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Using Classic to cull images on Adobe Cloud?

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
June 7, 2021
4 replies
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Hi all, I'm a long-time/long-time-ago Lightroom user (since launch!) who is considering coming back to Lightroom after being out of photography for a few years. I have a specific question about the interop between Classic and CC when using Adobe Cloud for image storage.

I'm hoping to have a CC-centric workflow. I'll store my images in Adobe Cloud, I'll do most of my edits there, and I'll sync between Mac, Windows, and iPad in "CC", and edit/cull on any platform.

The wrinkle for me is that I REALLY like the Survey View to cull images. (I do a lot of wildlife and macro where I have many slightly different images that I want to quickly cull down to one.) The CC versions do not have Survey view, but Classic does.

Can I keep all my images in Adobe Cloud and use CC, but also use LR Classic on my Mac or Windows computer to star/flag/delete my images in Adobe Cloud? Will my star/flag metadata (and hopefully image deletes) synchronize back to my Adobe Cloud, and thus be reflected on my other CC clients (ie: iPad)?

Thanks in advance for any clarity the community can provide!

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Correct answer JP Hess

First of all, there is no "CC" designation anymore. There is Lightroom Classic, and there is Lightroom. If you are going to use Lightroom as your central operation, it will be the controlling force. There will be no multiple catalogs. Yes, you can have your images downloaded and synchronized with Lightroom Classic. However, Lightroom is the controlling program and star ratings do not synchronize between the two. Don't try to make the two work together the way you are anticipating to do so, because it simply doesn't work very well.

E

Eric Pec

Inspiring

Adobe Cloud is a nightmare if you want to use both LR CC and LRC. Images are duplicated, may or may sync, nobody knows really the sync criteria and Adobe does not care since 4/5 years. Cc also heavily relies on a fast Wi-Fi network all the time. You will not be able to work if you have less than 5MB / s. Be careful.

I stopped trying to sync. I use cc for mobile photos and LRC for my cameras. When I want some mobile photos to be edited in depth iexport them out of cc and import them in LRC. Not exactly as Adobe marketing says it works.

Good luck if you want to try. My only advice is to make a test in different conditions of wifi and sync but do not fully commit until you are sure it works for you.

Best Regards
Éric Pecquerie
Sent from Eric's IPad Pro

C

ckrueger2Author

Known Participant

Wow, thanks for all the feedback, everyone! I have to admit I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to proceed, yet...

Randy suggests just using Lightroom Classic and relying upon the Smart Previews sync to use my other clients, and a separate cloud backup solution.

To Jim's point I can do what I want, but will only be able to delete in Classic. That's not a big deal; I can use Reject flags and then do my delete "housekeeping" occasionally at my desktop. I'd also have to keyword in the Cloud, which also isn't a big deal; I organize more by Collection than keyword.

To Éric's point, Cloud sync is really flaky between LR & LRC, especially on a slow network. So if I do what I originally outlined, I might suffer my Cloud clients becoming desync'ed. Perhaps that's what Jim meant, too.

Part of the attractiveness of my original workflow to me is that I can upload images on any device, and every device will have full-resolution files. Last time I tried to use Smart Previews (and this was years ago) I had issues judging critical sharpness from the Previews.

Are these still issues? If I put my LR Classic catalog on my Windows desktop, and used Lightroom on my Mac and iPad, am I getting lesser files on the Mac/iPad that will be difficult to work with? And could I plug my XQD into my iPad's USB reader and upload full files to Lightroom, to later be sent back to my LR Classic catalog?

If that's possible it seems like LR Classic + Smart Previews offers no real downsides and avoids the specter of synchronization failures mentioned here?

I realize that those follow-up questions might be more-known somewhere on the Internet than my original query, so I appreciate everyone's efforts, and I'm furiously reading various posts now!

Jim Wilde

Community Expert

To Jim's point I can do what I want, but will only be able to delete in Classic. That's not a big deal; I can use Reject flags and then do my delete "housekeeping" occasionally at my desktop. I'd also have to keyword in the Cloud, which also isn't a big deal; I organize more by Collection than keyword.

You can delete from the Cloud, but that would also mean that you'd have to do a separate delete if you then want it deleted from Classic. It's just simpler to delete once in Classic in the event that you want it deleted from both cloud and Classic.

To Éric's point, Cloud sync is really flaky between LR & LRC, especially on a slow network. So if I do what I originally outlined, I might suffer my Cloud clients becoming desync'ed. Perhaps that's what Jim meant, too.

Syncing issues can occur from time to time, but I've been syncing since 2015 and I've had all my originals stored in the cloud since 2017 (using both Classic and Lightroom as you were originally thinking of doing) and I've never had a syncing issue that I couldn't get out of. I don't understand the "Cloud clients becoming desync'ed", comment. In my experience that simply doesn't happen.

Part of the attractiveness of my original workflow to me is that I can upload images on any device, and every device will have full-resolution files. Last time I tried to use Smart Previews (and this was years ago) I had issues judging critical sharpness from the Previews.

Are these still issues? If I put my LR Classic catalog on my Windows desktop, and used Lightroom on my Mac and iPad, am I getting lesser files on the Mac/iPad that will be difficult to work with? And could I plug my XQD into my iPad's USB reader and upload full files to Lightroom, to later be sent back to my LR Classic catalog?

If that's possible it seems like LR Classic + Smart Previews offers no real downsides and avoids the specter of synchronization failures mentioned here?

Nothing has changed since you last tried using Smart Previews, the issues that you ran into back then are still the same now. Which is why I ensure that all my originals are stored in the cloud. Should I want to share some images with others while I'm out with only my phone, I want to be able to send them the full resolution file, not a smart preview....especially if the image has been heavily cropped, as that can wreak havoc with the quality of the smart preview.

Yes, you can import directly into the iPad from your camera cards....many users are now switching to an iPad-only travel workflow.

A Classic + Smart Preview workflow does nothing to avoid the spectre of sync issues.....they can occur no matter what you are transferring.

Jim Wilde

Community Expert

I'm going to disagree with the other two responders. There's nothing wrong with having a cloud-centric workflow while also using some elements of Classic. Provided that you always import into one of the Lightroom cloud apps, you can sync a Classic catalog quite happily. All imported images will therefore additionally download into the Classic catalog (and as such it becomes a very useful form of cloud backup), and you can happily use the Survey mode in Classic to flag and rate the images. The flags and the ratings absolutely DO sync back to the cloud, so you can flag and rate in Survey mode in Classic (Jim, why do you think that ratings do not sysnc?). A couple of things to note:

1. Keywords and Location data do not sync between Classic and the cloud (though you can enter GPS data via the Map Module in Classic and those coordinates do sync to the Cloud and will thus auto-populate the Location data fields in the Cloud apps), Restrict your keywording to any of the Lightroom apps as keywords entered there do sync to all the other Lightroom apps.

2. Do any subsequent deleting in Classic. If you do it in the cloud then the corresponding images in Classic are NOT deleted, but are instead just "unsynced". If you delete them in Classic then that will also delete them from the cloud.

Apart from that, that workflow works very well (and also gives you access to some of the other Classic-only features such as printing).

Randy Hufford

Community Expert

Yes Jim is right. Your workflow is best using Lightroom Classic. My workflow includes dropbox because pricing is better and it is easier to use than adobe cloud.. I have a secondary drive that i keep my lightroom catolog on and also all of my images stored. All of my devices have access to these files.

JP HessCorrect answer

Inspiring

First of all, there is no "CC" designation anymore. There is Lightroom Classic, and there is Lightroom. If you are going to use Lightroom as your central operation, it will be the controlling force. There will be no multiple catalogs. Yes, you can have your images downloaded and synchronized with Lightroom Classic. However, Lightroom is the controlling program and star ratings do not synchronize between the two. Don't try to make the two work together the way you are anticipating to do so, because it simply doesn't work very well.

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