How to Enable the Publish Services Panel If It’s Hidden

Here’s how to enable the Publish Services, Catalog, Folders, or Collections panels in the Library module if they’re not visible.

Last Updated:
Filed Under: Library Module

I MAY get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

I was recently asked how to enable the Publish Services panel. The user wasn’t able to see it in the Library module and it wasn’t clear how to enable.

Lightroom enables you to hide the Catalog, Folders, Collections, and Publish Services panels in the Library module, but it’s not necessarily self-evident how to show them (or hide them, for that matter). But it is simple to do once you know how.

Here’s how to do it:

  1. Go to the Library module and make sure that the left sidebar is visible in your workspace (press Tab if it isn’t, to toggle it).

  2. Right click on any one of these panel headings that are visible: Catalog, Folders, Collections, or Publish Services.

Lightroom Enable Publish Services 2

The ones with the check mark are the ones that are visible. The one with the asterisk is the one you’ve right clicked on (in this example I clicked on the Catalog heading, for example).

  1. Simply select whichever inactive panel you want to enable. And if you want to hide a visible panel, simply do the reverse and deselect it.
David Coleman / Photographer

David Coleman

I'm a freelance travel photographer based in Washington DC. Seven continents, up mountains, underwater, and a bunch of places in between. My images have appeared in numerous publications, and you can check out some of my travel photography here. I've been using Lightroom for years, from back before it was Lightroom (RawShooter). More »

2 thoughts on “How to Enable the Publish Services Panel If It’s Hidden”

  1. My “PUBLISH” panel is filled with 100 Flickr folders… it takes a while to scroll and find the right folder (actually collection I think) – what can I do to shorten this list… can I make a folder and stick all them in it or do a separate folder for each year…

    Reply
    • It depends on how the public service is set up on their end (as in, by Flickr in this case). With some, you can use nested folders. With others, you can only get a flat listing without folders. I don’t have a Flickr one set up right now to test, sorry, but you can try right-clicking inside the publish service panel and see if there’s an option to add a folder. If so, it’s worth experimenting with some dummy files and folders first, especially with moving existing files and making sure that the changes are being properly reflected on the Flickr site too. The moving part can sometimes cause issues, and I’ve seen instances where it seems to be moving properly from Lightroom’s side, but when you log into the server/service, the files are getting dumped out of any organizational structure.

      Reply

Leave a Comment