Thank you, Adobe, for this unwarranted, unmitigated disaster that is Cloud Documents.

[DTMN1977]

Thank you, Adobe,

You've outdone yourselves this morning; sending an e-mail to users with the announcement that file syncing will end, forcing the use of a disastrour cloud document function that only works with certain apps. Your support pages for this may as well have been written in cuneform , and the whole function (or lack of it) is a big fat middle finger to anyone who may find themselves unexpectedly without an internet connection, or by default through no fault of their own has an unreliable one.

Well done.
👍

[kglad]

that's hyperbolic.

[DTMN1977]

This is not hyperbole. Cloud Documents is a shocker. You're left to rely on a half-arsed effort that only gives the option to save files as 'AIC' or 'PSDC' and there isn't even the option to default 'always make available offline'.

I live in Australia, and despite its supposed reputation as a highly developed country (lol; come for the agression and racism, stay for the bigotry), it has, at best, a third rate excuse for communications infrastructure. If I want to do some quick editing while on a train, for example, then depending on your location and/or reliablility of your phone to allow you to hotspot, or you're on a plane, you're screwed if you didn't remember to make your document offline-editable.

As Mr Smith correctly advises in another comment here, one's priority should always be a locally stored copy. So why they couldn't combine the apparently awesome super duper new features that come with Cloud Documents, with the efficiency of the exisiting Creative Cloud Files structure, is beyond me. It's the reason I avoid using Acrobat DC.

As for Lightroom CC and Mobile, holy moly. I added images to it on my phone yesterday, and they still haven't synced. And I have all options selected to use mobile data, background refresh etc. Incredible.

And what about InDesign? No way to simply, directly, link an Illustrator file where you might use several of its artboards in one project?

This is not hyperbole, it's demonstrably my actual experience.

The only thing that comes even remotely close to hyperbole is the expletive-laden rant I just went on upon discovering the typo I made in the word 'disastrous' on my first post. 🙂

[John T Smith]

For anyone else reading this...
You should always have a local copy of all files, not just in the cloud
If you don't have space on your computer drive use an external drive for files
A USB flash drive to carry with you... here are 2, there are many more available
PNY brand https://www.amazon.com/PNY-512GB-Turbo-Attach%C3%A9-Flash/dp/B0BF5VHLBZ
SanDisk https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-512GB-Ultra-Flash-Drive/dp/B083ZLJ5MG
Other flash drives are 1 or even 2 Terabytes
Formatting a flash drive https://www.usbmemorydirect.com/blog/flash-drive-format-types/
.
I use a Sata docking station and SEVERAL 'bare' drives for backup of my desktop computer
There are many external drive devices, this is the one I use
https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-External-docking-station-drives/dp/B00U8KSLA8/

[DTMN1977]

Indeed, this is part of what grates my soul. I was, in part, paying my hard-earned crust to Adobe for the benefit of 100GB of storage for all my CC-related files, and now have to go pay someone else more money just to do something similar, but it won't be anywhere near the same thing.

[kglad]

to start, nothing is changing regarding cloud documents.  but you seem committed to believing whatever you're believing.

[DTMN1977]

Hi.
I am glad that you, as an expert, are having no issues with what for me and my usage of the CC service, are big changes (CC Files vs Cloud Documents). Or, perhaps the problem is me, and I'm just not understanding it properly? In which case, I would ask for your help. Please let me know if the following statements are true or false:

1. Currently, CC Files allows me to backup/sync any file type, up to a total (in my case) 100GB of data.
2. The dropping of support for CC Files means that the only available online storage option for Creative Cloud will be Cloud Documents.
3. Cloud Documents currently support only a limited number of CC apps, the principle ones (for me) being Ai, Ps, and Id which is in Beta.
4. Cloud Documents only supports files created within a specific app.
5. Cloud Documents saved (Save As) from within an app can only be one single file type related to that app, e.g. .aic, psdc, .iddc, etc.
6. If, let's say, I need to Save As a .psdc file as a .tiff, then I can now only save that file to my local drive, thus not benefiting from the automated sync to Cloud Documents.
7. Saving a file as a Cloud Document means I must then come back to the file in the 'home' tab and make sure that the file is always available offline.
8. There is no 'always' selection/toggle for this at all within each app's settings/preferences.
9. The recommedation to embed rather than link items, means larger file sizes, increasing upload/download times.
10. This whole approach means a desperately fragmented experience across the platform.

There is a litany of other issues. What say you?

[kglad]

that's mostly true 

[ProDesignTools]

Using Creative Cloud Libraries is a good alternative for sharing assets online across different apps, users, or systems, and is widely supported throughout Creative Cloud...

From the FAQ:

Is there an alternative to Creative Cloud Synced files, which is being discontinued?

For Photoshop, Illustrator, and Fresco users, cloud documents are the solution for saving, sharing, and collaborating on creative work in progress. Creative Cloud Libraries are the best way to save and share design elements across applications and users.

[DTMN1977]

Hi ProDesignTools,

Thank you for your reply. Yes, I certainly see that the Libraries section offers certain benefits, all of which are predicated on all users being CC users and being invited to view (or being shared) a file via the in-app share feature.

I don't collaborate with anyone via my CC directly, but instead, to date, my practice would be simply to share output files via a link to the file's specific location within my Creative Cloud Files. This will no longer be possible from Feb 2024 (I admit, and we can agree I am sure, that there is enough time to create an alternative workflow prior to that. But it is an alterantive that is going to cost me more money. And I want to be clear that my beef here is not one against change in and of itself).

Since reading your comment the other day, and finding the time to have a bit of a feel around, I also (accidentally) clicked to open a Cloud Document Ps file on Photoshop on the web; and lo and behold the gasp of exasperation that my body emmitted, upon discovering that it is 'not yet supported by this browser'. It seems so phenomenally strange to me that the default, shipped browser on macOS does not support this. And the question here is; is this the fault of Adobe dev, or is it the fault of Apple dev (in the same way that it is the fault of Apple dev that freeform gradients do not display in Finder previews [which I believe are generated as a PDF] or as part of a final PDF file opened in Preview)?

Sorry if I seem to be veering well off topic here, but my current frustrations are many and varied 🙂

Cheers,
DTMN

[Jeremy Hesketh]

DTMN1977 I feel your pain!

I think the whole announcement and (lack of) useful information and support has been bl**dy terrible. I work as part of a team and require the ability to share and work on a full range of file types with my colleagues and external freelancers. 'Creative Cloud' Synced files work well for this - though I have had many issues with sync not working over the years causing not end of problems, though has been working faultlessly for a good year now. I might be being ignorant, but I can't see how we can now collaborate on files together without emailing (or using a third party cloud service) to share files and any linked assets. This opens a huge issue for ISO27001 compliance with version history. I have tried looking through the Adobe website, but have found nothing useful and I have tried customer support which has been one of the most frustrating and useless experiences I've had with a support function. None of the half dozen staff i spoke to could tell me how CC worked or what I should do when the support ends in 2024. I assume there will be a significant reduction in the cost of a licence with this funamental feature removal? Again, happy to admit I may be missing something here, so if anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears.

[kglad]

@Jeremy Hesketh 

there are many cloud storage options.  google it. 

[Jeremy Hesketh]

@kglad Thanks for the reply, very helpful!

[kglad]

you're welcome.

[dDembicki]

Jeremy, it's my understanding that Cloud Documents is not going away for CC Enterprise customers. If your subscription is part of your company's contract, there will be no changes. If all the CC users in your company have their own individual subscriptions, yes, they will lose Adobe CC Cloud storage. It's possible for a company to have an Enterprise plan where all company users are part of one overall plan. There is a dashboard that allows users to be added and deleted. In my large corporate employer, someone in IT does that, but if you have a smaller user group, it could be administered by someone on your team.

[Jeremy Hesketh]

Thank you @dDembicki. The enterprise plan is dropping support in October 2024 and Personal plans in Feb 2024 for synced files. While I appreciate cloud documents and libraries are still supported it doesn't appear to me to be straightforward or possible at all to share whole folder structures which seems like many steps backwards to me.

I think Libraries might help, but as we've not been using these to their full potential so-far, there is some learning and a lot of restructuring to be done here.
Does anyone know if it's possible to 'move' your entire synced file structure across to cloud documents? I've tried a few ways, but so-far it only looks like you can save one file at a time to cloud documents, which is going to be fun with 150GB of files!

[dDembicki]

Oh. I must have mis-read then.

Fortunately for me, I only use my CC folder as an additional backup, and occasionally when I need to log into my work account on my personal machine. The work team doesn't use it to share files. We are all in different locations, and the work machines and internet access are pretty locked down by IT, so we never incorporated CC file sharing into our work experience. Old school, uploading files to a shared server... 

Thanks for that, I will have to dig deeper and see what are the ramifications for my personal Photography plan. (Fortunately I use Lightroom Classic, so files are already local. I do the bulk of retouching on the computer too, because of the larger screen. Sometimes I cull on the iPad though... and show people images when I don't have my laptop with me.)

[ProDesignTools]

Yes, I certainly see that the Libraries section offers certain benefits, all of which are predicated on all users being CC users and being invited to view (or being shared) a file via the in-app share feature.

By @DTMN1977

Actually with Creative Cloud Libraries, you can collaborate (share files) with anyone whether they are a paid subscriber or not.

Many different file formats are supported.

Further, you don't have to share from within a CC app:

"You can share libraries with your team using the Creative Cloud website, the Creative Cloud desktop app, or any of your Creative Cloud desktop apps. Your team members need either a free or a paid Creative Cloud membership to use Creative Cloud Libraries. When you share, you can also give them either view or edit permission. For details on sharing, see Collaborate on libraries."

[Source: the Libraries help page.]

[ProDesignTools]

Hi @Jeremy Hesketh,

Anyone with the link to a Library that you share can view the contents. Think of a Library like an online directory for uploading/sharing and collaborating. You can create as many as you want within your storage limits.

You can also manage Libraries using Adobe Bridge, the desktop media manager app which is free for everyone with no subcription required... This includes bulk uploading of multiple files to Libraries.

That should be a lot faster than one at a time, if you have many assets to upload. You should be able to use this approach to move your Synced Files to Libraries in Creative Cloud.