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Home / Photo Editing / Luminar Photo Editing Software / Luminar Neo Migration Tool

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Luminar Neo Migration Tool – How To Use It and a Secret Hack!

October 20, 2022 by Darlene Hildebrandt

Updated: October 21, 2022
luminar neo migration tool

Skylum recently released an update for Luminar Neo, version 1.4.1. It’s a minor update that comes with a HUGE upgrade, the Luminar Neo Migration Tool. Now you can convert your Luminar AI catalog to be used in Luminar Neo.

This is a much-anticipated update and it comes with some pros and some cons. But I have figured out a workaround to solve one of the issues for you!

So in this article, you’ll learn how to get the new migration tool, how to use it to convert your Luminar AI catalog, and how to use my hack so you can also convert Luminar AI templates that you have purchased (the migration tool doesn’t do those) too.

How to get and use the Luminar Neo Migration Tool

I recommend you follow five steps when using the migration tool. These are all outlined and demonstrated in the video below so you can follow along as well. Pause the video as needed and do each step with me.

5 steps to migrating your Luminar AI catalog to Luminar Neo

Here are the five steps I recommend.

  1. Update Luminar Neo to version 1.4.1
  2. Download the Luminar Migration Tool app
  3. Back up both your Luminar AI and Luminar Neo catalogs to be safe
  4. Check your Luminar AI catalog for the number of images and I also recommend just going over My Templates to see what you have in there. Just for reference.
  5. Run the migration tool

Watch the video and follow the steps now.

Luminar Neo Migration tool pros and cons

As I mentioned earlier, there are both pros and cons to the migration tool.

PROS

photography contests
  • It was really fast (maybe because my catalog wasn’t very big)
  • It converted all the edits done in Luminar AI to Neo successfully
  • It brought forward all the albums I had in Luminar AI
  • It brought forward all the templates I had made myself in Luminar AI, and converted them to Luminar Neo presets
  • It converted any overlays added using the Texture Tool in Luminar AI to a layer in Luminar Neo. I was really impressed with that – well done!
  • I had no hiccups at all the process was simple and seamless

CONS

There are only two cons that I could see.

thumbs down

First, the migration didn’t merge my Luminar AI catalog with my existing Luminar Neo catalog. That’s not a major issue though. How I recommend working as you move forward, is to continue using Luminar Neo with the images you already have in that catalog. Then just switch to the migrated catalog (the old Luminar AI one) if you need to go back and redo any edits on images in there.

Secondly, any templates that were purchased or downloaded if you are a Luminar X member did NOT get converted with the migration tool.

BUT . . . remember I said I have a workaround for one of the issues?

Migrate purchased Luminar AI templates with this hack

I came up with a way to hack the system a little so you can convert your favorite templates!

While this isn’t the ideal situation because the templates don’t stay in their nicely organized collections, it is a good workaround so you can use your favorite Luminar AI templates as Luminar Neo presets.

Watch the video now to see how to do it.

Luminar Neo Course

If you’ve found this post and you’ve either just upgraded to Luminar Neo, or you’ll upgrade now that there’s a Luminar Neo migration tool, I’d like to introduce you to my Complete Luminar Neo Course.

At over 16 hours (and constantly growing as Luminar neo gets updated), it’s a great way to understand and effortlessly learn how to use the software. Check out my Luminar Neo Course here.

Questions and comments

I’d love to know what you think of the migration tool and if you have any questions I’ll try to answer them for you.

Did you migrate your Luminar AI catalog to Neo?

How did it go for you?

Please put your thoughts in the comment area below.

Cheers,

Darlene Hildebrandt photographer DPM

About Darlene Hildebrandt

Darlene Hildebrandt, Master of Photographic Arts (MPA), is a Canadian photography educator and the founder of Digital Photo Mentor. She holds Canada's highest professional photography designation from Professional Photographers of Canada, served as Managing Editor of Digital Photography School, and represented Canada on Team Canada at the 2025 World Photographic Cup. With over 35 years of experience, from darkroom film retouching to modern digital editing, more than 17,000 students have learned to edit with confidence through her structured online courses in Luminar Neo and Lightroom Classic and the Digital Photo Mentor Community.

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