re-upload when only its metadata changes, so the new stars and labels do not send anything back to the gallery.
The practical meaning: the gallery is the live record of what the client wants today. The catalog holds a stamp of what the client said each time you ran the import. When the two disagree, the gallery is right.
Which photos count as matched
The overwrite applies to every catalog photo the filename search returns, so the matching rule matters.
- The import searches the catalog that is open, and only that one.
- It searches by file name, using a partial match, not an exact one.
- Every photo returned for a name receives the client's rating, flag and label. The code does not stop at the first hit.
- If you published through the plugin, each proof carries the catalog photo's own file name, so the picks are searched under the same name you published from.
- If you uploaded JPEGs through the browser, the picks are searched under those uploaded file names.
A partial match means a short name can reach more photos than the client chose. The safest habit is distinct file names for the frames you proof, set before you publish. Publishing straight from the catalog, as described in the guide to publishing a gallery from Lightroom Classic, also keeps the gallery names and the catalog names the same.
When nothing matches, the import writes nothing. It reports how many picked file names it looked for and tells you to import the shoot into this catalog first.
A workflow that protects your own cull
You do not need to give up your own ratings to use the import. You need to decide which pass comes first, and keep a record of anything you cannot afford to lose.
- Put your own selects in a collection of your own before you import. The import never removes photos from collections and never touches collections other than its own. Your list survives even when the stars on those photos change.
- Or run the import before your own rating pass. Let the client's stars land first, then rate on top. Your later edits win, because the import only writes when you run it. Running it again later would write the client's values once more on the photos it matches.
- Work from the collection the plugin creates. It holds every frame the client touched, grouped under the gallery's name inside the ClientGallery set. Treat it as the client's list, and your own collection as yours.
- Keep colour labels free if you use them yourself. Labels only travel when labels are switched on for that gallery. If your labels mean something in your own process, leave gallery labels off.
- Leave the comments box off if you caption. It is off by default for this reason. Turn it on only when your captions are empty.
- Check the gallery before you edit a changed round. Because the import never clears anything, an un-picked photo keeps its stars. The gallery shows what the client wants now.
The full round trip, from publishing proofs to editing the final picks, is laid out in how to get client photo picks back into Lightroom.
Who should not run the import
The import suits a studio that wants the client's weighting inside the catalog as filters. It is the wrong tool in a few cases, and it is better to say so.
- Your star ratings are the product. If your stars feed a stock agency, an archive grading or a second editor, and they cannot move, do not write client stars onto the same photos.
- You work in the cloud Lightroom app. The plugin is for Lightroom Classic only.
- You want a list, not metadata. Every completed gallery has an Export picks (.txt) button that gives you the picked file names and writes nothing into your catalog. It does not separate likes from loves.
Sources
Every behaviour on this page was read in the plugin and server source on 18 September 2026. No external page is cited: the page describes only what the ClientGallery plugin does, not how Lightroom behaves in general.
- clientgallery.io product facts, checked in code 18 September 2026: the Lightroom Classic plugin version 3.2.0 pick import (3 stars for a like, 5 stars and a Pick flag for a love, the five colour labels, optional IPTC captions that overwrite, unconditional writes, no clearing, no Rejected flag, the collection inside a ClientGallery collection set, the open catalog only, the partial file name search, every hit written, the not-found message), the labels and comments switches per gallery, the publish service not republishing on metadata changes, and the Export picks (.txt) button, https://clientgallery.io/lightroom
Frequently asked
Does importing client picks overwrite my Lightroom star ratings?
Yes, on every photo the import matches. A like writes 3 stars and a love writes 5 stars, whatever the photo held before. A frame you rated 5 stars that the client only liked comes out at 3 stars. Photos the client did not pick or label are not visited.
Does the import set the Pick flag on every picked photo?
No. Only loves get the Pick flag, together with 5 stars. A like writes 3 stars and leaves the flag as it was. The import never sets Rejected.
If the client removes a pick, does running the import again remove the stars?
No. The import only sets values and adds photos to its collection. It never clears a rating, flag or label, and never removes a photo from the collection. A love later changed to a like drops to 3 stars on the next run but keeps its Pick flag.
Will the import replace my colour labels?
Only where the client set a label, and only when labels are switched on for that gallery. The client's colour then replaces yours. If the client liked a photo without labelling it, your label stays.
Does it change my develop settings or captions?
Develop settings, keywords and file names are never touched. Captions are written only if you tick the comments box in the import dialog, which is off by default, and then the client's comments replace the existing caption.
How do I keep my own ratings safe?
Either put your own selects in a collection of your own before importing, since the import never removes photos from collections, or run the import before your own rating pass so your later stars win. Leave gallery labels and the comments box off if you rely on labels and captions yourself.
Do the new ratings get pushed back to the gallery?
No. The ClientGallery publish service does not mark photos for re-upload when only their metadata changes, so stars and labels written by the import send nothing back to the client's gallery.
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