Smart preview file won't shrink

[phototocanvaspdx]

So my smart preview file and regular preview file are insanely huge. I deleted all 1:1 previews and deleted 40,000 smart previews and the file size didn't change. Any ideas?

[phototocanvaspdx]

Im aware, I apologize, I didn't mean to sound ungrateful for peoples input, I am incredibly grateful. I am really frustrated, and the topic veered off to why I am using smart previews. While I am incredibly grateful for members support and help, I am very upset with Adobe that I pay a monthly subscription fee and the support they offer is asking me to ask other customers for help.

[GoldingD]

Well, thy do have a path to actual suppor. one way is right in your Lightroom Help, mind you that will lead you to this:

Contact Customer Care

And that will lead you to a chat.And if that does not work, or you push for it, an actual phone call

Now a phone number exists, I forget what it is

[phototocanvaspdx]

Ive done it they came in and rummaged all over my computer and couldn't solve anything and asked me to try the forum.

[GoldingD]

Oh, yes, google on Adobe support

get

1 (800) 833-6687

[phototocanvaspdx]

Ill try that tomorrow thank you David.

[Rob_Cullen]

If I may 'poke my nose in'

Can someone please advise on dealing with the Smart Preview folder?

A simple answer- Use Finder/Explorer and simply Delete the entire {yourcatalogname Smart Previews.lrdata} folder.

A lot depends on 'why' you have created Smart Previews.

You do not need to create them for syncing collections to web mobile.

You do not them if your external drive with originals is always connected.

You do not need them if you Lr system is operating fast enough working from your full size original image files.

You may only need them for selected photo files if the external drive of originals is disconnected.

If you have deleted the entire folder you can easily re-build selected Smart Previews from the originals in the connected drive.

[phototocanvaspdx]

Thank you for your input! Do you really not think they are necessary? Im using a 4 year old 5k iMac with 80mb 43mp raw files and was under the impression they are great for reducing the power your computer needs to put out. I have to use them sometimes, as when I go in to photoshop and bring them back as TIFF's, Lightroom mobile will not recognize them without smart previews. I guess Im just curious why you think they are unnecessary?

[GoldingD]

Smart Previews is a fairly new tool, as such, many have not used yet, it is not in their workflow. And it is often hard to train an old dog new tricks.

Also, many if us do not have all these performance issues that some users have, and are happy with Lightroom speed. It is a bit odd, some members with the latest and greatest cpu, RAM, GPU, and hard drives have lots of issues, while some of us with only 16GB , only a four core cpu, two year old GPU with just 4GB of RAM have no or less issues.

Those in the later group might scratch their heads at why use smart previews .

[phototocanvaspdx]

Yeah its crazy my bottom level MacBook Pro with 8gb memory deals with the files just as well as my 5k iMac with 32gb memory. Ive read its the graphics processors in these 5k iMacs, but also read that adobe software just doesn't work with Macs well as people run competitors software with the same files and much better results. I almost bought a new iMac and read about the same issues with them even thought they have double the VRAM.

Im pretty sure I need to keep using smart previews, and pretty sure I need to trash the file and rebuild the new ones.

[Ian Lyons]

davidg36166309  wrote

Smart Previews is a fairly new tool, as such, many have not used yet, it is not in their workflow. And it is often hard to train an old dog new tricks.

Smart Previews were first introduced in Lightroom 5.0 (June 2013). Initially, they were intended to enable users to edit photos while the originals were offline. However, their use was expanded in Lightroom CC 2015.7 / 6.7 (September 2016) to allow faster editing of online photos.

[elie_dinur]

OT comment:

>> "However, their use was expanded in Lightroom CC 2015.7 / 6.7 (September 2016) to allow faster editing of online photos."

That was a commendable instance of a software provider being aware of a work-around utilized by some users and responding to it positively. The work-around was to temporarily rename a photo folder (by, for instance, adding an X before the name) to fool LR into thinking the originals were off-line. There were even some plugins written to do that quickly.

[phototocanvaspdx]

I should add that I fequently work from my laptop with no external drive connected so I rely on Smart Previews to let me edit them. But it seems like you support just trashing the file and rebuilding the ones I need? I will have to create 7,000 smart previews but I don't see another solution.

[Rob_Cullen]

But it seems like you support just trashing the file and rebuilding the ones I need? I will have to create 7,000 smart previews but I don't see another solution. 

Maybe NOT trashing, (but accept that the SP folder can be trashed and rebuilt), because- 

You need the SPs if the external drive of originals is disconnected (and no originals on internal drive).

But if you average the size of Smart Previews at about 2MB, then 7000 will occupy ~14,000MB (14GB). So there is no getting away from needing that '11GB' for Smart Preview storage.

And yes, you have the problem of not being able to edit in Photoshop unless the Original file is also available to Lightroom.

[phototocanvaspdx]

11-14 gb is fine it’s the 52 I’m using that I’m struggling with. And no need for photoshop since I can’t run it on an iPad anyways...

[cmgap]

Rebuilding your Previews file will have zero effect on your Smart Previews file.

Deleting your Smart Previews file will allow you to build SPs on demand when you decide that you want them and it will give you back quite a bit of room in your Dropbox account. That said you may want to look into selective sync in your Dropbox account. Syncing Previews can be a hassle and often times people avoid that by not syncing their Previews file.

The only time you might want to use SPs is if you know you will be working on images where the originals are located on an external drive that won't be connected to your computer. If you move from room to room for example and you don't want to be tethered to the external. You could of course as previously mentioned use synced collections which will automagically create smart previews for you and allow you to work on your iPad or in a browser window.

Hope this is helpful in deciding on whether you want to outright delete your Smart Previews.lrdata file.

[phototocanvaspdx]

Thanks. I was aware that the previews folder wouldn't help, that one was just really big as well so I deleted it and it save me 60gb.

I decided to delete the smart preview folder and just redo smart previews for what I have in my collections, which I sync to LR mobile. I have plenty of space in my dropbox, by my laptop where I frequently edit these images has a small drive and this will free up another 35-40gb.

I appreciate your input it made me realize deleting it was the right way to go.