P: Direct import from iCloud

This is a most interesting issue, and I'm thankful to find out exactly what I was afraid of, rather than make a complete mess of my photo library, once again.

My problem centers around duplicate file names:  using a string of different cameras since 2003, and a few iPhones.  

I've got multiple files of what appear to be duplicate photos, as I can see using a Bridge search, using my trusty Bridge CS5, which I otherwise never use.  Now this gets interesting.  I see multiple copies of the same photo, sometimes up to 4 of them.  But if I do the same search just using Finder, I'll see the Pictures folder separated by years, rather than a normal view that shows columns.  Apple made this change to the Finder display for some reason.

I've considered the options: buy the latest version everything, hire someone who knows what they are doing so that I don't sign out of iCloud, and run the risk of having not just the photos deleted from iCloud, but also removing the originals from the desktop Mac. That is what the dialing box suggests will happen when signing out of iCloud.

Yes, I have also used the CC Bridge, but that has added some new stuff.  'Nuff said.  I do use CC LR, because it handles my various RAW images.  

Actually, I now like Bridge, because it finds every image and shows them on the same window, rather than only the ones that are in the Lightroom catalog.  Not just that, it has Camera Raw built in.  Anything worth using can be developed right there, without even opening PS, unless more advanced methods are needed.

Another option is to stop using digital devices, and switch back to film.  That will create other inconveniences and cost, but eliminate all confusion.  Or resume making watercolors and drawings.

But no, that is almost like cutting off my nose to spite my face just out of frustration.

So, rather than me signing out of iCloud, I will have a friend come over here and help me out with it, and I will show him how to make prints that are handmade.  (Don't anyone point out to me the grammatical error in the previous sentence.)

Then, I will not go with Adobe's cloud service, thank you very much Adobe, I'm sure it is a wonderfully designed product.  But I will back up my photos and everything else on my external drives, and use Dropbox also, regardless of the type of file.  Sure, there are shortcomings to that solution, but at least it is relatively transparent.

Fortunately--yes, fortunately, I figured out that Lightroom doesn't import the files out of iCloud, so at least I haven't cluttered it up with any duplicate iPhone images that have been backed up there.  Rather than crying about having 100,000+ images on my hard drive, I used some brutal diligence to manually delete tens of thousands of poor photographs, and now I don't seem to have any duplicate photos in LR; LR is smart enough to import the images that have the same filenames, but are not the same photos.

I also did not import my spouse's 20,000 images, because I was careful enough to import them into a separate pictures folder.  Now I have a LR library with less than 30,000 images, a few of them that are worth sharing or printing.  That is the rough equivalent of 1,000 rolls of film,  a few of which are worth sharing or getting prints made.

Back tp LR: now all I have to do is learn out how to import photos into LR intelligently enough to give them meaningful filenames, keep the best ones separate, but not forget how to do it each time I get an updated version of LR.

Thanks to everyone for making your contributions to this topic.  I am now in a state of peace about it.

My.Lightroom 3.6 stopped working right after I returned from a trip with several hundred images to edit.  I downloaded 3.6 and reinstalled, but it didn’t work either. Before I replaced my 8-year-old laptop, I upgraded my iPad Pro’s operating system to get the Lightroom mobile app that’s included.  Once I learned the ins and outs of using the app, I wanted to export the photos from LR, but had no place to go with them except to iCloud, which is now too full to accommodate them.

I have read with interest this thread on the forum, and wonder what to do next.  I have replaced my 8-year-old laptop, but not yet set it up. Have decided that Lightroom Classic will meet my needs, and really would like to be able to retrieve my edited photos from Apple without buying more cloud storage.  We have free, unlimited cloud storage as Amazon Prime members...is there any way that will work, or will I just need to re-edit all 150 images when I get set up?

 Thanks!

Another good argument I've seen to switch to a Lightroom alternate.  I've been a LR user since the beginning but I'm starting to falter.  Too much parochialism.  It's a shame.

Good luck with this. Its probably never going to happen for numerous reasons.

Vote for this. Explain why: as a lazy user I set up iCloud backup because it syncs automatically withount any extra actions from my side. And I don't want to:
1) Run Lightroom CC on mobile just to syncronize
2) Buy extra CC cloud storage - my 10GB are obvious not sufficient. Even I will soon run out of 100 GB

Instead I want:
1) Purchase 200GB of iCloud storage, sync photos automatically
2) When I want to transfer photos to my Windows PC I want just run Lightroom classic or even sync automatically with some sort of service

It is only achivable through iCloud sync. But I agree tht Apple is too closed for that. Moreover, Adobe should not want me not to buy their storage.

Thanks

All your photos can be downloaded to your hard drive. https://www.tomsguide.com/us/how-to-d...

I just skimmed the Apple developer documentation, and it appears that Apple doesn't provide an API for third-party apps to access iCloud photos from the desktop. (Mobile apps can access iCloud photos directly.)  So Adobe would need to approach Apple and persuade them open up iCloud for third-party access.  I'm doubtful that either Apple or Adobe would be interested in that, given that Lightroom CC is a direct competitor to iCloud Photos. 

Note that Adobe has only a partial, unfinished API to access photos in its Creative Cloud and that API appears to be abandoned (no changes in a year, no support).  So Adobe would be asking Apple to open up its cloud photos when Adobe hasn't opened up its own cloud photos.