Skip to main content
Participating Frequently
May 12, 2026
Answered

File renaming in Lightroom cloud-based?

  • May 12, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 19 views

I understand that up until somewhat recently there was no way to rename files / photos in Lightroom cloud-based, but now you can. 


This is great, but could anyone explain a bit how Lightroom is treating the new file names?
When I rename my photos in Lightroom everything looks good, but I notice that the files are not renamed in Lightroom Classic, which I have synced. 

Edits, gps data, ratings etc are synced between Lightroom cloud-based and Lightroom Classic, but renaming the files are not. 
Or rather, if I rename the files in Classic it is synced to Cloud-based, but not the other way around. 

I’m just trying to figure out what is happening. 

My goal is to get rid of Classic completely, but there are still a couple of things standing in the way. Lack of Map module being the biggest issue. File handling being another one, but it's less of an issue the more I learn about it. 

    Correct answer JohanElzenga

    That renaming is indeed an internal thing in Lightroom only. To rename the file so it syncs between Lightroom and Lightroom Classic you will need to rename it in Lightroom Classic.

    1 reply

    JohanElzenga
    Community Expert
    JohanElzengaCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    May 13, 2026

    That renaming is indeed an internal thing in Lightroom only. To rename the file so it syncs between Lightroom and Lightroom Classic you will need to rename it in Lightroom Classic.

    -- Johan W. Elzenga
    Participating Frequently
    May 13, 2026

    Thank you. This is not really a major problem but I like to have full manual control of as many aspects as possible. 
    With the current system everything looks nice within Lightroom, but let’s say for example that in the future I want to migrate to a completely different software. Then I might want all my original files renamed in a certain manner.