Participant

Answered

Can I use both Lightroom CC and Classic?

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
October 18, 2017
11 replies
64729 views

Will I have any issues running Lightroom Classic on my desktop, and Lightroom CC on both my laptop and mobile?

I understand the libraries will be separate with Classic stored locally, and CC in the cloud, and I would have to move images manually to get them from one application to the other, but I don't need all of my images in the cloud, and I am worried about space constraints. At the same time, most of what I do is for social media, and the ability to edit wherever I am is often the best option.

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Correct answer 99jon

You would not need to move anything manually because anything added to Lr CC gets uploaded to the cloud and down to LR Classic. The new Lr CC also manages disk space more efficiently using proxies (smart previews) to keep the overall footprint as minimal as possible on your laptop and mobile device. You would just need to be aware that each app stores smart previews separately. So there would be some duplication, although smart previews are compressed files.

gregoryw17089413

Participating Frequently

This thread has been really helpful. I migrated to CC around two months ago and have two regrets (in addition to the CC limited feature set): 1) I didn't prepare beforehand and lost my entire folder structure and am finding it painful to recreate in CC and 2) I don't like how CC stores the images locally because CC just stored them in folders by date wheres I liked to store by folders and subfolders by topic, so if I ever moved off CC, my pictures wouldn't be organized in a helpful way.

So now I'm considering switching back to using Classic as my main tool and then choosing collections/albums to sync to CC. A few questions:

1) I only have around 500 pictures that I've imported into CC since I migrated. I can see all of those in Classic. Can I add those to my preferred folder structure in Classic so my Classic now has a complete collection of pictures on my hard drive in my preferred folder structure, and then delete all of my photos in CC? So I start with a complete Classic and a blank CC and then decide which albums/collections to sync to CC?

2) Has something fundamentally changed in my Classic catalog since it's already been "migrated"? Or is it really just a regular catalog and can I treat it as such?

3) If I choose to sync files from Classic to CC, is there a way to sync the full image file and not just the smaller preview?

Thanks!

K

km68275805

Participant

Adobe has really created a mess with CC and Classic. Why not have a single app with the option to select which images are stored locally and which ones get uploaded to the cloud? Poor product management.

N

NunoMCastro

Inspiring

I’m sorry for hijacking this thread, but is there anyway to have Lightroom classic to only download Smart Previews and not the originals? I have the new Lightroom sorting the originals and backing them up to Creative Cloud, but I also would like to use the Classic. But without having duplicated raw files.

Thank you.

99jon

Genius

No. Not smart previews. If sync is enabled in Lr Classic, originals will be downloaded into folders.

adilinden

Participant

I just moved from Lightroom 5 to Lightroom Classic CC 2018. Nothing much special, except I turned on syncing. As expected, when I open up Lightroom CC there is nothing there. My LR Classic CC catalog and images live on an external drive, which is synced to a Mac server using "unison" (which syncs to a OneDrive Library and backs up to Time Machine, plus occassional (6-12 months apart) burn to Blueray). This is by all means my master library.

I then installed Lightroom Mobile on my iPhone 6 and took 3 photos. Opening LR Classic CC on my desktop, I see these images in the "All Synced Photographs" catalog. Opening a photo in finder, I see that the synced photos from Lightroom mobile live in "~/Pictures/Lightroom/Mobile Downloads.lrdata".

I then proceeded to install Lightroom CC on the same desktop. It created its own catalog (which is good) in "~/Pictures/Lightroom Library.lrlibrary".

Here now is my question. How can import images added via Lightroom Mobile or Lightroom CC to my master catalog in Lightroom Classic CC without creating duplication?

Thanks,

Adi

andrman

Participating Frequently

I would say they are ALREADY in your master catalog. They showed up in your All Synced Photographs collection. From there, I would just organize them into whatever other collections you use in your master library, as desired. You can also move the originals on disk if you want; you can see their source listed as Lightroom Mobile (or perhaps your iPhone's name). You should be able to just drag them to your external drive folders and it will move the originals on disk.

I wrote this all from memory, so apologize if some details are skipped.

D

Dan The Photo Man

Participating Frequently

Yes, you can! However, DO NOT migrate! Use LR Classic as usual and then select various Collections you want to share in Creative Cloud. You can then see those Collections, and work on them, in LRCC, the LR mobile apps and LR Web. Any of the work you do on the mobile side will be seen in Classic! The trick is designating which collections you want to share online.

I

IMAGEDRUM

Participating Frequently

This is a helpfull thread. Thanks for all.

I noticed that many people import there photos from camera on desktop PC at home and use the LRCC, LRMobile and LRWeb to edit their photos on another location on earth.

I want to know which workflow to follow for the below situation. I use LRClassic on my desktop and I don't have the intention to use the cloud for my originals.

I make photos of an event in the 'field'. Immediately after the event I want to import some of the best photos from my cameras (selecting them in an import screen of LRClassic or LRCC). I want to edit these photos just after the event in 'field' and export them to JPG to sent them to the client by e-mail or USB stick.

Shall I do this import, editing and export action in LRClassic or LRCC on my laptop in 'field'?

When I get home what will happen when I want to import all the photos from my camera in LRClassic to edit them all? Does LRClassic know that I already have imported some photos in 'field' on my laptop with LRClassic or LRCC?

I use all ready synced collections in LRClassic to have the ability to add them to Adobe Portfolio website.

99jon

Genius

Lr CC would be ideal for that situation in the field. If you are only picking a few initial images to work on, you may not be concerned that those few originals get uploaded to the cloud and down into Lr Classic when you turn on sync at home. But you would need a good upload speed wherever you are. When importing the remainder of your storage card to Lr Classic at home, it would recognize what has already been added to the catalog if you select do not import duplicates.

If you use Lr Classic in the field on your laptop there is no sync between different catalogs. You would need to import as a catalog into your master catalog on your main PC. The only way around this is to use a shared Lr Classic catalog but that usually means carrying around an external hard drive that can be connected to both laptop and desktop.

If you really don’t want the originals in the cloud, there is a trick. When you get home wait for the originals to download into Lr Classic. Then delete from Lr CC. That will remove the photos from all devices and the original from the cloud but not from Lr Classic. You can also delete from All Sync’d Photos under the Lr Classic Catalog tab.

In summary any file imported into Lr CC, Lr iOS, Lr Android, or Lr Web will send an original to the cloud. Any sync’d file from Lr Classic will be sent as a smart preview.

C

Charles E. Brown

Participating Frequently

It seems like plugins are not available in the new Lightroom CC and if you want to use plugins you have to go back to Lightroom Classic.

Am I wrong with this assumption?

99jon

Genius

At present there is no provision for plug-ins but this is a 1.0 release. New features will be added in future updates. I for one would like to see plugins or built in functionality for Flickr, SmugMug and Adobe Stock.

C

Charles E. Brown

Participating Frequently

99jon, thank you for your response. That clarified things for me nicely.

DallasH

Participant

Is there a video explaining all this?

K

KylieRaeAuthor

Participant

Thank you for all of the input. It was very helpful.

At the moment, I am running both versions. I have a large lightroom catalog of photographs which I store on external drives connected to my desktop. I have a meaningful investment in external drives, back-up drives, and a cloud back up subscription. I am worried about the space constraints of LightRoom CC's cloud storage, as culling my library is not my strong suit. I also need the features in Classic, that are not in CC at this time. But, I believe that Classic will ultimately be phased out as soon as CC catches up to Classic in terms of functionality. And, I generally find it best to start planning for the future early.

So...

I plan to maintain LightRoom Classic on my desktop and use it for my photographs taken with my camera. The same way I have always done.

And, I will begin to experiment with LightRoom CC on my laptop and phone. I have always spent a lot of money on iPhones, but I have never used one as a camera. I think LightRoom CC will open up the door, and encourage me to begin using my phone for snap shots, and quick Instagram shots and help me post to social media more frequently.

I intend to to keep the two libraries separate, and work on my culling skills.

W

WS Rees

Participating Frequently

Thanks! Finally some clarity on the issue.

M

mnarlock

Inspiring

I'm also very interested in using both LR CC and Classic. The workflow though, isn't clear to me. Ideally I'd like to still have classic on my main workstation, but use LR CC on my laptop or remotely. Additionally, I use various plugins associated with Classic (on1, perfectly clear, etc). Do those work with the new LR CC? As others have mentioned, I'm also suspicious that this is a move on Adobe's part to eventually get rid of Classic and move to LR CC, which would force me personally to re-evaluate using LR in any form.

chnumi

Participant

Hi all and thank you 99jon for your insights.

I'm as well trying to understand if/why working with both Classic and CC would make sense for me.

My current setup is LR Classic on both desktop & laptop, with my catalog syncing on Dropbox and the originals on my desktop.

LR CC would allow me to take advantage of the smart tags and free up space on my desktop. I also like the sleek interface.
LR Classic on the other hand has a reassuring folder structure, manually entered metadata (faces, keywords), editing tools and plugins that I would miss.

Please allow me to ask you how exactly the workflow would look like if I decided to migrate my library to LR CC, and still wanted to benefit from the advanced editing from LR Classic?

I understand the library would be at the CC format and the originals transferred to the cloud. Now if I decided to make basic edits on my desktop with CC, and advanced edits with Classic on the same image in a second step, how would this look like?

Can changes with both programs be applied non-destructively to the same image?
Would the experience be similar to opening a file in Classic with an external plug-in/software (Affinity Photo, MacPhun plug-ins) and then saving the changes, closing Classic and going back to the CC interface?
Would the Classic changes be uploaded to the cloud as well?
Would Classic need to save a local copy of the file? (I'm already scared of having to deal with duplicates on the cloud & local storage, argh!)
How would these potential local files be synced between desktop and laptop?

Hope I'm not too confusing here, but I think it would be great if we could enjoy both the simplicity and future-oriented features of CC whilst still being able to use the advanced Classic tools.

Thanks in advance for your help!

99jon

Genius

Adobe recommends that you choose one or the other. I have been using both apps together which requires a bit of extra discipline, because there are a few caveats. The first concerns key wording. There is no sync from Lr CC to Lr Classic. So adding metadata would best be done in LR Classic. A Key word hierarchy would also be unrecognized; Lr CC only supports flat keywords but supplemented with the algorithms for smart tags. These aid search but are never written into metadata.

Lr CC would be great for travelling with a laptop. If staying for example in a hotel with a fast internet connection; you could import photos from camera storage card and start a basic workflow – culling, rating, and perhaps some editing. Originals are backed up to the cloud and when you get home are downloaded and waiting for you in Lr classic for more editing, keywording etc.

Because Lr CC works efficiently with proxies older photos no longer being edited or actively worked on will automatically drop out of the cache. So 1TB of storage effectively gives you the potential of greater capacity of proxies when working in Lr CC or Lr iOS and Lr Android. More clearly a 50mb file in the cloud may only require several KB of storage in the cache.

In summary you would not migrate your library under such a scenario. You would keep it in Lr Classic. So that would involve a cost choice between the Photography plan +20GB at $9.99 or Photography Plan +1TB at $19.99 (after first year discount) you may get a dropbox saving if you are paying for their storage.

If you elect to migrate and choose Lr CC only the cost with 1TB is $9.99

View at the bottom of the page, plans at the following link:

https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-lightroom.html

-Changes can be applied non-destructively in all apps – you can revert to an original at any time.

-All editing will automatically sync between devices– so not like editing in an external editor.

-All Lr Classic editing is syncd up to the cloud and reflected in the proxies on all other devices.

-Lr Classic would store a local copy either in pictures or your nominated folder on external hard drive. So you would have an original local copy plus an original backed up in the cloud.

-Sync between Lr CC on laptop and Lr Classic on desktop is automatic, subject to the caveat regarding metadata.

-At present Lr Classic or Photoshop would be needed to run plug-ins.

Finally, Victoria has produced a very useful flow chart.

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/lightroom-cc-vs-classic-features

Adobe FAQ

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-cc/faq.html

J

jrs88

Participant

Thank you for the description of the potential workflow

When you say

"-Sync between Lr CC on laptop and Lr Classic on desktop is automatic, subject to the caveat regarding metadata."

Would you happen to know:

1. I have an existing photo in a folder Pictures/2017/09/ that has already been imported to LR Classic, and has also been synced to the cloud using LR CC. I then modify the photo using CC on a tablet and it syncs to the cloud. When it syncs these changes back to LR Classic, are the changes reflected to the photo in its original folder Pictures/2017/09/ ?

2. I add a new photo to LR CC on my tablet. The photo then syncs to the cloud and down to LR Classic. Which folder does it sync to in Classic (and on the hard drive, of course)?

3. If I then move the photo to a different folder using LR Classic, does LR CC treat this as a "move", or does it delete and re-sync as if it is a new photo (assuming the new destination folder is also included in LR CC sync)?

Completely separate questions:

4. I read somewhere else that edit 'layers' in LR CC and LR Classic are not compatible (or additive, between them). Thus cumulative edits might not be 'peelable' backwards if you use both apps to edit. Do you know if that is the case? When you say "Changes can be applied non-destructively in all apps – you can revert to an original at any time." I understand that you can go back to the original, but does this imply you can also step backwards through the layers of changes from both apps?

5. If I add keywords to a photo in LR Classic after the photo has been added/synced to LR CC, are those keywords synced/added to the photo in the cloud/CC? [I understand that the reverse is not true - that keywords autogenerated in the CC cloud are not reflected in Classic metadata.]

I hope this is not too detailed/confusing. And thank you in advance for any clarity you can provide

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