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reidthaler28
reidthaler28
Participant
October 11, 2017
Answered

Lightroom mobile: Remove originals but keep smart preview for viewing?

  • October 11, 2017
  • 4 replies
  • 2940 views

Is there a way to remove the original images from my phone, but keep smart preview for viewing and editing on my phone? Clearing cache frees up some space, but originals still take up alot.

Thanks,

Reid

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer JohanElzenga

    Go to Settings - Cloud Storage & Sync and check 'Only Download Smart Previews'. That should automatically replace the originals you shot with the phone with smart previews once they have been uploaded to the cloud. Don't be fooled by the small 'RAW' or 'DNG' icons you see in the upper right corner of the images. That doesn't mean that the iPhone has a local copy of the raw original, but only that the image is from a raw original. You will even see these icons on images that were synced up from Lightroom Classic, which are always smart previews.

     

    4 replies

    DdeGannes
    Community Expert
    DdeGannesCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 22, 2021

    Johan answer is accurate as regards to Lightroom Mobile. The image files you have in your Photo app on your phone has to be managed separately.

     

     

    Regards, Denis: iMac 27” mid-2015, macOS 11.7.10 Big Sur; 2TB SSD, 24 GB Ram, GPU 2 GB; LrC 12.5,; Lr 6.5, PS 24.7,; ACR 15.5,; (also Laptop Win 11, ver 24H2, LrC 15.0.1, PS 27.0; ) Camera Oly OM-D E-M1.
    JohanElzenga
    Community Expert
    JohanElzengaCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    July 22, 2021

    Go to Settings - Cloud Storage & Sync and check 'Only Download Smart Previews'. That should automatically replace the originals you shot with the phone with smart previews once they have been uploaded to the cloud. Don't be fooled by the small 'RAW' or 'DNG' icons you see in the upper right corner of the images. That doesn't mean that the iPhone has a local copy of the raw original, but only that the image is from a raw original. You will even see these icons on images that were synced up from Lightroom Classic, which are always smart previews.

     

    -- Johan W. Elzenga
      Carles Alonso Photography
      Carles Alonso Photography
      Participant
      July 22, 2021

      That's awesome thanks! Much better. In settings Adobe should state that clearly in a sentence. It's quite an important topic

      Theresa J
      Community Expert
      Theresa JCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      October 12, 2017

      I haven't tried this yet, but I'm thinking it should work. Let me know if it does. Follow these steps.

      1. Check to make sure that the images from your phone have successfully transfered to the computer. Do this by finding an Image in your main catalog. Right click and chose Reveal in Finder (Mac), or Show in Explorer (Windows).

      2. In the desktop catalog go to All Synced Photos collection (or something similarly named. I'm not in front of my computer at the moment). This is in the top panel on the left where you find collections for All Photos, and Recently Imported.

      3. Delete phone photos from this collection. Chose the option to remove from the collection, but don't delete from catalog. This will remove the images from your phone, and leave them on your computer, but it may take awhile for everything to sync up.

      4. Now the images live on your computer, not your phone, and they are no longer synced to Lr Mobile. Create a new collection for the phone images and sync this collection.

      5. This will create smart previews of the images to sync back to Lr Mobile.

        reidthaler28
        reidthaler28Author
        Participant
        October 12, 2017

        That's the same approach I had thought of as well. I just hoped that there would be something a little bit more elegant, like an option in Lightroom  mobile to remove raw files, but keep smart reviews

        Theresa J
        Community Expert
        Theresa JCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        October 12, 2017

        Reid, I completely agree. I also wish that images captured on my iPhone would auto collect into a mobile collection on my mobile devices. I hate that they are mingled with the catalog images I have synced with Lr Mobile.

        I'm going to be at Adobe MAX next week and plan to meet with the Lr Product team. I will ask them about this workflow and find out if they know something we don't.

        Rob_Cullen
        Community Expert
        Rob_CullenCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        October 12, 2017

        Photos that are synced from a 'desktop' computer to 'mobile' are "Smart Previews".

        Are you referring to photos taken by the phone? This will need an answer from someone more knowledgeable than I.

        Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.1.1, Photoshop 27.3.1, ACR 18.1.1, Lightroom 9.0, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.2 .
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