Clearing Cloud storage without losing pictures

[GloriousCC]

Hi there,

I have seen multiple posts about clearing cloud storage up, but all these result in completely deleting the pictures out of LR. Maybe i´m not capable of doing this haha.

So, i´m a Lightroom CC user. I have 100 gb´s of cloud storage, but since i had a big shoot, my cloud storage is completely filled up. I figured i can delete a picture, and then delete it in the "delete" tab wich makes room. But it automatically fills my storage again with other pictures. Also this deletes my photo´s out of lightroom, although i have them stored on my drive. I want to delete pictures out of my cloud storage, but keep them in lightroom CC since they are locally stored!  

Why is it so hard to manage cloud storage, since i need some pictures on the cloud to work when i´m traveling. Anyone got a solution this? Maybe a different threat i overlooked?

Thanks! 

[Chris 486]

Hi GloriousCC!

Where are you first saving your photos when you pull them from your camera? On your computer first or in the cloud?

In Lightroom Classic, your files on your computer that are synced in collections stay on your comptuer and only smart previews are uploaded to the cloud. This will not count against your cloud storage.

If you are saving to the cloud first. It will keep that full size image there and then also make a copy on your comptuer during the sync. 

I would recommend unsyncing collections that you do not want attached to your cloud. Then you should be able to remove the newly unsynced files in the cloud without affecting your local images. If you would like to have access to those files in the cloud again in teh future, you can re-sync them up and it will only send the smart previews which won't effect the cloud storage going forward. I have some links below that will hopefully help. 

Here is Adobe's Sync FAQ:

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/sync-faq.html

Here is also their Sync Setup guide as well for reference:

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/help/lightroom-mobile-desktop-features.html#setup