How to Remove Location Data From Client Proofs Before You Send Them

One row per way a photo can reach a gallery.

Cameras and phones with a location source can write coordinates into the image file when the photo is taken.

In a JPEG, those coordinates live in the Exif block. The ExifTool GPS tag reference describes these tags as part of the Exif standard, stored in a separate section of the Exif information.

The tags that matter for privacy are these.

Latitude and longitude together are enough to put a pin on a map.

A file keeps these tags when it is copied, emailed or uploaded, unless something along the way removes them. That is why the question is about each upload route, not about the gallery in general.

A proof leaves your control the moment the link is shared.

A client can forward a gallery link to relatives, a partner or an agency. Anyone who downloads a file gets whatever metadata is still inside it.

Some sessions make that a real concern.

• Newborn, family and boudoir sessions shot in the client's home.
• Real estate and interiors where the owner still lives on site.
• Campaign work shot at a location that has not been announced, as covered in the guide to sharing unreleased campaign photos.
• Any shoot where the client asked you not to reveal where it happened.

Proofs exist for choosing, so location data does nothing for the client at this stage. Removing it costs nothing and closes one way a private address can travel.

The ClientGallery plugin decides its own render settings instead of offering them.

Before each export or publish, it rewrites a fixed list of settings, whatever the dialog or a preset said. In the plugin's source, the location line reads LR_removeLocationMetadata = true.

The same function forces the file format and a few render choices, so the whole list looks like this.

Three consequences follow from that design.

• Export and Publish behave the same. One provider serves both the Export dialog and the Publish Service, so a republished photo goes through the same settings as the first upload.
• A preset cannot switch it back on. The settings are applied after a preset loads, so a preset saved with location kept is overridden for this destination.
• Your catalog is not changed. The setting applies to the copy the plugin renders and uploads. The plugin never writes location fields in your catalog, so your own records keep their coordinates for your own use.

Setting the plugin up takes a studio key from your dashboard, pasted once into the Export dialog. The steps are in the guide to publishing a gallery from Lightroom Classic.

The plugin is a free download and works on a free account, which holds one gallery.

The claim above is narrow on purpose.

• Browser uploads. We have not verified whether photos uploaded through the website keep or lose location data. Treat that route as your responsibility.
• Other metadata. This page is about location only. It makes no claim about camera details, copyright, captions or keywords in the uploaded proof.
• Files you send outside the gallery. A full-resolution handoff or any file you email is whatever you exported. Strip location in that export too.
• The exact fields removed. The plugin turns on Lightroom Classic's own location-removal setting. Which individual tags that setting removes is Adobe's behaviour, and Adobe's help pages could not be read today, so the list above is the standard GPS tag set, not a promise about each one.

Do the removal before the file leaves your computer.

1. Open the export settings of the tool you edit in.
2. Find the metadata options and choose to remove location information.
3. Save that as a preset, so the choice sticks for the next job.
4. Export one test photo from a shoot where location was recorded.
5. Check that file before uploading the rest.

Menu names differ between tools and versions, so this page does not quote them. For Lightroom Classic export presets in general, see when a Lightroom export preset for client galleries earns its keep.

A check takes one minute and settles the question for that route.

1. Take one exported file from a shoot where you know location was recorded.
2. Open it in a metadata viewer. ExifTool is one free option, and its reference lists the GPS tags by the names in the table above.
3. Look for GPSLatitude and GPSLongitude.
4. If they are absent, that export route is clean. If they are present, fix the export setting and test again.

Test the original too, so you know location was recorded in the first place. A clean export from a file that never had coordinates proves nothing.

Who should not rely on this page: a photographer who never uses Lightroom Classic. The plugin is the only route this page vouches for. Everything else depends on your own export settings and a one-file check.

• ExifTool, "GPS Tags" reference (tag names GPSLatitude, GPSLongitude, GPSAltitude, GPSDateStamp, GPSTimeStamp; GPS tags as part of the Exif standard in a separate section), last revised 3 March 2025, fetched 18 September 2026, https://exiftool.org/TagNames/GPS.html
• clientgallery.io product facts, checked in code 18 September 2026: the Lightroom Classic plugin forces location removal, JPEG, sRGB, a proof resize and sharpening off before every export and publish, overriding presets; one provider serves Export and Publish; the plugin writes no location fields in the catalog; it is a free download that works on a free account of one gallery; it runs in Lightroom Classic only. No claim is made about browser uploads, https://clientgallery.io/lightroom