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

Nobody in the professional space would think that Sensei image search could come even close to replacing keywords. I'm a working pro for an automotive supplier. Tell me how image search can tell if a part is made in Japan or Mexico, or whether its OEM or Sport market. :sigh:

I struggle to understand why there isn't just ONE Lightroom, that could store photos locally or in the cloud, with the best capabilities of both apps. The segmentation is idiotic IMHO.

@CS Chua, "I don't hate hierarchy data structures. However if that's what is really holding back Lightroom advancing and enabling a reverse keyword sync back to LrC..."

I don't think that's the primary impediment. Back when the LR ecosystem was announced (LR Classic 7), Adobe announced that going forward, they would focus their efforts for LR Classic on Develop and image quality, and in particular would make no more changes to the sync between the LR cloud and LR Classic. That was unusual for Adobe, since they rarely disclose future plans. Since then, they've stayed true to the word, with only very modest importments to things not related to image quality and no significant changes to cloud sync.

There was also a report from the annual Adobe conference that the LR ecosystem product manager stated publicly that he hated keywords (not hierarchical keywords, keywords in general), and in his view Sensei image search was intended to partially replace the need for keywords in the LR cloud.  However, I never found a video of those remarks, and I can't find the post from the attendee relaying them. (The post is probably lost, since Adobe deleted the old feedback forum.)

I don't hate hierarchy data structures. However if that's what is really holding back Lightroom advancing and enabling a reverse keyword sync back to LrC and if what I propose is workable, implementable at scale then there's a path forward.

The ability to edit/modify, add & delete keywords on a tablet n a close loop keyword sync has huge upside potential particularly to pro-photographers. 

It will enable the all the existing Lightroom apps to be a close loop ecosystem.

I'm not sure why you are hating on other people's use of a standard, PLAIN TEXT rendering of data.

It's Adobe call if they could get the existing cloud based ecosystems of apps after LrC like Lr, LrWeb and LrMobile to support the arcane and the outdated hierarchical data structure.

I am still able to maintain hierarchy control of categories of photos that I need to be organise in hierarchy branches after I flatten several thousands in branches 

Getting rid of hierarchical keywords is totally the wrong idea. Keywords are ALREADY plain text. Its completely up to the writing and viewing application how to interpret them (note that Bridge has controls for this.)

Some of us rely on hierarchical keywords and we would scream bloody murder if the standards were changed for this. The answer is to fix Lightroom Cloudy.

Keywording.

Its so versatile and malleable. Combine with smart collections you can spin out albums in any combination imaginable. 
It is my humble opinion Adobe is missing out on leveraging keywords and releasing it's the superpowers. Granted the choice of hierarchical structure does not fit Adobe new direction for Lightroom Desktop, I believe there is a path to have both Keywords and Syncing capability withing the Lightroom eco-system ie  "have your cake and eat it", so to speak. 

Adobe should revisit this keywords syncing problem. This can be easily resolve to enable sync (to and fro) if Adobe were to change to use of flat keywords. Consider converting say Keyword1>Keyword2>Keyword3 (hierarchical) to flat ie #keyword1#keyword2#keyword3 .. etc

I use the popular hash tag "#" and each keyword could be by itself or part of the string. 
I had converted all my previous hierarchical keywords to this flat structure because it was so difficult to maintain the branches.

I believe if Adobe were to provide a batch keyword structure conversion tool, this will provide a path to enable syncing of keywords within LrC, LrCC, LrWeb, LrMobile.

Note: Despite removing and deleting permanently synced photos in LrWeb and then resync/upload photos  to LrWeb, the old keywords reappeared on those photos. I had them renamed them in LrC before I reupload, purge old unused keywords. Those old keywords continues to repopulate to the cloud (and hence LrCC). It is very apparent Adobe systems does not completely remove all traces of photos synced to the cloud even when you permanently delete them via LrWeb. It remembers old keywords despite those keywords are no longer in LrClassic (purged all unused keywords).

In conclusion.

Adobe keywords syncing between the eco-system of LrC, LrCC, LrWeb and LrMobile as of now is broken. I do not accept the contention that it is what it is and there's no workable, implementable and scalable solution. If a feature was a designed behavior and it no longer works in the new scheme of things or direction then undesign it and offer a conversion path. 

Sorry! I suspect that two threads on the subject have been merged here. There was a link in the original post I replied to and there weren't as many replies as there are here.

"Unfortunately the link to the feature request doesn't work anymore."

This thread is the feature request (Idea), with 200 upvotes. Which link are you referring to?

Its a terrible idea to abandon hierarchical keywords. They are just plain text, its entirely up to the image reader to parse them. Those of us who actually need hierarchical data want it supported, not cast aside.

By @Lumigraphics 

Agreed. I don't think they should ditch hierarchical keywords. I was just supporting @Ralph Lwouvie's idea that they could sync keywords for those of us who can get by with a flat list. 

Obviously, syncing hierarchical keywords between Classic and cloud would be ideal, but I doubt that'll ever happen.