culling photos in Lightroom Classic catalogs using mobile devices

[Tommo Smith]

Description: I have a substantial 31,000-photo collection in Adobe Lightroom Classic 14.4, running on an Apple MacMini M4 Pro with 48GB of RAM. My photos are stored on an external 10TB RAID 01 and the Lightroom Classic Catalog is stored on a Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 2TB. I’m interested in culling this collection using my iPhone and a Chrome tablet, but I’m unsure about the best approach.

Culling a collection on mobile devices is valuable to me because it frees me and allow me to work away from my mac mini.

My understanding is that I need to upload all the photos to Creative Cloud to accomplish this. However, I believe this is overkill since I only require a lightweight preview for culling, not the full-resolution photos. Is there a way to transfer previews to the cloud so that I can cull using various devices and then sync the metadata back to the Adobe Lightroom Classic catalog running on my MacMini? Alternatively, could I create a Lightroom Classic catalog of compressed previews only and upload them to the cloud for Lightroom? In that case, I would need to find a way to sync the two different catalogs so that the metadata for the Lightroom Classic catalog is updated.

Thanks in advance for your SAGE Advice,

Tom

[Rob_Cullen · Accepted solution]

There is no approach in the way you suggest. It is something you will not be able to do.  All your Lr-Classic culling will need to be done 'at home' on your Mac.

You can sync photos from LrC Collections to the Lightroom Cloud (as proxy Smart Previews) but deleting them in the Lightroom Cloud (Mobile devices) will not delete them from the Mac 'home' catalog.

However, You could Flag images as 'Rejected' in mobile devices then delete rejected photos in the Mac home catalog. Easily done!

[Tommo Smith]

Yes this is the workflow that solves it.  You can sync photos from LrC Collections to the Lightroom Cloud (as proxy Smart Previews) but deleting them in the Lightroom Cloud (Mobile devices) and I could Flag images as 'Rejected' in mobile devices then delete rejected photos in the Mac home catalog. Easily done!

How can i sync photos from LrC Collections to the Lightroom Cloud (as proxy Smart Previews) mark as rejects in mobile devices and then find these rejects back LRC AND delete from my mini. 

[Tommo Smith]

Do I have to render smart previews in the smart collection first?

[Rob_Cullen]

"How can i sync photos from LrC Collections to the Lightroom Cloud" and "Do I have to render smart previews in the smart collection first?"

 No,  You do not have to render Smart Previews manually yourself.  

In theory you could add your entire library to one standard Collection and mark that to sync. This would sync all your photos to the Cloud, however your internet time to sync up might be considerable, even with the automatically created smart previews..   Bob Somrak's  method syncs tiny JPGs (faster) but you need to follow his method closely. 

You could work with a limited number of images in a synced collection, flag to cull those in Lr-Mobile, then sync another Collection, etc until you have gone through your entire library.  I doubt you could peruse and cull from your 31,000 library in a short space of time 🙂

[Bob Somrak]

I tested a method to do this with my Ipad and Imac but it is a convoluted process and has a couple limitations that was not an issue for me.

Probable Limitations. 

ALL your files must have a UNIQUE filename.  I started a naming convention a long time ago so this was not an issue for me.  

Works on ONE file type (RAW, DNG etc) at a time

I selected 10 RAW files and exported them to an SD card as small JPG files  WITHOUT renaming.

I hooked the SD to the IPAD and imported these into Lightroom Mobile.  For convience I cleared Lr Mobile before starting although this is not necessary 

I culled 5 of the photos on Mobile as Rejects.

I selected the rejects and Exported them as Original and sent them to the Imac Downloads folder using Airdrop. (Cleaned Downloads before sending)

You could do the above copy to Mac using different methods but they need to be in the same folder.

I then added these photos to Lightroom Classic in their OWN folder.

I selected all the imported JPG and rejected these Photos

I then selected ALL the photos in the catalog and used John Beardsworth's slick little plugin called Syncomatic.  @john beardsworth to sync ONLY the FLAG  from JPG to RAW matching the filename.  It worked. Only the 5 RAW were marked as Rejected.

I then deleted the JPG files

I do not need this but tried it as I use something similar but not quite as convoluted for syncing edits done on RAW files from my Ipad to my Mac.  I seldom do this but it allows me to avoid the buggy sync.  It is not worth it to me to sync for the few times i need it and Syncomatic works great for my purposes.  

I am not sure how well this would work with thousands of photos but try if you like.  

[Bob Somrak]

BTW, you can select the rejected photos in Mobile easily by using Segmentation set to FLAG

[Tommo Smith]

WOOOAAAA! In my Italy Collection in Lightroom Classic, which I sync to Lightroom, there are 32,658 photos. I was browsing the Library in Grid View and noticed the different Attributes for the Library Filter - the "kind" attribute with its three icons buttons:  Original photo negative icon button with horizontal sproket holes; virtual copy icon photo button with boarder and lower left corner upturned "dogear" and video icon button with its typical vertical sproket holes. For my collection, I was shocked to realize that both the Original photos and Virtual Copy buttons were "selected" or switched on. When I switched off the virtual copy photo icon button, leaving the Original photos on my Italy Collection, I had 1606 photos! I selected 'All' and created a new collection called Italy Originals. I had been syncing 32,358 photos, but only had 1,606 originals. LRC had been syncing for 12 hours. I immediately paused syncing because I was using the wrong collection. I am now trying to sync the collection of ItalyOriginals. Still, I am getting a sync error when I select the "Cloud Storage" Icon in the upper right corner of the LRC to mode banner, under Local Activity, it displays "!sync error". What should I do now? Should I erase all synced data? When syncing, there is an option to create virtual copies. Should I do that or sync the Originals? 

[Tommo Smith]

I do not understand the purpose of virtual copies in Lightroom Classic.  How can it be possible that  1,600 original photos can generate over 32,000 virtual copies and intermix them in the grid view and count them for the total number of photos?  I now know the tell-tale sign of a virtual copy is its "dog-eared" lower left corner in grid view.  My lack of comprehension led me to cull virtual copies.  Furthermore, LRC had no issue syncing multiple virtual copies of the same image.  Here are some screen grabs from my sync session. Notice that in one of the screen grabs numerous copies of the same file are being synced.

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi Tommo Smith,

Thanks for providing such detailed information on your workflow and the challenges you’re encountering. I understand how confusing and frustrating this must be.

I agree with Rob Cullen’s suggestion (sync Smart Previews from Lightroom Classic > flag rejects on mobile > return to Lightroom Classic > delete rejects) remains simplest for your workflow you want to achieve, as direct cloud culling (delete from cloud = delete from Lightroom Classic) isn’t possible as of yet.. 

Virtual copies in Lightroom Classic are typically created intentionally to experiment with different edits of the same photo without altering the original. However, it sounds like you’ve accidentally generated a large number of virtual copies by pressing Cmd+’.

To resolve the current sync errors and to manage your workflow effectively, please try rebuilding sync data, but ensure to create a backup first.

1. • Open Lightroom Classic.

   • Go to Preferences > Lightroom Sync.

   • Hold the Option key (Mac) and click ‘Rebuild Sync Data.’ This resets syncing and often resolves sync errors.

Manage and Delete Unwanted Virtual Copies:

In Grid View, filter by Virtual Copies to isolate and manage them:

Click the attribute filter (Library Filter bar) and select only the Virtual Copies button (with the dog-eared icon).

Select the unwanted Virtual Copies and delete them by pressing Delete or Backspace on your keyboard, confirming the action when prompted.

Following these steps should streamline your syncing process and resolve the current errors you’re experiencing.

Please let us know how this goes or if further assistance is needed. We are happy to help you sort this out!

Best regards,
Anshul Saini