How to use Zenfolio's Lightroom Classic Plugin

If you’re an Adobe Lightroom Classic user, you’ll love this practical plugin that can be used to export photos directly from Lightroom Classic to Zenfolio. It works in Lightroom Classic 15 (and older versions as far back as Lightroom Classic 3, though some features are dependent on the version of Lightroom).

For Mac users, this plugin is best used with the most up to date MacOS. Older MacOS may not support TLS 1.2 by default, which is required for secure communications with Zenfolio.

You can find more details about the plugin and the download link for the plugin here:

Download Lightroom Classic Plugin

Installing the Plugin

Before installing the plugin, you'll need to have Adobe Lightroom Classic (version 3 or higher) installed on your desktop or laptop computer.
 

Unzip the Plugin

1. First you’ll need to download the plugin from this page.

2. After downloading the plugin, uncompress or unzip the zip file.

3. After unzipping the file, move the plugin extracted from the zip file to the folder that you use to store Lightroom Plugins, or simply create a new folder for this purpose and then move the plugin to that new folder.  The plugin must remain in that folder in order to continue using the plugin.

Install the Plugin

After unzipping the plugin and storing it in the dedicated plugin folder, open Lightroom and then follow these steps to install the plugin:

1. Go to File in the top menu.

2. Go to Plugin Manager.

3. Click the Add button.

4. Locate the plugin from your computer, then select it.

5. Click Add Plugin.

Logging Into Your Zenfolio Account Through The Plugin

After adding the plugin to Lightroom Classic you will then need to make sure you get logged into your Zenfolio account so that the plugin can pull in the Group and Gallery structure of your account.

1. Locate the Publishing Services area in the left-hand side panel.
2. Click on the + icon to access the options for this section.
3. From the dropdown menu, choose Go To Publishing Manager.
4. In the Publishing Manager, select the Zenfolio Classic publishing service option.
5. Use the Username and Password text fields to enter the login information for your Zenfolio account.
6. Click Login.
7. Once you've successfully logged into your account, click Save.
8. You will likely be presented with the option to import your existing Galleries. Select Yes, Proceed Now if you'd like to go ahead and complete the import.

Changing Export Settings

Just as you can manage export settings when saving photos to your computer or hard drive, the Publishing Manager enables you to control the settings for files published to your Zenfolio Galleries. This feature allows you to specify parameters such as size, quality, and file names, all of which are automatically managed by Lightroom during the publishing process to your Zenfolio Galleries.

1. Locate the Publishing Services area in the left-hand side panel.
2. Click on the + icon to access the options for this section.
3. From the dropdown menu, choose Go To Publishing Manager.
4. In the Publishing Manager, select the Zenfolio Classic publishing service option.
5. Scroll through the different expandable menus and adjust your export settings accordingly.

   • Choose the size of the photos that are exported.

   • Choose the file-naming convention.

   • Choose the file format in which the photos are exported (e.g jpeg, png, tiff, etc).

   • Choose the amount of sharpening to add to all photos.

   • Choose to add a permanent watermark to the photos (if desired). Please note, any watermarks added this way will appear when the photos is printed or purchased as a Digital Download.
     

6. Click Save once you've completed your adjustments.

Assign Lightroom Photos To A Zenfolio Gallery

To publish photos to your Zenfolio Galleries directly from Lightroom, it is essential to ensure that the photos are added to the specific Zenfolio Gallery where you intend to publish them.

1. Within your Lightroom Catalog, select the photos you wish to transfer to a Zenfolio Gallery.
2. Drag the selected photos into the designated Zenfolio Gallery where you want them to be placed.

Publishing Lightroom Photos To Zenfolio Galleries

After organizing your Lightroom photos into the designated Zenfolio galleries you wish to publish, you may proceed to the final step of publishing.

1. Select the photos you intend to publish to your Zenfolio account. These photos will be located in the New Photos to Publish subsection of the Zenfolio gallery within the Lightroom plugin.

2. Click the Publish button to complete the process.

You will see a status bar in the upper left corner of your Lightroom window while the photos are being published to your Zenfolio Gallery. Upon completion, the status bar will disappear, and the photos will be available in the Published Photos subsection of the Zenfolio Gallery within the Lightroom Plugin. 

Creating a New Gallery Within The Lightroom Plugin

Photos can be exported to an existing Gallery, or a brand new Gallery created directly within the Lightroom Plugin. Follow these steps to create a new Gallery:

1. In the Zenfolio Classic plugin on the left-hand side of your Lightroom window, right-click on the plugin name or on a specific Group.
2. In the menu that appears, select Create Gallery.
3. Provide a Name for the new Gallery using the Name field and use the Set field to determine which Group this new Gallery will be located in. If you right-clicked on a specific Group to create the Gallery, that Group will already be selected.
4. Add any additional SEO friendly information like Caption, Keywords, or select a Category.
5. You can also determine the privacy settings of the Gallery with the visibility field. Choose from Public, Private, or Password Protected. If you select password protected, you will also need to set the password.
6. And then determine whether you want this new Gallery to be publicly searchable, or not.
7. Click the Create button to create the new Gallery.

Security Warning

If you receive a security warning when attempting to publish photos to Zenfolio from the Lightroom plugin, please check the MacOS version installed on the computer in use, as well as the Lightroom version.

For Mac users, it is recommended to use the most up to date MacOS version. MacOS 10.10.5 (and lower) does not support TLS 1.2 by default which is required for secure communications with Zenfolio. A security warning will appear when attempting to export while using a computer with MacOS 10.10.5 (and lower).

If this is the case, you’ll need to update your MacOS version to OS 10.11 or higher to use the plugin. If you're using an older device that cannot be updated to the most recent MacOS version, you'll need to export the photos from Lightroom to your desktop, and then upload the photos to Zenfolio using the built in uploader.