P: Should be able to Sync full raw files to the cloud, not just smart previews

It’s quite insane that both:

1. Lightroom CC can’t do tethered capture
2. Lightroom Classic can’t upload full quality originals to the Cloud

This means, still, to this day, in 2026, for me to get both (1) tethered shooting and (2) full RAWs synced to the Cloud, I need to either:

1. Install both Lightroom CC and Classic on my laptop, so I can do a tethered shooting session in Classic, then drag and drop the photos from Finder into Lightroom CC, for it to do the full RAW sync to the Cloud. This method doubles the amount of storage space my library consumes on my 1 TB laptop, so it has a hard upper limit, and Adobe explicitly recommends against installing both, synced to the Cloud, without any clarification on why they recommend against this.
2. For all other photos taken outside of tethered capture sessions, use my iPhone or iPad as an ingestion machine, to import the photos from my SD card, wait for them to upload to the Cloud, and open Lightroom Classic on my laptop, and wait for them to download back down from the Cloud, so I can edit them in Classic. I’ve got a 5 Gbps internet connection in my studio (up and down), and a 10 Gbps LAN, but Adobe’s Cloud service uploads and downloads photos at a stupidly slow rate, so this takes forever.

Adobe says they maintain two separate versions of Lightroom, because they’re targeted at two separate audiences of photographers… It’s insane to think there’s no one caught in the middle, of needing the pro-oriented features of Classic, and full RAW syncs to other devices.

Dear Adobe, if you felt any significant competition, you’d have this fixed already. Please fix, before I have to move to Capture One.

I’ve commented the same on the feature request to add tethered shooting to Lightroom CC, here

+1 on all this. The ability to sync RAWs from Lightroom Classic up to the cloud is a very much needed missing feature. In my workflow, I regularly edit my photos on an iPad and editing smaller Smart Previews doesn't work for me. Especially if I want to export photos from my iPad for production reasons.

To get around this at times i've used workflows of just importing all photos to iPad first, but this gets messy. I've also tried adding the RAWs to Lightroom CC after the smart previews are synced from Classic, this is also messy.

I do the bulk of my editing at a desktop with the LrC app. When i'm on the go I grab my ipad pro. I desparetly wish I could upload full-size RAW files into the cloud that could edit PLUS export while out and about. Currently, I have to wait till im back at my desk or attempt to remote into that desktop.

The solutions ive been seeing is to upload directly to LR instead of classic but this is pretty cumbersome as the mobile version shoudl be secondary to the full service classic one - you would think. 

I just don't know of a better solution for the work flow to optimize my images and be able to pull from some collections while on the go. 

There SHOULD just be one version of Lightroom with granular control over what goes to and from cloud storage, and a usable UI. This unicorn would have the best features of both current versions and much better performance/fewer bugs.

The syncing between LrC and LR is useless for me right now because I have no way of syncing LR full size RAWS to the cloud to edit on the go. Even with a little bit of storage it would be so much more efficient if I could sync the full size original files and then access, edit, and export from the ipad.

Currently, any workflow done on the ipad must be finished with the desktop LRC and my external drives. 

Please add this feature!

Hello Adobe Team and fellow Lightroom users,

I’m a dedicated Lightroom Classic user who deeply values the powerful editing and organizational tools this platform offers. However, I’d like to request a critical feature that would significantly improve my workflow and align better with how I store and manage my photography today.

🌐 My Request:

Please allow Lightroom Classic to import and store full-resolution images directly in the Adobe Cloud, using the storage I already pay for (e.g., the 1TB plan), without requiring local copies to remain on my device.

💡 Why This Matters:

• I work primarily from SD cards and prefer to keep my laptop clean and lightweight to preserve disk space.

• I pay for Adobe’s 1TB of cloud storage, but currently cannot use it for full photo storage in Lightroom Classic.

• The current Smart Preview syncing system is helpful, but I would prefer to have originals stored safely in the cloud while still benefiting from Classic’s advanced editing tools, catalog structure, and flexibility.

What This Would Unlock:

• A hybrid solution for creators who love Classic but want modern cloud-based workflows.

• Improved flexibility for working across devices without having to constantly manage disk space.

• Better use of the storage we are already paying for — with no need to fully switch to Lightroom Cloud, which lacks some of Classic’s essential features.

I understand that Lightroom (Cloud) is designed for cloud-first workflows, but many of us rely on Lightroom Classic's capabilities and would love to see an optional, native way to utilize full cloud-based photo storage within it.

Thank you so much for all the incredible tools you’ve developed. I hope this suggestion resonates with others and gets considered in future development.

I use Lightroom Classic to to manage my 70k images catalogue. I make collections that I sync to Lightroom (mobile), so can work in them on the go on my iPad or Macbook. The issue is that it only syncs the smart previews and there is no option to sync the full resolution images. 

Adobe, please add an option to sync full res images. 

@Thomas337255109z82 , You can create an idea on this issue, just ensure you will need storage for the original image files in Adobe Creative Cloud and a Hsrd drive connected to your Computer. 

• My plan has 1TB of space. This is enough to hold my files.
• I will only use Classic for editing my files.
• I will never use Cloud for editing my files except those rare occasions when something mobile is very useful.

For the life of me, I cannot imagine why Adobe would choose to NOT make a default possible for syncing my Classic catalog to the cloud in full rez. What's the worst that could happen? I have to buy more storage from Adobe?

I hope those at Adobe can see there's a revenue opportunity here.

Adobe, please make this happen, in full rez.

@tamarap40954479, I installed Lightroom mobile on my iPhone and turned on Photos and Videos import in App Settings. This way, all photos I take with my phone will eventually make it to Lightroom Classic. Lightroom's sync is kind of flaky, so I often have to re-launch Lightroom mobile and toggle sync in Lightroom Classic to force it, but ultimately, everything syncs.

If you're asking about how to get existing pics from Apple Photos to Lightroom, I never had to do that. I've used Lightroom Classic since my first digital camera. If you're okay with losing edits made in Apple Photos, here's an Adobe help page on how to migrate:

• Migrate Apple Photos Library to Lightroom