Edits to smart previews in PS don’t sync back to the original (leaving me with a tiny edited file)

Question

I primarily work with LR Classic on my desktop but often like to edit images remotely with my iPad. But if I open a smart preview from LR CC into Photoshop, do some work, and then click the "Send to Lightroom" button, I end up with an edited file that is WAY too small; the edits that I make in PS on the smart preview don't sync back to the original version of the file in LR Classic, so editing in PS CC is essentially a total waste of my time. I assume I must have a setting wrong somewhere, but can't find anything. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

JohanElzenga · Accepted Answer

You do not have a wrong setting somewhere, but you do not understand what 'Send to Photoshop' does. Photoshop is a pixel editor, not a parametric editor like Lightroom. That means that Photoshop receives the smart preview as a pixel-based image, and smart previews are 2560 pixels wide. The moment that image appears in Photoshop, it is a new (and thus smaller) image that has no link to the original raw anymore.

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded