How do you setup lightroom with 1 desktop, 1 laptop and 1 ipad pro?

[jj_345]

I'm trying to figure out the best way of setting up/using lightroom/photoshop across multiple computers/ipad.

I have 200k of raw and edited files on my NAS (~1.5TB) in 2 lightoom catalogues (personal, and commercial).

I mostly edit on my desktop (10 months a year), and I travel about 2 months a year.  On my desktop is my main lightroom catalogue and all my files are on my NAS (which is backed up with a cloud backup service).

When I travel (and am offline except in hotels), my new images are saved to icloud so that way if I edit something on my laptop, it's automatically sync'd to my desktop.

On my laptop I used to edit in bridge/photoshop (and simply imported PSD files) but moving towards lightroom/photoshop (I guess I'll have to do a catalogue export).

I currently don't use CC storage due to it's high cost, and large catalogue (and preview) sizes.

Please share with me how you use the adobe suite in this scenario.

[99jon]

You could use a travel catalog and merge it with your main desktop catalog when you return home.

In this video, Adobe’s Julieanne Kost demonstrates how to create a "template" catalog for use when travelling.

https://youtu.be/My10kpBxeB0

To get photos on the iPad you would need to sync smart previews from collections in LR Classic. Currently, smart previews don’t count towards your storage limit.

[jj_345]

Thanks, so basically have different lightroom catalogues between desktop and laptop (not synced) and merge when needed.

Where should I store my catalogue to be able to view/edit ALL my files on my ipad?

[99jon]

As I said, you can only sync smart previews from LR Classic by creating  collections and marking them for sync. You can view and edit those on iPad and the edit settings will sync back to your original files in LR Classic.

[JohanElzenga]

jj_345  wrote

Thanks, so basically have different lightroom catalogues between desktop and laptop (not synced) and merge when needed.

Where should I store my catalogue to be able to view/edit ALL my files on my ipad?

Because you can only sync one Lightroom Classic catalog to the cloud, that catalog would have to be the one on your desktop computer.

[jj_345]

Ok, thanks that what I was struggling with.

Are there any limits on how many photos in a catalogue can be synced?  I'd like to be able to view all my 200k files organized by the current directory structure.

[99jon]

I think the only limit is the amount of space available on your iPad or phone, but optimized previews are sent to each device from the cloud.

Also as mentioned by Johan, only one catalog can be activated for sync. So you would need to decide between commercial and personal. You can’t sync both.

[JohanElzenga]

jj_345  wrote

Ok, thanks that what I was struggling with.

Are there any limits on how many photos in a catalogue can be synced?  I'd like to be able to view all my 200k files organized by the current directory structure.

Lightroom Classic only syncs collections (which become albums in Lightroom CC), collection sets will not be synced. That means that you will have to recreate the hierarchy yourself, using 'album sets' (called 'folders' in Lightroom CC).

As John said, you can only sync one of the two catalogs and you have to realise that each image takes some space on the iPad. Even if the iPad won't hold the full image, it will probably take a few hundred KB per image, so 200K images may be stretching it. The best option would be to download the smart previews to the iPad, so you can also view the images in that size while being offline, but smart previews are about 1 MB each...