P: Lightroom Classic: no longer syncs completely, successfully.

[hr114]

I've had a problem getting my collections to sync for over three months now. Lr Classic used to magically sync my dozens of collections, and over 5,000 files, and did it without any hiccups for several years. Then, suddenly in late July it just stopped working. It would just hang trying to update any new items in any collection, and still does.

I have called support, opened two separate tickets, and followed everything they asked me to do, plus everything ever mentioned here at least three times, and still there's no fix. I even exported a large collection of my portfolio as DNGs, created a new Adobe account, created a new macOS account so everything would be in a clean state, and tried syncing about 1,000 of my photos from that account. LrC still got stuck with 200 photos remaining to sync. Why can't the entire sync database just be reset so we can just start from scratch?

I'm frankly at wit's end. I totally fell in love with LR Classic sync, and used it across my macOS desktop, my iPad, and even my iPhone, and it was working brilliantly. It was so magical, I built my whole workflow around it for my portfolio, my students, and even my clients. Heck, I even built my whole website with it in Adobe Portfolio! Now it's just dead in the water, and I'm stuck, and feel like Adobe doesn't even care.

If anyone has any ideas how to get this to work again, I'd sure love to hear them.

 Sincerely,

Hans Rupert

[hr114]

Oy.

This is getting to be a bit voodoo-like. I'll leave everything just the way it is overnight and let you know how it goes. I can pretty much predict that *NOTHING* will happen, not a single thing will change. There will still be just 100 photos in the cloud, and LR Classic will be stuck saying 171 photos are still syncing, which of course they're not.

Thanks again for the follow-up. This really needs fixing. Is engineering even aware of this? Apparently, I'm not the only person having the issue.

[hr114]

Rikk –

The reason for doing these things was simple in my mind: wipe out any photos being synced in every place they might live, and reset the sync database to 0 so we can just start over. 

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

re: "This really needs fixing. Is engineering even aware of this? Apparently, I'm not the only person having the issue." 

As another data point, I have 37000 photos synced currently between Mac/Windows/iOS using Lightroom Classic, Lightroom (iPad and iPhone), and Lightroom Desktop. I haven't seen a stuck sync issue in over a year and that was a special case. 

In any case, lets take stock of where you are this morning (it is morning in my time zone)

What is your Lightroom Classic All Synced Photos count?
What is your Lightroom Classic Sync panel status? Syncing? (Screenshot)
What is your Lightroom Classic>Preferences>Lightroom Sync>Sync Activity (wait 30 seconds to refresh) status? (Screen Shot)

What is https://lightroom.adobe.com  All Photos count? 

[hr114]

Wow, color me envious – that's exactly how I had hoped LR Sync would ultimately work for me: all of my important photos in the cloud and accessible from any device!

Screenshots are included below. Sadly, it's still stuck at syncing 173 of 274 (I took one iPhone photo to see if it would sync across all devices, and it does – even back to the stuck desktop!)

[huaqingy55292324]

What @hans_rupert showed is the same situation as my case. I am watching you two's conversation. 

Just FYI, I was able to remove all un-uploaded photos from Collections and "All Synced Photographs" so that "Local Activity" showed all "Synced". After that, I started adding different photos one by one in new collections and followed by removing the "sync.lrdata" folder. I was trying to diagnose the sync issue vs photo type or taken date...  There was NO successful sync in any of my trials. 

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Thank you for the screenshots Hans.

Your Lightroom Classic Preferences screen concerns me. It shows no activity. If you launch that screen again and wait 60 seconds does anything appear in Sync Activity?

[hr114]

Sadly, no. I even let the sync and that panel alone overnight, and there is no change. The computer is not to set to sleep at all. I have since opened and closed that LRC Prefs panel several times over 15-20 minutes at a time. So nothing is looking like it's moving at all.

Ideas?!?

[hr114]

Since my last post, I have also paused and restarted the sync several times in 15-20 minute increments to see if the LRC Prefs panel/sync will start reporting sync states. Still no joy.

[hr114]

Rikk –

Do you or engineering have *any* ideas what's going on here? I'd sure like to get back to work.

– Hans

[huaqingy55292324]

Rikk,

Is there a way for us to generate some log information or an error report for you to diagnose our issues?

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

@hans_rupert 
At this point it looks like a single file may be holding up your sync.

There are a couple of ways to go about this: 

1. Query the Sync Activity section of the Preferences>Lightroom Sync tab until you find the image that is truly stuck - remove it and allow the rest to sync. Note: there may be more than one problem images. 
2. Set aside the group you are currently syncing and sync other files first. Then add the 274 back 10 or so at a time so you can find the batch that has the problem image. 
3.  From the Preferences>Lightroom Sync panel hold down the Opt/Alt key to create the button to Generate a diagnostic log. This would be forwarded to engineering for review. 

Let me know how you would like to proceed.

[berliner_ffm]

@hans_rupert 

Did you by any chance check if the reason might be similar to mine?

I went through my stuck images, until I found a pattern, which images could not sync. So far all images stuck are 100% native-RAW-Files (no DNGs) with no lens data, because I shot with a manual lens.

Maybe there is some kind of pattern in your stuck images as well.

I'd like to add, that this is by far no solution, because this is still a major bug, because all valid image files should sync, otherwise it's best not to advertise the ability to sync across platforms anymore.

[hr114]

Rikk –

1) I think we keep going back over this endlessly: There are no images stuck in the Preferences Sync tab! I keep showing you this in screenshots.

2) You've got to be kidding me. So, set aside the images I need access to most and just take shots in the dark with other collections until I run into problems again?!?

3) Alrighty. I'll try your #2 suggestion above and then generate the sync log again. (I've don't that in the past, but apparently it just gets discarded at Adobe since nobody ever gets back to me)

This is bordering on ridiculous. I had over 5,000 photos synced perfectly up until about 100 days ago, and then something broke. And it's STILL BROKEN. Please fix this!

[hr114]

Jens –

Thanks for your insights & suggestions. The problem I'm having is that LR never shows me what is stuck, or just won't sync. I mean, I could sync 10 photos at a time, and LR hangs on sync like it has, I'd still have to guess which of the 10, and then just start syncing one at a time. Ridiculous.

I'll have to go through the photos and see if I can find any without any lens data, as you were saying. There might be a few. (but why does LR not just skip shows and log an error?) All these anecdotal attempts to solve the LR sync issues remind me of chasing down bad IRQ settings on a Windows machine in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. It's infuriating.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

@hans_rupert 

Reference #3 - this creates a log but you still have to deliver it to someone. To whom have you sent this in the past - I can chase it down. 

At this point I think you should forgo all other options and send the log to me. 

[berliner_ffm]

I know it is ridiculous. But in my case LR also did not just skip some photos but was stuck totally without showing any activity at all. I agree on all points with you, that this is unbelievable.

[hr114]

Rikk –

Thanks for the quick response.

The logs were taken from the online support chat agents in India. I'll generate a new log for you. Should I simply attache the .zip file here?

[hr114]

Jens –

Two things I cannot believe were overlooked when this sync engine was being engineered:

1) Can we skip problem files and just keep syncing and then report those problem files to the user afterwards?

2) What happens if everything is FUBAR in sync? Can we just reset the sync database on all devices and start over from scratch? (I've tried this numerous times on all devices with limited luck)

[hr114]

Jens -

Furthermore, all I'm trying to do is get back to the 5,000 photos I had successfully synced over a few years. The last time they were all synced just fine was in July! I'm not even trying to add any new photos, I just want my LR sync to work again.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

@hans_rupert 

I've emailed instructions for the log file. I will respond on this thread once Engineering has reviewed and replied.

[hr114]

Thank you very much, Rikk. I just sent you the link.

[hr114]

Thanks Rikk; just sent you a link

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Got it. Please leave your link up for a week or so. As soon as I hear back from the team, I will update you. 

[huaqingy55292324]

Hi, Rikk,

I have learnt from another forum that changing catalog file could cause sync issue. When I upgraded my LR CC to v10, the system changed my catalog file to orginal_name-v10.lrcat. Could this be the root cause of my issue?

do you want to work on case at same time when you are helping @hans_rupert? or should I get another Adobe expert to help me? please advice.

Thanks.

Yin

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

@hans_rupert 

From Engineering:
According to your log file:

"There are 172 documents missing from docStore and 632 pending lrcat changes are yet to be processed.

Since the no of images synced is very less .. a quick “Rebuild sync.lrdata” would help here."  

This would be going to Preferences>Lightroom Sync and holding down the [Alt/option] Key and then clicking on the [Rebuild sync.lrdata] option.  Even if you have done this before. We would like to do it again and see if sync moves.