Lightroom 2027 Adds Custom Workspaces and a Favorites Panel for Sliders

Lightroom 2027, announced at Adobe Max 2026, gives desktop photographers two workflow changes that went largely unreported amid the event's longer feature list: a customizable user interface and a Favorites panel that gathers frequently used editing sliders in one place.

The customization options arrive only in Lightroom on desktop. Lightroom Classic, the version many working photographers still run for high-volume catalog work, does not receive the update — a distinction that matters for studios standardizing shortcuts and training across machines.

What does the update change for working photographers?

The core change is interface choice. After updating to Lightroom 2027, a pop-up asks users to pick a workspace; the same options live under Lightroom > Personalize Lightroom. Three modes are available:

• Default, which keeps Lightroom's existing look.
• Advanced, which surfaces more controls.
• Classic, which makes Lightroom resemble Lightroom Classic.

A Customize button in the corner of that window opens further options, including a light user interface and — practically significant for anyone switching between the two apps — a choice between Lightroom keyboard shortcuts and Lightroom Classic shortcuts. Lightroom restarts to apply the new workspace.

How the Favorites panel works

The second change targets editing speed. A star icon on the right-hand side opens the new Favorites section; clicking the "..." menu and choosing "Manage Favorites" puts star icons next to every tool in the sidebar. Photographers click a star to pin a tool to Favorites.

Inside the Favorites panel, sliders can be dragged and dropped into a custom order — so a portrait shooter can arrange exposure, white balance and skin-tone controls in the sequence they actually apply them, rather than scrolling through the full edits stack. Clicking Done finalizes the set. Once saved, the pinned sliders sit together in one panel, accessible via the star icon in the edits stack.

Favorites also port between machines and teams. The "..." menu inside the Favorites section offers export and import, letting photographers share a configured panel with other creators or replicate it across their own devices — useful for studios that want identical editing layouts on multiple workstations.

What's the practical takeaway?

For professionals who left Lightroom for Classic because of the streamlined control set, the Advanced mode and Classic-style workspace lower the switching cost. The Favorites panel addresses a long-standing irritant: sliders scattered across tool groups now collapse into a single ordered panel. The absence of these features in Lightroom Classic, however, means mixed-environment studios will still see a workflow gap between the two apps. Whether Adobe closes that gap — or continues treating Classic as a legacy product — will shape upgrade decisions for subscription-renewal cycles ahead.