Will it be possible to open Lightroom Catalog (for free), after you end your CC subscribtion ?

[Jean-François Vibert]

Adobe announced when Lightroom 6 / CC became a subscription option : that you can still use your Catalog after stopping your Subscription...

Is it still true for Lightroom Classic CC 2018 ?

[Mohit Goyal]

Hi Jean-FranCAoisVibert,

You should own a perpetual copy of Lightroom to use your catalog after ending the Creative cloud subscription.

There are two ways to buy Lightroom.

1. You can buy a standalone Lightroom 6 version, where you can pay once and own that license.

2. Buy Lightroom CC on a monthly basis and get all the latest update for this software.

Regards,

Mohit

[Simon G E Garrett]

After the subscription ends, will LR Classic still work except for Develop Module?  Can one still view and export developed images (that were edited before the subscription ran out)?

[dj_paige]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Simon+G+E+Garrett  wrote

After the subscription ends, will LR Classic still work except for Develop Module?  Can one still view and export developed images (that were edited before the subscription ran out)?

The answer is YES, with one small modification to what you wrote. When the subscription ends, the Develop Module and the Map module will not work.

Mohit Goyal​ said:

You should own a perpetual copy of Lightroom to use your catalog after ending the Creative cloud subscription.

This is just plain incorrect.

Please read Tom Hogarty's own words on this matter. http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal/2014/07/what-happens-to-lightroom-after-my-membership-ends.h...

[Simon G E Garrett]

dj_paige  wrote

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Simon+G+E+Garrett   wrote

After the subscription ends, will LR Classic still work except for Develop Module?  Can one still view and export developed images (that were edited before the subscription ran out)?

The answer is YES, with one small modification to what you wrote. When the subscription ends, the Develop Module and the Map module will not work.

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Mohit+Goyal  said:

You should own a perpetual copy of Lightroom to use your catalog after ending the Creative cloud subscription.

This is just plain incorrect.

Thanks, that's what I thought it used to be.

However, given the response from Mohit Goyal, a Adobe employee, I'd like to hear an official confirmation from Adobe that what you (and I) previously thought is still the case.

Perhaps an Adobe staffer can confirm please that LR Classic will still continue to function after a subscription expires except for Develop and Map?

[dj_paige]

Well, having an Adobe employee answer the question has already happened and this contradicts written words from Tom Hogarty. Mr. Hogarty is the Lightroom project manager (perhaps that's not his official title, but that's his role in all of this).

So unless someone can point to an official Adobe publication/website (by providing the exact URL) that says the policy is now different when the Lightroom Classic CC subscription ends, then I think the answer has no value. (Which is what I think now, the answer from Mohit has no value)

[Simon G E Garrett]

Understood, but Adobe policy changes. Remember the statement a couple of years ago from Tom Hogarty that Adobe would maintain the stand-alone version of LR indefinitely?  See http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal/2013/05/lightroom-and-the-creative-cloud.html by Tom, and in particular: "Future versions of Lightroom will be made available via traditional perpetual licenses indefinitely."

As a result, I don't take previous statements as commitements that will apply until the end of time, and I'd like confirmation from Adobe that LR Classic will still function after a subscription ends, except for Develop and Map modules, please.

No disrepect intended to you, I just want to hear it from Adobe.

[dj_paige]

I would like to hear Adobe make their policy clear too. Yes, plans and policy do change.

Until someone shows me a more recent statement of Adobe policy about what happens when the LR Classic CC subscription expires, I will go with what I have read from Tom Hogarty.

And again I state that any statement by an Adobe employee like Mohit Goyal here in this forum, without pointing to the URL where we can all read this policy change, is completely worthless. And sad to say, but just because the person is an Adobe employee doesn't mean their answer is correct, we have seen that many times over the years in this forum.

We can all see the place where Adobe has told us the there will be no more perpetual licenses. We don't see anything about what happens if the subscription expires.

[Soji_Okita]

Hello Mohit,

Your answer is very unsettling:
- as said above, it's in contradiction with what Adobe has written earlier. There was no statement from Adobe that the policy has changed.

From my point of view, such a change will be a sufficient reason for me to leave to use another program.

- I don't think that Lightroom 6 will be able to open Lightroom Classic CC catalogs, so I'm not sure that your solution to buy a perpetual licence will work.

As some bodies will not be supported by Lightroom 6, it's not a valid solution on the long term.

[dj_paige]

Soji_Okita  wrote

Hello Mohit,

Your answer is very unsettling:
- as said above, it's in contradiction with what Adobe has written earlier. There was no statement from Adobe that the policy has changed.

From my point of view, such a change will be a sufficient reason for me to leave to use another program.

- I don't think that Lightroom 6 will be able to open Lightroom Classic CC catalogs, so I'm not sure that your solution to buy a perpetual licence will work.

As some bodies will not be supported by Lightroom 6, it's not a valid solution on the long term.

All excellent points.

Furthermore, if it is true that when the subscription expires, you can't access your work in the LR Classic CC catalog, I think Adobe will lose lots of sales (including from me). For that reason alone, I don't believe that the policy has changed.

[Simon G E Garrett]

Well, I have no idea whether the policy has changed, but the impact on me is potientially considerable, so:

Will someone from Adobe please confirm whether LR Classic will continue to function after a subscription lapses, with the exception of Develop and Map modules?

[dj_paige]

Sadly, Simon, the only people who read this are the usual Adobe low-level employees who have gotten this question (and others) wrong time after time. High level employees (like Tom Hogarty) don't read this forum. Catch-22. I don't think we'll be getting a definitive answer.

Maybe Victoria Bampton can coerce Adobe to make a statement, but I doubt any of us can.

[Simon G E Garrett]

Thanks, but I'd still like an answer from Adobe, however junior is the person replying, pretty please. 

[JP Hess]

Is this close enough?

[Soji_Okita]

I just checked Adobe Creative Cloud Photography FAQ. It has been updated end of october and nothing has changed:

FAQ | Creative Cloud Photography plans

What happens to my photos if I end my membership?

Lightroom Classic CC: You'll still have access to all your photos on your local hard drive through Lightroom for the desktop. You can continue to import and organize photos as well as output your edited photos through Export, Publish, Print, Web, or Slideshow. Access to the Develop & Map modules and Lightroom for mobile are not available after your membership ends.

[Simon G E Garrett]

Thanks both, I also found this even more recent text, dated 6th November 2017: https://helpx.adobe.com/in/creative-cloud/faq/CCPp.html​ which says the same thing:

What happens to my photos if I end my membership?

Lightroom CC: Adobe will continue to store your original images for one year after your membership lapses. During that time, you can continue to launch Lightroom CC to download your original files from our cloud services.

Lightroom Classic CC: You'll still have access to all your photos on your local hard drive through Lightroom for the desktop. You can continue to import and organize photos as well as output your edited photos through Export, Publish, Print, Web, or Slideshow. Access to the Develop & Map modules and Lightroom for mobile are not available after your membership ends.

Which sounds like an official statement.

(Yes, I know that's the same as Soji_Okita posted, but there seem to be two different pages, one dated 28th Oct and one 6th Nov)

dl_paige (and all of us) were sure this was the past position, but I feel more comfortable with recent official Adobe confirmation that it still applies.

[dj_paige]

Yes, thank you both, Simon G E Garrett​ and Soji_Okita for the information.

This is a big relief to me as well.