Lightroom Classic sync - no photos syncing, collections show up though (empty)

[GinJeff]

I am a long-time user of LrC (since day one) but infrequent user of Lr Mobile and syncing. I had previously set up LrC to sync a few collections, and have also synced from my iPad (photos added using Lr Mobile). Now I'm trying to clear that all up and start fresh. 

• I stopped syncing any existing LrC (13.3) collections that had been set to sync (maybe 6-10 of them) by removing the Sync option from them. As expected Lr/Lr Mobile/Lr Web removes these from Albums.
• I deleted everything from All Synced Photos (14GB used went to 415MB, so it seemed to work) - all photos are now gone in Lr Mobile, etc.
• Permanently deleted photos in the Deleted folder using Lr Web
• Paused syncing in LrC
• I Delete All Synced Data and rebuild the sync data from Preferences in LrC, restart LrC

Now I want to start syncing a few collections for displaying on my iPad or web.

• I set two collections (one existing and one new) to sync. Sync indicator shows up for those collections.
• I added two photos to the new collection. Existing one had 136 photos.
• From Cloud icon in LrC, Start Syncing. It immediately shows Synced, no change in storage used, still 415 MB. No errors appear. Photos from these two collections now appear in All Synced Photos in LrC Library Module, as expected and each has a badge showing double-arrow.
• Collections show up in Lr/Mobile/Web (empty).
• NO PHOTOS ever appear in these collections in Lr/Mobile/Web, just the empty albums. No errors.
• I tried logging out, restarting LrC and logging back in. No change. Tried pause/resume sync many times, no change.

So, what am I missing? All online posts I found refer to errors, stuck sync, etc. but I don't have those symptoms.

[john beardsworth]

• From Cloud icon in LrC, Start Syncing. It immediately shows Synced, no change in storage used, still 415 MB. No errors appear. Photos from these two collections now appear in All Synced Photos in LrC Library Module, as expected and each has a badge showing double-arrow.

So, what am I missing? All online posts I found refer to errors, stuck sync, etc. but I don't have those symptoms.

By @GinJeff

I don't think you're missing anything, and in your description you mentioned key points that I would expect. I'd just check that you don't have more than one Adobe account, and might be logged into one in LrC, the other in the other environments. But that's a long shot, as would be a suggestion to delete via Finder rather than rebuild the sync data.

As you may have read, 13.3 uses a new syncing mechanism. The green/blue cloud icon seems less reliable, going green after syncing a few photos and then changing to blue when it does another batch. Eventually it completes, but it sounds like you're already giving it plenty of time.

What happens when you add a photo directly to LrW by dragging and dropping into the browser window, or shoot something new in LrM? Does it appear in LrC?

[GinJeff]

Thanks for the response John.

Yes, dragging a photo into LrW shows up in LrC within a minute or so. In both All Synced Photographs and under Collections / From Lr Mobile (I added an album in LrW and put the photo in that). All normal in that direction.

[GinJeff]

Looking at the LrSyncDiagnostic log. I see this error - not sure if it is the cause of my issue and there doesn't appear to be any support for LrC other than this Community 😞

• 2024-05-22T16:01:27.241Z LrClassicUserModel: Failed to log in to Oz: deleteTokenFromKeychain failed with status -25244 and error Invalid attempt to change the owner of this item., ( code: nil)

[GinJeff]

I was able to clear that error by logging out in LrC, deleting remaining Lightroom keychain items, then starting LrC again and logging in. Next error report doesn't show that one. But it didn't change anything as far as the original problem.

[GinJeff]

NOT SOLVED  After spending 6 hours on this today and a few yesterday, I decided to reboot the Mac. Sync started working. But after 34 shots in 4 albums/collections, it's stopped again. I can still add (or remove) albums/collections via LrC and they show up in LrW/LrM/LrD fairly quickly, but photos inside them seem to be in "Sync with Lightroom Pending" state. It's very hard to tell, you can only get a tooltip with luck when hovering over the double arrow sync badge.

[john beardsworth]

Damn, suggesting that had been on my mind!

[GinJeff]

Only a brief win, I updated my last status. This should really not be that hard.

[GinJeff]

Flaky as hell. After multiple restarts of LrC, I was able to get a few more collections and 128 photos to finally sync with the cloud. First attempt, nothing, then 34 even after waiting 45 minutes, then 125 and after a couple of more restarts, all 128. This is not a good experience, even when it works.