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Client proofing from Lightroom: share an album for picks, and get the picks back into Lightroom Classic

By Blink Brief · Updated  · How pages are made

In Lightroom Classic, sync the collection, choose Share Collection, and send the link: your client opens the photos on lightroom.adobe.com and likes or comments on the ones they want, and Classic's Library Filter can then show only the liked photos. If your client won't use an Adobe account, or the photos aren't synced, send a contact sheet with file names instead and paste the names they send back, without the .jpg, into Library Filter › Text › Filename › Contains.

Short answer

  • Adobe's route: right-click the collection › Sync with Adobe Lightroom mobile, then › Adobe Lightroom mobile links › Share Collection, and copy the link. The client likes and comments; in Classic, Library Filter › Attribute › Likes.
  • File names back: send a PDF contact sheet with the file name under each photo, ask for the names of the picks, and paste them without the .jpg into Library Filter › Text › Filename › Contains, with spaces between them.

Two routes: Lightroom's shared album, or file names back

Route What you send What the client does How the picks reach Classic
Shared albumA lightroom.adobe.com link to a synced collectionLikes and comments on each photo; likely signs in to Adobe first (below)On their own: likes and comments show on the photos, and the Attribute filter finds them
File names backA PDF contact sheet with the file name under each photoReplies with the names of the photos they want; no accountYou paste the names, without the .jpg, into the Text filter

From Adobe's Lightroom and Lightroom Classic help, read on November 6, 2026. We read Adobe's pages for this guide; we didn't test a Lightroom plan.

The shared album is the better route when the photos are already synced and the client is happy on Adobe's site: nothing to retype. The file-name route works with any photos and any client, at the price of a reply you paste in by hand.

Share a collection from Lightroom Classic

Adobe's page for Classic says "Any collection synced with Adobe Lightroom mobile can be shared", and the link points to the photos on lightroom.adobe.com. Its steps, from a page last updated in April 2021:

  1. If the collection isn't synced: in the Library module, right-click the collection and click Sync with Adobe Lightroom mobile.
  2. Right-click the collection, click Adobe Lightroom mobile links, then Share Collection. Or switch to Grid view (G) and click the Share button at the top right.
  3. In Grid view, right-click the URL at the top right and choose Copy to Clipboard.
  4. Send the link to your client.

The synced collection is an album in Lightroom on the web; Adobe's Classic page says to sign in there "using the Adobe ID you use with Lightroom Classic". Adobe's current Lightroom on the web help, last updated April 28, 2026, lists the album's sharing settings:

  • Link Access: by default Anyone can view: "This creates a public link so that anyone with the link can view your album." Invite only makes "a private link that only members whom you invite can view or contribute to".
  • Allow likes and comments: "Turn on to let viewers like and comment on your shared photos." This is the switch proofing needs.
  • Allow downloads and export: "Turn on to let others download and export photos from your shared album." Leave it off for proofs you haven't been paid for.

The two pages disagree on who can open the link: the 2021 Classic page says it "can be accessed by anyone with a valid Adobe ID", the 2026 web page that anyone with an "Anyone can view" link can view the album. The newer page is the one to go by for viewing.

What the client sees and does: likes and comments

Adobe's steps for liking and commenting, from its Lightroom on the web help:

  1. "On the Lightroom on the web homepage, select Shared."
  2. Select an image to open it in detail view, then select Comment.
  3. Select Like to like the photo, or type in the comment field.

"Select the Like tab to see who has liked the photo." Adobe's Classic page adds that the owner of a shared album can delete any comment, while viewers can delete only their own.

Who has to sign in. Adobe's pages don't say whether someone who opens a public link can like or comment without signing in to Adobe. In Adobe's own forum, a feature request titled "Client commenting, rating and liking collections without Adobe ID" has been open for voting for 11 years, and photographers in that thread write that their clients must sign in to like or comment. Tell your client that in the email with the link, or use the file-name route below.

Find the picks in Lightroom Classic: the Attribute filter

Likes and comments come back to Classic with the synced collection. Adobe's steps to show only the liked photos:

  1. In the Library module, select the shared collection in the Collections panel.
  2. In the Library Filter bar at the top of the Grid view, select Attribute.
  3. Filter by Likes. Adobe lists Flag, Export, Edit, Rating, Color label, Likes, Comments, Kind and Stack among the Attribute options.

Comments show as a yellow badge on the collection and on each photo's thumbnail. To read them, click the badge on the collection and choose Review Comments, or select the collection, switch to Grid view (G) and set the Sort menu to Last Comment Time. They appear in the Comments panel.

No Adobe account: file names, pasted into the Library Filter

This route needs nothing from your client but a reply, and nothing synced on your side.

  1. Export JPEGs of the proofs from Classic, keeping the original file names, so the names on the sheet match your originals except for the .jpg at the end.
  2. Make the contact sheet. In the free Contact Sheet tool, add the JPEGs, choose Number and file name under "Label under each photo", put the client's name and the shoot date in the title, and click Download PDF. The file names in the PDF are real text, so your client can copy them. It's free, with no sign-up and no watermark; your photos are never uploaded, and it loads its PDF library from a public code server (cdnjs). It doesn't open RAW files, which is why you export JPEGs first. Classic's own Print module makes contact sheets too: making a photo contact sheet PDF with file names has its steps.
  3. Send it and ask your client to reply with the file names of the photos they want.
  4. In Classic, in the Library module, select a source that holds the originals: All Photographs in the Catalog panel, or the shoot's folder.
  5. In the Library Filter bar, select Text. Change Any Searchable Field to Filename, and the rule menu, which starts at Contains All, to Contains.
  6. Delete the extension (.jpg) from each name, then paste the names into the search box with a space between them: DSC_0412.jpg finds only a JPEG, DSC_0412 also finds your DSC_0412.CR3.

Why Contains: Adobe says "If multiple sequences are entered, Lightroom Classic finds photos that contain any of the individual sequences." Contains All would look for one file whose name holds every name in the list, and find nothing.

  • Spaces, not commas. Adobe separates search terms with a space. A comma stuck to a name becomes part of what Classic looks for, so delete the commas from the client's reply first.
  • Whole names, no extension. Contains matches parts of words: Adobe's example finds "flower" from "flo". DSC_0412 finds DSC_0412.CR3 and DSC_0412.jpg, but DSC_041 would find DSC_0410 to DSC_0419, and DSC_0412.jpg finds no RAW file.

The file-name route stops at the reply. A PDF has no way to mark what your client picks, so the picks come back in an email: names you clean up before pasting, or numbers and descriptions you match to files by hand.

Our product · in development

Blink Proof: send your client one private link to the contact sheet instead of a PDF. They star the frames they want and comment on any of them, and you get back the picked file names in one line, to paste into Lightroom Classic's Library Filter (Text › Filename › Contains). Planned price $9/month.

Join the early list

Blink Proof's page lists proofing features only. For client galleries with downloads and print sales, see Pixieset alternatives; for other sheet makers and their proofing links, contact sheet makers compared. On an iPad or phone, making a contact sheet from Lightroom mobile covers the export.

Questions

How do I let a client choose photos in Lightroom?

In Lightroom Classic, sync the collection, right-click it and choose Adobe Lightroom mobile links › Share Collection, then send the link. In Lightroom on the web, check that Allow likes and comments is on. The client likes the photos they want, and in Classic the Library Filter's Attribute row filters by likes. If the client won't use Adobe's site, send a contact sheet with file names and paste the names they reply with, without the .jpg, into the Library Filter.

Does my client need an Adobe account to like photos?

Adobe's current help says an album set to "Anyone can view" can be viewed by anyone with the link, but it doesn't say whether liking or commenting needs a sign-in. Adobe's older Lightroom Classic page says the link "can be accessed by anyone with a valid Adobe ID", and in Adobe's forum, a request to let clients like and comment without an Adobe ID has been open for 11 years. Plan on your client signing in.

How do I find photos from a list of file names in Lightroom Classic?

In the Library module, select All Photographs or the shoot's folder. In the Library Filter bar, click Text, choose Filename from the field menu and Contains from the rule menu. Delete any extension such as .jpg from the names, then paste them with a space between them: DSC_0412.jpg finds only a JPEG, DSC_0412 also finds DSC_0412.CR3. Adobe: "If multiple sequences are entered, Lightroom Classic finds photos that contain any of the individual sequences."

Sources

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