P: Ability to sync Lightroom Classic keywords with the Lightroom Ecosystem

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Keywords do not sync correctly: When added on the mobile app (iOS), they do not appear in LR classic and not in LR Web (I deleted the new LR CC immediately, this version does not make sense to me).
Same problem into the other direction: Keywords from LR classic do not appear on the mobile app. 
Attention: At this stage the whole keywording within the iOS app should not be used!

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

https://petapixel.com/2017/12/19/adob...

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

http://m.dpreview.com/news/5525938279...

[Charlyw64]

@PatRick, the perpetusl version is discontinued..It also doesn‘t have synch with the cloud version so is no part whatsoever of the problem discussed here!

[patrickhudgell]

Thanks Sylvain. That is very helpful. Do you know if there is a document anywhere which describes the features in LR Classic that do not exist in the desktop CC implementation? I have only just started to test the desktop CC version and there seem to be a huge number of things missing.

[Charlyw64]

Please take the differences between CC and Ckassic CC to another post - they are so numerous that it would derail this topic...

[patrickhudgell]

@Karl. Thanks for your posts. I only started using this forum a couple of days ago so still getting used to how it works. The reason why I am interested in the future of standalone Lightroom is that I am working out ways to manage my workflow and one possibility (which would not involve losing keywords) is to use standalone Lightroom on both desktop and laptop and sync them by installing a shared catalog in the cloud (eg in Dropbox). Since LR6 is now a dead end that is probably not a very good solution! Thanks to everyone for their help on this.

[hubertusl77452904]

Yes, I agree with everything mentioned. I am highly content with the capabilities of LR Classic.   The only drawback is that you need a notebook if you want to catalogue and edit photos while travelling. And I was real happy after Adobe announced a LR mobile. For me the main reason to work with LR CC (mobile) would be as a companion to LR Classic while travelling light. And I would gladly upgrade my Adobe plan to 1TB cloud storage if keywords entered in LR CC (mobile) would synchronize with LR Classic (if there is just a flat keyword hierarchy available in LR CC mobile, so be it for the time being) AND if there is a decent and acceptable way to add keywords in LR CC mobile (which is definitely not the case right now, what is offered is a cruel joke).

Without the above-mentioned features there is absolutely no reason for me to upgrade my Adobe plan. I have all of my photos of the last 45 years catalogued in LR Classic and there is absolutely no need to access them from every device (MacBook’s, iPads, iPhones etc.) I own. But if it comes to the couple of actual photographic projects I am working at a time access from a variety of devices would be of great help.

In my humble opinion Adobe is missing on a great business opportunity. The only reason for staying with Adobe right now is that there is no real alternative in the market (meaning: nobody offers a decent environment where you can catalogue and edit your pictures on an iPad while travelling and have all data synchronized to a Laptop afterwards). If this would change in the future Adobe might rethink their position .....

And please remember: this is written by someone who loves his Adobe products!

[Todd Shaner]

"Do you know if there is a document anywhere which describes the features in LR Classic that do not exist in the desktop CC implementation?"

Last updated November 5, 2018 so pretty current and informative. Keep in mind this is a moving target and it's expected Adobe will add more features currently in LR Classic to CC Desktop, Mobile, and Web apps.

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/lightroom-cc-vs-classic-features/

[Charlyw64]

@PatRick, you don't want to use a synchronized catalog, simply create a small catalog for your mobile computer and at the end of the trip import that into the master catalog on your desktop...

[Califdan2]

Jerry,

You say "I'm not so sure if this is true because they are continuously adding new features to Classic. "

Most all the significant features they add to Classic are in the develop module.  The fact that these get added to classic is because they are part of ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) which is the code base used by Photoshop as well as LR Classic on the standard computer side and LR CC and Photoshop Mobile on the portable side.  In other words they only have to code it once and it becomes available in all the systems.  then for each platform they just need to add the slider or button to invoke to the code.

Dan

[Jao vdL]

I would disagree. Many of the new features introduced are outside of Develop. Even if you just look at Develop features, most of them are introduced first in Classic and you need to wait another release cycle for them to appear in CC. If you look at the last two releases for example, almost none of the new features apply to CC: https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/help/whats-new.html. Compare that to https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-cc/using/whats-new.html and you'll see.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

As a new adopter of Lightroom CC, I am stunned that my years of Lightroom Classic CC keywords will not sync properly with this new cloud/mobile platform. Adobe is supposed to be the "Gold Standard" for the industry. I don't understand how the company can disregard such a basic need.

[Antoine HLMN]

Amen! 😄

Adobe is supposed to be the "Gold Standard"

Sorry to disappoint you, but you’ll find out the integration of sync options into classic is ... rather limited 😉

(And Adobe hais claimed they won’t improve it)

[olivier_gx]

O_0
What a post. So exhaustive. Sorry mine will not help you.
Your post explains perfectly what is totally crazy with Adobe offer:
In one hand : A 10yo+ software whom development is stopped (I mean for cloud functionality)
In other hand a slow development  beta software laking so much feature (print, smart folder, offline search and so on)
Resulting in poor user try to experiment (and share in your case) some information.
Pathetic.

The only happy people are teacher how how sells formation and books to explain how to import, tag and develop photo) and explain in some obscur FB group or forum to not install Classic and CC on same computer.

[Califdan2]

It is much easier to understand if you accept the premise that the strategy of Adobe is to put the bulk of their effort into CC, at the expense of Classic, in order to "encourage" people to abandon Classic over time in favor of CC.  Eventually, dropping Classic from their list of supported applications. 

Adobe has not actually said this, but there are a large number of people believe that this is their strategy and will continue to believe this unless Adobe makes a statement to the contrary or we start seeing more Library Module improvements in Classic, many of which have been on the wish list for years.  One such improvement (which, if I recall correctly, Adobe Marked as "not being considered") is sync Keywords between Classic and Cloud.  There are many others as well.

[Arcterex]

I believe the reason for this was (and I think it was further back in this or another comment thread) that keywords on CC were AI generated (in addition to human created) and the two systems just weren't compatible with each other at a technical level.  To me it seems pretty easy to just send data back and forth, but I also know that software is very complex and both LRs are *huge* undertakings of software. 

I'd be happy with just some more improvements to Classic and a bit more guarentee it's not going away any time soon.  Course the latest updated *did* just come out and it did have new features, so maybe I'm just wanting all my wishlist items *right* now 🙂

[hubertusl77452904]

I am very happy with LR Classic. The only reason I come back every now and then to LR CC is the fact that there is a mobile version which runs on my iPad Pro (and I would be able to travel light). I would leave LR Classic with a heavy heart (and as an unhappy costumer) and move to CC if the mobile version would at least support one of the very key functions of LR in a professional manner: organizing photos and adding keywords. But even the latest update a couple of days ago again did not address this matter. You have to add keywords to every single picture one after the other. No function to at least tag a couple of pictures to add keywords to all this pictures in one step. Just imagine after a day in the field with hundreds of photos! If Adobe really wants us to switch to CC (as regrettable as it might be) they should at least address the basic functionality for the mobile version. For the desktop version there are some alternatives around. But as of today I do not know of any usable offer from the competition.

[Califdan2]

Alan (and others),

I know about the Sensei engine for finding images in CC.  For example "Waterfall" or "Fred" or "Golden Gate Bridge" but my understanding is that this is an AI search technology at the point of query and does not result in the saving or storage of any actual keywords with the image(s).  And, i infer that the Sensei search not only interprets image content (pixels), but also includes the search of keywords attached to images by the photographer (either came along from Classic when first synced or added by hand in CC). 

Do you have info that the CC Sensei technology also adds actual keywords to images based on analysis of the pixels?  If so that would be quite interesting to know.

Dan

[Jao vdL]

Hubertus, Adobe does not want us to switch. They are simply providing multiple products to supply different audiences. Lightroom CC is meant to attract a different base of users than Classic. The fact that Classic is not being neglected or phased out is clear from the active addition of features to Classic and strong development they are doing. Most new features get added first to Classic! It is very hard to argue that Adobe is putting most of its resources at CC. That is simply belied by the very public evidence. Also despite what some people think, Adobe is not stupid. They would get their lunch eaten by several competitors if they move to CC only. The competition is quite good.
Classic and CC are simply aimed at different audiences. CC does not scale to the levels high volume shooters need because of its internet/cloud centric design and won't for quite a while. It also misses almost every essential feature needed and will so for a very very long time if you extrapolate from how slow it has come along. In the mean time, CC works perfectly fine for those people that only live in the internet sphere, never print, do not shoot large volumes, hate keywording but still like to eke some extra quality out of their (imagine mostly iPhone raw) shots and like having all images available everywhere. Classic simply doesn't work for them. For everybody else Classic will be there.

[Jao vdL]

Sensei searches both AI keywords and manually added keywords. The sensei keywords are stored with the images as I understand it but they are not user accessible- i.e. you can't actually see the keywords it generates for your images. Being able to see the AI keywords has been a requested feature here but Adobe hasn't enabled that. It would be very handy to see how it categorizes (or miscategorizes) images.

[Califdan2]

I don't think I heard that before.  Is there any written info from Adobe that this is the way it works?   

[Califdan2]

I am not seeing it the same way as you are Jao. 

Almost all the changes incorporated into Classic since CC came out have been based in ACR (Adobe Camera Raw).  This is what drives the develop module and drives ACR in Photoshop as well as the desktop Lightroom CC.  It also is the root of LR CC mobile apps.  So, the bulk of the development (concept, design, mode of operation, logic, and most of the coding) gets done once and is then adapted to all three platforms (LR Classic, ACR, and LR CC).  So, it's more like classic is just piggy-backing on the CC development in regards to the Develop module.   

However, except for some very minor (and trivial) changes such as color labels on folders, there has been very little to get excited about in LR Classic Library Module.  They did *finally" beef up the Book Module with custom page layouts (too little too late IMHO) but for the most part not much has been done for Classic outside of the Develop Module.  

In addition, I recall reading something from Adobe when CC first came out (and everyone was confused) that they would not be doing much of anything with Classic except for the Develop module and this is what we have been experiencing.  This is what sparked all the speculation and debate about their long range goals for the product.  I have seen nothing since then that is contrary to this perceived direction other than a lot of people complaining about it.

[johnrellis]

At the time of the rebranding to LR CC and LR Classic, Victoria Bampton, who is well-connected to Adobe, wrote, ""Future development of Lightroom Classic is being refocused on improving performance and enhancing the editing tools." 

Since then, it appears to me that's what Adobe has focused on.  They have fixed more bugs, including Library bugs, in the last year or so than in previous years. But no significant improvements except to Develop and Book.

[olivier_gx]

It is obvious Classic does not evolve and probably will not less and less. Ressources are not infinite , even for the creator of the monstrous adobe reader and flash and so on.

But the strange thing is Adobe (it is what I can read here) creating 2 category :
One with the old way using a desktop with a slow Classic and poor cloud functionality.
Second with a fast app for desktop and mobile (really a great piece of software) with no power functionality or no basic functionality (print, keyword,smart folder...).
But you are ready to use the powerful app at home or at office and want to use some cloud functionality we are said to not understand the way adobe create the 2 app’.
That is just crazy the 2 solutions does not communicate better (for example about creating folder /collection, keyword) to comply with people who need the best of the 2 world.

For apple / Mac / iPad users, the only chance I see in a near future to see our best wishes is to wait for the arm cpu MacBook and the marzipan project. We will have the best of the 2 worlds and probably some competitors to LR. Resulting in a rush at adobe office to listen to their customer.

Beg your pardon, English is not my mother tongue.

[john beardsworth]

No, but it is correct. You can prove it by testing.