# The Interface

When launching Lightroom for the first time you will be presented with a dialogue box stating "**Lightroom room catalog was not found.**". You will have the option to **Choose a Different Catalog** or **Create a Default Catalog**. You can choose the location to store your catalog.

<p class="callout info">It is worth remembering that the catalog is a database that contains the information about your images. It is is not the images. Where the images are stored is covered in [**Importing**](https://bookstack.chesterwhitwell.co.nz/books/post-production---lightroom-and-raw-image-editing/page/importing "Importing").</p>

Most of Lightroom's interface interface is divided to four main sections.

**Nav bar** - Top of the interface. this allows quick navigation between Lightroom's modes. In this course we will be focusing on **Library** and **Develop**.

**Navigation** - The areas on the left. This lets us select the folders we've imported or collections we've made to make their images visible in the centre.

**Image viewer** - The centre of the interface. In library mode this area can display one or many image depending on our zoom level. This area can also be used for side-by-side comparisons.

**E<span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Oxygen, Ubuntu, Roboto, Cantarell, 'Fira Sans', 'Droid Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal;">dito</span>r** - The area on the right. In library mode this area has quick access to basic developing options, key wording and metadata.

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#### Activity

Download the example catalog and try completing following tasks.