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RascalSnaps
RascalSnaps
Participating Frequently
November 4, 2025
Question

Is it normal for syncing to the cloud to take this long?

  • November 4, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 158 views

Hi all, as the title says it's taking an extremely long time for Lr Classic to sync to the cloud and I'm wondering if this is normal.

 

I cleared all synced photos recently as I was running out of cloud storage and had ~8000 images (mostly smart preview only) on there that I didn't need. After clearing it, I then selected 385 images that I wanted to add back to the cloud. I synced them via Lr Classic a first time, which didn't take long at all. This was just syncing the smart previews as it does when syncing to the cloud via Lr Classic.

 

I then tried to add the full quality images to the cloud by importing via the regular Lr program but unfortunately that took me over my storage limit, so I first cleared the deleted items on Lr to see if that woud help (it didn't). I then went back to Lr Classic, removed all the 385 images from All Synced Photographs, and started again to sync them as smart previews only.

 

I added the 385 images back to All Synced Photographs as before, however this second time trying to sync them has taken a really, really long time. I added them to All Synced Photographs on Sunday evening (2nd Nov) and it's now Tuesday morning (4th Nov) and there are still 46 images left to sync. It's not completely stuck as there aren't any errors when I go to sync settings, and it does go down (albeit extremely slowly!!!). It was stuck on 61 images left for hours yesterday and now has managed to get down to 46.

 

 

Is this normal? My internet speed is fast. Is it because I previously had the full-size images synced? Because I cleared All Synced Photographs twice in a relatively short time? Because I went over my cloud storage limit? Maybe because I permanently deleted all the deleted files from the cloud?

 

Any ideas (and solutions to speed it up!) are appreciated 🙂

1 reply

Sameer K
Community Manager
Sameer KCommunity Manager
Community Manager
November 4, 2025

Hey, @RascalSnaps. Thanks for the detailed post. You've made some changes with the same image groups at different surfaces, so it might be taking time. 

 

In the meantime, Lightroom Classic does not directly sync to the Lightroom desktop; you'll have to check Lightroom Web (https://adobe.ly/4eF2E7u). 

 

In Lightroom Web (https://adobe.ly/4eF2E7u) and look for the Deleted Section and the Sync issues tab (if they exist). Emptying both of these has helped in the past. Before emptying these tabs, please ensure you have backups for the images.

 

After this change, let Lightroom sync and check if it returns to normal.

 

Thanks!

Sameer K

(Type '@' and type my name to mention me when you reply)

RascalSnaps
RascalSnapsAuthor
Participating Frequently
November 4, 2025

Hi Sameer thanks so much for the reply. Earlier today I cleared all synced data and removed all photos from All Synced Photographs in Lr Classic to see if that would help, then re-added them. It's now imported around 200 of the photos correctly and then got stuck again.

 

Following your instructions, I've just logged into Lr web and cleared the Deleted and the Sync issues sections. Lr Classic then finished syncing with only some of the photos synced, so I restarted Lr Classic. It had automatically removed the photos that hadn't synced yet from All Synced Photographs, so I selected them and put them back again. It's now started syncing those; all looked to be good but it's now stalled again and weirdly on Lr web these images are now just going into the Sync issues section:

 

 

 

Each image is showing the message "Open Lightroom on [my device] to continue syncing". I have Lr web, the Lr app, and Lr Classic app all open currently. With this in mind, will they move out of Sync issues automatically if I give it more time?

 

Thanks 🙂

RascalSnaps
RascalSnapsAuthor
Participating Frequently
November 5, 2025

Further to the above, most of the photos have now synced successfully except for 9 images. These have been stuck "uploading" overnight, and they do not appear in Lr web in Sync issues or Deleted items. There are no errors listed in Lr Classic for these images.

 

 

I tried rebuilding sync data in Classic via Preferences > Sync > hold alt key and rebuild sync data, which hasn't done anything and the 9 images are still stuck but I did run a diagnostic report. The file is too large to attach here but if there's a way for me to send it to someone to have a look at, that would be greatly appreciated.

 

I can't believe it's taken nearly three days to sync 385 images and it's still not done!

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