Dear Johan, Califdan, and the rest of the team,
First, I really do want to thank you both for taking the time to reply and explain the syncing behavior — especially given how often this issue must come up. I now understand that Lightroom Classic only uploads Smart Previews, and that full RAWs can’t be synced from there, no matter what.
Still, I have to be honest: from the user’s side, the interface can be quite confusing. When viewing images in Lightroom Web or Mobile, the system appears to label the files as "RAW" in several places (e.g., filter views, metadata pop-ups, album stats). Nowhere is there an obvious indication that these are Smart Previews. Even knowing what you've told me, when I see the word “RAW,” I naturally assume it’s a RAW — and I start worrying about storage, unintended uploads, and data management.
This is clearly a communication gap between how the system functions internally and what it’s presenting to the user. I imagine it’s not easy to resolve, but I’d love to offer a humble suggestion:
Perhaps a visible indicator or toggle in Lightroom Web and Mobile to confirm the actual cloud-stored file type — Smart Preview vs. RAW — would reduce confusion. Right now, it does require a bit of guesswork.
And while I know you’ve explained that Lightroom Classic won’t upload full-size originals, I’m still hoping Adobe might eventually provide a simple way to prevent Lightroom Mobile itself from uploading RAWs too — especially when importing from a camera roll. That added clarity would be very helpful for mobile-first workflows.
Finally, to Califdan: I really appreciated your note. I smiled when I read that you're used to jumping between the different apps to find tools or features — I'm relieved to know it’s not just me! Still, it does make me wonder (with some gentle humor): is this really how we want to be working with our images as professionals? It seems like a lot of platform-hopping just to get to what should be core tools.
I’m sincerely grateful for your time, your patience, and your willingness to explain all this. I hope some of these quirks are things the Lightroom team might consider addressing down the line.
Warm regards,
Nancy
A couple of points:
1) Let me propose an analogy. Let's say, you go onto Amazon and you order a copy of the US Constitution on parchment paper. When you get it, you do not have the actual original from the 1770's. What you have in your hand is a proxy or facsimile of the original - not the original. However, if you read it, it says "United States Constitution" right at the top. Nowhere does it say anything about it being a copy or proxy or replica. In the same manner the Smart Preview is a proxy for the original RAW file and as such it carries the same file name as the original (IMG_1234.cr3), shows the file type of the original which it is standing in for (RAW), and also shows all the same metadata from the original. In other words in most every regard it is an eaul substitute for the original RAW file except that it has fewer pixels an a smaller file size and can be used in all the same ways as the original.
2) I consider LrC as the "super" or "most complete" of all the LR apps as it has the most features and tools and allows you to see the most information about images. Having said that, there are a few tools available in one or more of the LR/Cloud apps which don't appear in LrC (yet?), so I just don't use those.
3) As a semi-pro photogapher I do most all my real work in LrC. I am not about to do any fancy editing or adjusting looking at a 6" screen on my phone. I treat the LR/Cloud apps as nothing more than a convenience for minor things I may want to do when I'm away from my main system. For example, showing people images or doing initial rating and ranking and culling. I'll also at times add titles and captions using LR/Cloud while I'm waiting for a flight at the airport or in other "waiting room" situations. In other words, when I'm bored in a remote place. But, for the real work, I'm back to my desktop computer and decently large monitor where I can control the envrionment.
4) It is many times quite puzzling to me what Adobe chooses to spend their R&D time on rather than requested features that I (and many others) would find way more useful.
5) Having said that, all the LR/Cloud apps have the core functions most folks rely on. It's only some corner case things that are sporatic in the cloud apps which most folks could care less about or are only relevent for certain in frequent unique situaitons. For example, if you need to completely wipe out everything in the cloud and start syncing over for some reason, there is a step or two (used to find recent cloud imports and edits that may not have sucessfully synced to LrC) that need a feature that is only available in one of the Cloud apps. But, how often do you need to do that?
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