ed4360241 wrote Wondering if anyone has suggested workflow for managing photos when returning from vacation/shoot with laptop containing new photos (including keywords & ratings) and wanting to update desktop for same. I store the actual photos in the cloud so both computers sync well in this regard however all the keywords and ratings details entered while using my laptop on the shoot (data contained in the catalog file) do not sync, This is not a feature offered by Adobe. Understand I would need to locate the catalog file and manually copy to desktop but naturally for this workflow to be 100% I must be vigilant about version control (if keywords were entered on desktop and I overwrite the catalog file with the file from my laptop the desktop data will be lost) I understand Lightroom has a similar issue. |
From the title of your post, the obvious answer is to store both your photo gallery and your catalog on an external drive, plugged alternatively on both computers. Your catalogs are always updated. No delay to sync, no need for a web connection.
Using the Cloud as the main storage location? Totally irrealistic for me because I shoot a number of big raw files and I am struggling to keep my library under 70 000 items... too big, too slow, expensive.
That said I use Dropbox (and Google or OneDrive) to maintain a subset of my best edited photos and sync two computers as you describe. The other advantage is that I can access that Cloud library from any device.
Suggestions:
- Keep your library and catalog on the external drive as suggested above.
- Use a syncing utility to sync that library to the Dropbox or equivalent folder in the internal drive of your desktop (I use Microsoft Synctoy). Dropbox will do the job of synchronizing with the cloud and with the laptop.
- It will help if you don't only rely on the catalog, but if you use a simple folder tree to find your files. I would also always 'write metadata to files'. That way, any device, phone or tablet will have access to the cloud library and a way to retrieve pictures without the catalog.
That way you have:
- a single master bundle of library plus catalog totally manageable when you are away from your computer
- you have three 'backup copies' (not working ones) on the cloud and on each computer
- you can access your library from any device (admittedly without access to the catalog).
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