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J
jnwbr
Inspiring
January 22, 2024
Question

Sync is too unpredictable

  • January 22, 2024
  • 5 replies
  • 725 views

My experience with LR sync has has been very disappointing. 

I have LR on my 13Pro set up to import every photo from the camera roll. I see the DNGs in the LR app on my phone. 

After a short time they will appear on my iPad. But to see them in LR Classic on my desktop (mac) can be any where from a few minutes (not usually) to a couple of hours (more likely). For instance I shot 3 images (DNG) at noon this morning and 9 hours later they are still not synced to Classic.

In the past I've quit and reopened LR, paused and restarted Sync, and I've also deleted all Sync data. Sometimes these actions work, sometimes not.

All I want is to have what I shoot on my phone apear on my desktop and I have no clue at this point how to have that consistently happen.

 

MacOS 12.7.2/LR Classic 13.1

    5 replies

    J
    jnwbrAuthor
    Inspiring
    March 9, 2026

    30 psd files modified before noon and over 7 hours later still not updated on the LR website or my iOS devices. Really dependable sync function. 

    J
    jnwbrAuthor
    Inspiring
    November 16, 2024

    Photos shot on my phone this afternoon and 4 hours later, still no sync to other devices or LR Online. 
    Maybe the Adobe sync process should be given a new name:

     

    SometimesSync

    MaybeSync

    PrayToSync

    CrossYourFingersSync

    CloggedSync

     

    J
    jnwbrAuthor
    Inspiring
    October 7, 2025

    Sync still sucks.

    Classic says 1475 images synced. iPhone and LR online say 1640.

    Why the difference?

    I'm so tired of jumping though hoops and crossing my fingers hoping that images will be where they should be.

    Is there some major unfixable reason why sync doesn't consistently work?

    J
    jnwbrAuthor
    Inspiring
    October 25, 2024

    Why are images not synced in Classic showing up on the LR website on on mobile devices as being synced?

    J
    jnwbrAuthor
    Inspiring
    October 21, 2024

    It's painful to see that even with the latest/greatest version of LR (14.0), sync is still unpredicable and generally sucky. I've had 50 images in the Sync box for hours now. Really? Maybe if Adobe would spend some of their AI development time getting this to work...

      J
      jnwbrAuthor
      Inspiring
      October 21, 2024

      I went to the Sync box and clicked on a few of the 50 images supposedly syncing (uploading). I chose to show them in their Collections. None of the Collections are set to Sync! Why are the images attempting to be uploaded when they aren't even chosen to sync?

      KostFan2
      KostFan2
      Known Participant
      January 22, 2024

      I feel your pain…

      It took me a lot of effort to get mine working.  Once I did, it really made a difference.  The longest wait is now about 3 minutes.  The usual time is less than 1 minute.

       

      The following are for a Windows 10 machine:

      • Try going through the “Laundry list” below to get your system working better.
      • After that the steps I do when there is a delay include the steps you mentioned:

      -   Force Sync: Turn sync off and on again

      -   Optimize the Catalog: File/Optimize Catalog

      -   Quit & Reopen Lightroom:

       

      • Firewall: temporarily turn this off to see if this makes a difference. Remember to turn it back on!

       

      • More extreme Measures: Use these if the sync still takes too long.

       

      1.   LAUNDRY LIST
      • Hard disk space: Make sure you have a sufficient percentage of available space.  At least 20% is recommended
      • Speed test:  run this https://www.speedtest.net/ to see if you have a network or internet issue.
      • Update operating system and drivers:
      • Update Software: Lightroom Classic and Lightroom Mobile on your device, the Device’s operating system
      • Disk Cleanup: Right click the drive/Disk Cleanup
      • Disk Optimization: Start/Windows Administrative Tools
      • Sign out: Sign out and into the Creative Cloud program again.
      • Permissions:
        Go to the program exe file for Lightroom, right click and make sure you have full access.

       

      1.   MORE EXTREME MEASURES
      • Delete all sync data: You will have to wait while the index rebuilds itself.
      • Uninstall and reinstall Lightroom Classic: Make sure you have a list of your custom settings before you do it so that you can restore it to the state it was in before you uninstall it.

       

      I hope this helps

        J
        jnwbrAuthor
        Inspiring
        April 28, 2024

        I've tried all of those things at one time or another and I still have incredibly unrpedictable and stagnant syncing with Classic. Right now I can see many new images on the LR online site I shot this morning and yet the sync in Classic is trying to upload Metadata from a couple of locally changed files. Just so frustrating.

        J
        jnwbrAuthor
        Inspiring
        September 19, 2024

        Using 13.5.1 and still having sync issues.

        This is what I've seen for the last 24 hours. 

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