# Content Credentials disappeared after I exported from Lightroom

Source: https://creatisimo.net/topic/content-credentials-disappeared-after-i-exported-from-lightroom/
Site: Creatisimo, category Content credentials and C2PA
Published: 2026-10-25. Updated: 2026-10-25. Replies: 0.

## Question by Ola J., 2026-10-25

My working conclusion after a weekend of testing: the credentials did not disappear on export, they were never written in the first place. As far as I can tell the setting in Lightroom Classic is per document, and I switched it on after I had already done most of the edits, so there was nothing recorded for the export to reference. I would like someone to confirm that reading, because the dialog does not make it obvious.

The situation. I scan and photograph small objects for our museum's digital collections, and I wanted the published JPEGs to carry a signed record of who made them and what was done to them. I exported a batch from Lightroom Classic, uploaded them to our collections site, then ran a few through a Content Credentials inspector. Nothing found, on any of them.

What I checked:

- The Content Credentials section in the export dialog was collapsed and I had not opened it. I do not know if it was set to anything.
- Adobe's help page says the feature has to be turned on for each document so that edits and activities are recorded, and that it needs an internet connection at export.
- The page also lists three storage choices: publish to the cloud, attach to the file, or both. I have no idea which one I ended up with, if any.
- Our collections site recompresses images on upload, so even a correct file might lose its embedded data after publishing.

What I still want to know: is there any way to recover credentials for files that I exported and already published, or do I have to re-export every one? And how do I tell, before uploading, that a given JPEG really carries credentials, so that I can separate "never written" from "stripped by our site"?

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Cite as: Creatisimo, "Content Credentials disappeared after I exported from Lightroom", https://creatisimo.net/topic/content-credentials-disappeared-after-i-exported-from-lightroom/, accessed 2026-10-26.