this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2023
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Photography
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A catalog is a structure by which you can organize your photos, create collections, search, keyword, etc... Both Lightroom and Capture One have catalogs and it becomes your primary mechanism for finding and managing your images. The RAW files themselves can still be stored in the regular file system, but you don't generally access them direct from the file system - you access them through the catalog which you structure the way you want your images organized.
If you don't know what a catalog is, then I'll assume that DXO isn't offering one and you just open images one at a time directly from the file system (much like you would do in Photoshop).
Found this : PhotoLab has its own internal database, which holds all image edits. There is no such concept as catalogues. Personally, I activate and us DOP sidecar files, which can then be transferred with the image file, to other locations on disk without messing up things like catalogues.

Even if the database were to ever corrupt, normally, these DOP files will ensure that your edits are safe
That's exactly my method.
I don't use or manage a vast library in software, preferring instead to organise my shots chronologically in folders by year, month, then individual shoot date.
I can move the DOP files along with the Raw (CR3 in my case) files wherever and retain those edits every time I reload them in Photolab.
Plus Photolab doesn't get so bogged down as a result, with loading entire libraries of photos. It only loads the ones I want to work out.