Access to Lightroom when off line.

[margarets60759162]

I have subscribed to Lr.  I understand that the program "Lightroom" is not present on my desktop harddrive, which means I would not be able to use it when our internet goes down.  How can I get Lr Classic onto my harddrive?  I am Windows based.

[john beardsworth]

Which subscription plan do you have? The program Adobe call "Lightroom" needs to be present on your hard drive, but is pretty useless without internet access, while Lightroom Classic (which they used to call Lightroom) doesn't need it all the time, just every so often to validate the licence.

With LrClassic, you go into the Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop app and install it from there. Download the app from https://www.adobe.com/uk/products/catalog.html#category=photo

[margarets60759162]

I live in Australia so your link confuses me more!  I purchased this plan, which seems to say its cloud based. 

But searching more on the Adobe website I have found this 

Both are priced at $14.29 per month.  

I am thinking that I may need to buy the LrC version and cancel my subscription to Lr.  I already have an older version of Photoshop so I don't need access to that.  I am not a professional photographer, just an enthusiastic amature with an Olympus OMD EM 5ii, 71yrs old and retired.  I love taking photos on our travels around Australia, particularly of our wildlife and great scenery.  

Margaret

[john beardsworth]

OK, you have subscribed to the newer cloud-dependent program called "Lightroom". Notice that I say "cloud-dependent" rather than using your "cloud based", because this program is installed on your computer, but it tries to store photos in the cloud and free up space on your hard drive,  and it depends on the cloud for finding photos.

So imagine you're in Darwin and want to see some pictures of a cool winter day in Tasmania a year ago - "Lightroom" will have to get those photos from the cloud. Or say you want to find all the pictures of crocodiles, or all the 5 star pictures - again "Lightroom" will have to connect to the cloud to find them. That's fine if you can connect, but otherwise you're going to have to wait till you're online.

On the other hand, it's a simpler program. You may find it easier to use, and it looks after storage for you, which is good and bad. If you are connected to the cloud, you might have access to all your photos, even on a phone or tablet or a small laptop. So you're in Darwin and you can edit a picture you shot in Tasmania. On the other hand, your photos might amount to more than 1 Tb, you'd have to pay for more storage, and you need to be online to get to them.

"Lightroom" does have a new "Local" option which means that it works on files on your hard drive and doesn't try to upload them to the cloud. But this feature is new, you may have more photos than you can carry round on your laptop, and things like searching or grouping in albums need to be online. It might be a promising feature, but is still quite raw.

Adobe's chat support could switch you to the Lightroom Classic subscription, and that does include the new version of Photoshop (and "Lightroom" too but with much less storage). Treat it as a freebie, though it is rapidly improving in many ways. Some can be fun and easy, like telling the new generative AI to stick a dinosaur behind your grandkid, for example. Not serious photography, but not much harder than typing a term into Google and hitting enter. Both programs can work entirely without the cloud, just having to connect occasionally.

I think a big question is about your internet access.  Neither Lightroom is "based" in the cloud, they both work to greater or lesser extent if you're offline. 

[Conrad_C]

It’s a misconception. Even though these apps are under what’s called “Creative Cloud,” any of the desktop apps must be installed on your Windows computer for you to be able to use them. That’s everything from Lightroom/Lightroom Classic to Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and the video editors and web editors: They are all fully installed desktop apps that require space on your computer. As John said, the Creative Cloud desktop app is the central installer/updater for all of those desktop apps. It does download the software from the cloud, but it does that to install it locally on your computer.

There are some ways that online access is needed. You do need to be online every once in a while for the software to “check in” and validate the subscription license. If you use any of the cloud storage services, then of course you do need to be online for those, but you don’t have to use those; for example, it is possible to use Lightroom/Lightroom Classic, Photoshop, and others with local files only, not requiring constant Internet access. And Lightroom Classic always stores originals on your computer, not in the cloud.

Adobe does now offer web browser versions of Lightroom, Photoshop, and Illustrator, and of course because those run in a web browser you have to be on the Internet. But Lightroom Classic is not available as a web app, only as a local desktop app.

If your goal is to run the full Windows or Mac desktop version of Lightroom or Lightroom Classic, just use the Creative Cloud desktop app to install it, make sure it starts up and is fully signed in while you have an Internet connection, and it should work when the Internet goes down. I can guarantee you that Lightroom Classic is used every day on computers without an Internet connection because I have done it myself, like on a train or jetliner or in a remote cabin.

[cisfw]

So if I have PS and LR on my tablet (used as a desktop), and it either lose internet connection, or I go out in the field to do some work, they will both function normally. However, according to above you have to be signed in, but in the field, my laptop would have been off while travelig, so it is no longer signed in. So if I am correct, I would not be able to use them in the field because I would not be able to sign in out in the field.

[dj_paige]

Once you sign in with Internet connection, you can then use Lightroom Classic (LrC icon) for about 30 days (or 99 days if you pay annually) without internet connection. This assumes you do not sign out of your Adobe account. Shutting down the computer is not signing out. Once your restart your computer, you are still signed in to your Adobe account even if there is no internet connection..

This does not apply to Lightroom (Lr icon), which requires internet access to function, as explained above.

[cisfw]

Thank You for the clarification!