Cloud storage for Lightroom Classic

[Youngeun226666776j6p]

Hello to all,

I am quite confused about cloud storage... I hope somebody can help me with this question.

The question is:

If I import 9GB of pictures from my external storage to the lightroom classic(the latest version for MAC M1), then does it mean that I use 9GB from cloud storage 1TB? I can only import 1TB of pictures to lightroom classic if I subscribe a plan which offer 1TB cloud storage for lightroom? 

If this is the case, it means that I have to pay more when the amount of imported picture to lightroom reaches to 1TB. Do I understand right?

I would really appreciate if somebody can answer my question.

Y

[dj_paige · Accepted solution]

Importing photos into Lightroom Classic does not use cloud storage. Why? Because the photos are not stored in the cloud. Lightroom Classic does NOT store photos in the cloud. Photos must be stored on a local or network drive. (Even if you optionally turn on the cloud sharing of photos in Lightroom Classic, your photos are NOT stored in the cloud. Instead, lower resolution copies of your images called Smart Previews are stored in the cloud).

If you truly want cloud storage of your photos, you want to use the cloud-based software named Lightroom (not Lightroom Classic). And yes, if you need more than your 1TB limit with Lightroom (not Lightroom Classic) then you have to pay more.

[Youngeun226666776j6p]

Thank you for your clear explanation!! I really appreciate it. 

[Jim Wilde · Accepted solution]

If you import into Lr Classic, none of your cloud storage allowance is used. Two things to note:

1. LrClassic uses selective sync, i.e. only those images that you decide to sync to the cloud will do so.

2. If you do sync images from LrClassic to the cloud, only Smart Previews of those images are sent to the cloud (SPs are reduced resolution proxy images at 2560 pixels on the long edge). Generally speaking, SPs are perfectly fine for general viewing and even some light editing on mobile devices using the LrMobile app....and the best news is that they do NOT count against your cloud storage allowance.

So you can sync the entire contents of the Classic catalog to the cloud, without it occupying any part of your cloud allowance. It's for this reason that the basic Photography Plan only includes 20GB of cloud storage.

Note that importing images into any of the cloud-based Lightroom apps, including the Lightroom Desktop app, does automatically upload all imported images in full-resolution and these DO count against your clous storage allowance. Which is why the basic Lightroom-only Plan includes 1TB of cloud storage.

But if your staying with Classic, and syncing from there, you do need to purhase any additional cloud storage above the standard 20GB.

[Youngeun226666776j6p]

Thank you for your reply! I understand now how Lightroom works!

[iwaddo77]

Apoligies for adding to this old thread but if "you can sync the entire contents of the Classic catalog to the cloud, without it occupying any part of your cloud allowance." why is 2.9Gb of my 20Gb used if I've only synced images in Collections from my Classic catalog? As a secondary question, how do I find out what is actually using this 2.9Gb?

Thank you for your help

Regards

[Rob_Cullen]

@iwaddo77  Do you use Lightroom-Mobile on any devices? iPhone, iPad, Desktop, etc.

Any photos Added/Imported on 'Mobile' devices (including a Pc or Mac with Lightroom-desktop with Lr v5.2) -will occupy space in the 20GB Adobe Cloud storage.

There is also some use for Adobe's Cloud control (but usually only Megabytes!)

There is a method in a Lightroom-CLASSIC catalog (fully synced) to find and view photos that are 'only' in the Cloud (occupying part of the 20GB storage) -

http://lightroomsolutions.com/how-to-remove-photos-from-all-synced-photographs/

BUT- Do NOT use the last step to "Remove" photos!!  Instead modify the method-

• Create a smart collection
  • Add a single criterion Collection Name / Contains / a e i o u (or whole alphabet).
  • Let’s call it “Photos in All Collections”
• Select all the photos in “Photos in All Collections”
• In the Catalog panel, click “All Synced Photographs”
  • Be careful not to change the selection which now consists of those photos that are in collections and which are also in “All Synced Photographs” – so just the photos we want on Adobe’s server
• Use the menu Edit > Invert Selection
• NOW JUST VIEW THE 'SELECTED' PHOTOS THAT HAVE NOT BEEN SYNCED FROM A CLASSIC COLLECTION. These are using part of the 20GB.

[iwaddo77]

@Rob_Cullen 

Thank you for your reply. The above method did not reveal any additional images that were only in the Adobe Cloud so I started to look further afield and realised that the 2.9Gb were files in the Adobe Cloud from Photoshop Files and Libraries. Tidying these drastically reduced the 2.9Gb.

I often use my iPad to edit photos in Ps and occasionally I save files from Ps on my desktop to the Adobe Cloud.

It had never previously occurred to me they were sharing the same space as my synced LrC images.

My mystery is solved - Thank you