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Here is my current workflow. I have LR classic on my MacBook this is also where my catalog is stored. My image files are on a NAS. I normally edit my images here once I am back home.
When i am on the road I insert my cameras card using a card reader into my iPad Pro and import them into LR mobile as the originals (.NEF for nikon).
If I don't have internet access, does LR mobile create a "smart preview" or am i just working with my full .NEF file?
I I have internet access I notice that LR mobile begins synching the images, but it also says it is downloading a "smart preview".
So can someone explain the flow of data, I thought when I imported the images from my card to the ipad that LR mobile created a smart preview locally, then sent the original .NEF to the cloud.
thanks
tim
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I think Smart Previews are only generated in the cloud, so that until your imported files have been uploaded to the cloud you will only have an original locally. However, you can easily verify this: select an image and choose the Edit panel, then two-finger tap on the image to cycle through the Info overlays (off, Histogram, Info). The Info overlay should tell you on the top line if you are working with a Smart Preview or the Original.
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thank you Jim, that may answer a lot of questions.
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As Jim says Smart Previews are generated in the cloud, but in the case of mobile, it uploads full resolution files rather than the Smart Previews of Classic. Until you connect to the net, nothing's being uploaded and you're working with the original files.
When the NEF is eventually uploaded, Lightroom then creates a Smart Preview for the device and removes the NEF from it. The full file is available online.
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Thanks Sean, what i think i may be running into is that it is not downloading the smart preview back to my ipad. I need to do some more troubleshooting.
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On your iPad there is an option in settings to select if to have originals or smart previews on your iPad.
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Okay i have those settings enabled along with "sync with cellular" and "do not sleep". As a test I put the ipad into airplane mode and tried to edit an image, it only had a thumbnail so i could not edit it.
If i go through each image one by one the smart preview eventually downloads, but if i walk off from my ipad it does not appear that the smart previews are being downloaded. They "appear" to only be downloading when i view the image.
Unless adobe cloud is just so slow that it is taking forever. It is only 110 images and i am on fiber.
tim
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Quote "As a test I put the ipad into airplane mode and tried to edit an image,"
Quote-2 "It is only 110 images and I am on fiber"
? Explain.
@Tim5C22 wrote:
Okay i have those settings enabled along with "sync with cellular" and "do not sleep". As a test I put the ipad into airplane mode and tried to edit an image, it only had a thumbnail so i could not edit it.
If i go through each image one by one the smart preview eventually downloads, but if i walk off from my ipad it does not appear that the smart previews are being downloaded. They "appear" to only be downloading when i view the image.
Unless adobe cloud is just so slow that it is taking forever. It is only 110 images and i am on fiber.
tim
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1. I originally uploaded the images to my ipad (110 images) while connected to the internet.
2. It synched my images to the cloud.
3. I let it sit for a while (more than 20 minutes)
4. In mobile settings i have l have "use cellular for sync", "only download smart previews" and "prevent from sleep" all enabled.
5. After a while the green checkmark on the cloud showed up saying it was synched.
6. I disable wifi/cellular on my ipad (airplane mode) and begin to scroll through pictures
7. It actually was not synched because many of the 110 images were thumbnail only, it did not download all of the smart previews to my ipad.
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When you upload originals to the cloud, they should also remain on the local device unless you force remove them by using the Clear Cache command. They may also be removed automatically by Lightroom depending on how frequently you look at the image....but I would have thought they should still be there after only a 20 minutes delay.
However, assuming the originals have been deleted locally, the smart previews are NOT automatically downloaded to the local device until they are needed, and that's on a per image basis. That green checkmark you see relates only to the currently opened image, and actually it means that the original has been stored locally (smart previews only will show a checkmark on a light grey circle). A smart preview (if not already stored locally) should be downloaded automatically when you open an image into the Edit mode, but if you are offline and the SP is not stored locally then you can't edit that image.
The normal operating mode when you know that you will be working offline is to force-store the smart previews locally BEFORE you go offline. Put the images you want to work on into an album, then on the albums page tap on the tri-dot icon for the specific album(s) and then tap on "Store Locally", which will immediately download smart previews for all images in that library. Then you are good to go.
I have every album in my library stored locally as smart previews.
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See Jim's post above.
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Okay i did not know about the store locally command, that is what i have been missing i guess. I do put them in albums,
Also occasionally i will bring images into mobile from classic for rating, editing etc while i am on the road.
Thank you Jim, you might have just saved my sanity!
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Quick update... this just started happening recently to me and now as i go back and look at the albums on mobile, all of them had the "store local" enabled except the last few (3) albums i have been working with.
I wonder if LR mobile made a change, <OR> when i opt to bring images from classic into mobile it automatically enables that.
I have never just went in and turned that on when creating an album.
hmmmmmmm
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I'm not aware of any change to automatically enable the "Store Locally" option, and it certainly doesn't happen on my iPad....on my iPhone I've manually enabled that option for every album, but haven't done that for my iPad and the iPad reflects that. I've also checked my old Android phone and that too has only got a couple of albums showing the "stored locally" album, both of which I enabled myself (the only caveat here is that the Android is only able to run LrM 7.2.1).
I've also tested what happens when syncing new photos from LrC (thus only SPs are uploaded to the cloud). The album appears in LrM (all my devices) without the "Stored Locally" icon.
So I really don't know why all your albums show that icon if you didn't manually select the "Store Locally" option.
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I'm not sure, I guess I could have selected it but I certainly don't remember doing it. As they say there is only one thing shorter than my memory...
tim