P: Ability to sync Lightroom Classic keywords with the Lightroom Ecosystem

"So what happens if I open LR CC Desktop, which will cause it to download and sync all of the LR Classic Smart Previews in the Cloud? Does that now prevent updating keywords in LR Classic as outlined above or will it still work? I'm reluctant to try it as I've sent the collection Web share link to others for review and I don't want to screw it up!"

It has no impact., Todd. Keywords still won't sync between Adobe's servers and Classic - they only get to LRCC accidentally as described above. You can carry on adding keywords in Classic, but they won't be synced.

Though I have been very enthusiastic about LR Mobile and liked how it let me take work away from the desktop, I agree with your comments about LRCC's suitability. I treat LRCC as "LR Mobile on my laptop" and do get a little value from that. There are obvious issues syncing keywords between Classic and LRCC, such as keyword hierarchy, but I can imagine more than one compromise solution that I would prefer over this decision to fail to sync metadata properly.

"The only way is to unsync them all from CC, delete all smart previews if you have any, and do a write metadata to files. Then add them back to the sync and let them upload."

Thanks Jao that procedure works to get the current keywords in the catalog up to the Cloud. The only way I can see to remove the files uploaded by LR Classic from LR CC is to 'Delete' them from LR CC. I deleted a single image from LR CC just as a test to make sure it wasn't deleted from the LR Classic catalog or hard drive. It wasn't deleted from either, but it was removed from the synced collection in LR Classic.

"You say you haven't entered the keywords in LRCC though, and since you say you didn't Save Metadata to File, my guess is that the keywords would not normally have come from Classic. So I am unclear why you have a mixture of some with, some without!"

John, I think what happened is that I added keywords to some pictures before adding all of them to a synced collection. I then proceeded to add keywords to other pictures in the collection, which as stated will NOT automatically sync up to the Cloud.

So what happens if I open LR CC Desktop, which will cause it to download and sync all of the LR Classic Smart Previews in the Cloud? Does that now prevent updating keywords in LR Classic as outlined above or will it still work? I'm reluctant to try it as I've sent the collection Web share link to others for review and I don't want to screw it up!

"It's hugely disappointing that Adobe have made this decision."
John, I couldn't agree with you more! I have no intentions of using LR CC at this time except for testing purposes. IMHO it's not ready for prime time use by professionals and serious amateurs who need the tools available in LR Classic. It can't be that difficult to add sync capability to LR Classic so that it can sync keywords properly AND custom camera profiles.

Keywords entered in any LRCC app will appear in all other LRCC apps. Keywords from Classic only sync if metadata has been saved to the original/sidecar at the point a smart preview is baked. So syncing of keywords from Classic is accidental - Sync's code to generate smart previews simply processes the original, metadata and all.

You say you haven't entered the keywords in LRCC though, and since you say you didn't Save Metadata to File, my guess is that the keywords would not normally have come from Classic. So I am unclear why you have a mixture of some with, some without!

If the files are TIF/PSD,  keywords which you had applied to raw files could have been written to those TIF/PSD files as part of Edit In > Photoshop. LR would have carried those keywords over into the smart preview which it uploads.

One caveat is if the files have been synced for a long time - the keywords may have have been uploaded by earlier sync code which was abandoned. But this a wild guess, based on something I suspected was happening a year ago.

As for "What's the best way to get the current keywords in the LR Classic catalog up to the Smart Preview files in the Cloud?", you cannot get the keywords up to join these existing synced photos. However you could just sync them again - so unsync the photos, Save Metadata to File, delete any local smart previews, and then sync the photos again.

It's hugely disappointing that Adobe have made this decision.

The only way is to unsync them all from CC, delete all smart previews if you have any, and do a write metadata to files. Then add them back to the sync and let them upload.

Thanks John, so this has nothing to do with LR CC? Smart Previews and Save Metatdata to File were NOT used with any of these image files before or after Sync to Cloud with LR Classic. What's the best way to get the current keywords in the LR Classic catalog up to the Smart Preview files in the Cloud?

With Classic, the key is that Adobe's server parses any keywords found in the smart preview that it receives when you sync a photo from Classic. A smart preview contains keywords if you have saved metadata back to the original before the smart preview was created.

You then have to examine a few scenarios:
1. No smart preview in Classic before syncing, and you have saved metadata back to the file. In this case, keywords are uploaded because sync creates the smart preview
2. Smart preview created before you save metadata back to the original, and you then sync. In this case, the smart preview already exists without any keywords (CmdS doesn't update the smart preview) and sync uses the existing smart preview.

I have a similar issue and trying to determine the cause. I'm using LR Classic 8.0 to upload images in a synced collection to the Cloud. When I go to LR Web (https://lightroom.adobe.com/) I can see all of the pictures in the collection, but only some of the images are showing the keywords assigned using LR Classic only and NOT LR CC. Some of the keywords were added after the collection was synced, but that shouldn't matter correct? If I apply Develop module edits to any image file in that collection the changes do get synced to the Cloud and can be seen in the Web view. I did install LR CC 2.0.2, but only to sync my custom camera profiles to the Cloud.

I forgot to add that this synced collection is now visible inside LR CC 2.0.2, but I have not applied any edits, keywords or added images.

Any ideas?

Hubertus, be sure to vote for this feature request too: 
https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/creative-sdk-provide-access-to-lightroom-cc-k...

With just a few hours of engineering, Adobe could enable plugins to sync keywords. (Of course, it would be better if Adobe built that in, but so far they've said explicitly they won't be adding new features to sync between LR Classic and CC.)

I agree with you all, not synchronizing keywords between LR CC mobile and LR Classic neglects in my humble opinion the very core functionality of LR. I am not a happy customer right now.

My LR (classic) library contains now every single photo I shot in the last 40+ years. For me there will never be a reason to transfer this huge amount of data into the cloud simply because I don’t need to access it very often.

But for actual projects saving the photos in the cloud and having access to the them from a variety of devices is an important feature. With Apples new iPad Pro it would be possible to travel light, which is getting more important every day.

But please ADOBE make it possible, that added keywords are synchronized to LR classic afterwards. I do know that the keyword architecture is different between LR Classic and LR CC. I would even understand if it would be difficult to synchronize the keywords from LR Classic to LR CC. But the other way round must be possible!

Please make it at least possible to synchronize keywords from LR CC (mobile) to LR Classic! This would be at least a step into the right direction.

And just to let you know: apart from these two mentioned functions I am a very happy customer for many years now.

Hubertus Lemke

Thanks for insisting, Karl! Maybe one day... 😉
If I have'nt switched to darktable, On1 or DxO before 🙂 😉