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How can I get my photos into Lightroom classics folder structure?

Contributor ,
Nov 19, 2020 Nov 19, 2020

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So I like how Lightroom Classic will download synced images into folders organized by date. I'm switching my folder stucture and am wondering if there is a way to have it put all of my old folders into this structure.

 

I should note that I am on the process of adding all of my photos to Lightroom cc. I had previously synced all of my photos in Lightroom classic so I don't see a way to use this to my advantage. My overall thought is to have my photos in the cloud, stored in a folder locally specified by Lightroom cc, and my additional backup would be through Classic, where all new photos will be synced, downloaded, and sorted into this folder structure.

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Community Expert , Nov 19, 2020 Nov 19, 2020

I'm not sure I would recommend this workflow, but here is how you do it.

  1. Import all of your masters into Lightroom (cloud)
  2. Create a new Lightroom Classic catalog
  3. BEFORE you turn on the syncing function go to the Preferences > Lightroom Sync tab. 
  4. Choose a location for the downloaded photos from Lightroom. By default this will be the pictures folder. You don't want that. Choose another location, preferably an external drive.
  5. Turn on the option to organize by date, and choose a date structure fro
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Community Expert ,
Nov 19, 2020 Nov 19, 2020

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I'm not sure I would recommend this workflow, but here is how you do it.

  1. Import all of your masters into Lightroom (cloud)
  2. Create a new Lightroom Classic catalog
  3. BEFORE you turn on the syncing function go to the Preferences > Lightroom Sync tab. 
  4. Choose a location for the downloaded photos from Lightroom. By default this will be the pictures folder. You don't want that. Choose another location, preferably an external drive.
  5. Turn on the option to organize by date, and choose a date structure from the pop up menu that works for you
  6. AFTER all of your masters have synced to the cloud through Lightroom, turn on the syncing function in Lightroom Classic. This will download all of the masters into a dated folder structure wherever you designated for them to go.

 

If you really want to follow this workflow you should always import future photos to Lightroom, not Lightroom Classic.

 

I really, REALLY advise against this though. The cloud will fill up eventually and you will be charged for extra storage. It's much smarter to import into Lightroom Classic and sync only photos to Lightroom that you really want in the cloud.

 

You can import photos into Lightroom Classic into dated folders if you import with the Copy method and choose the location and date structure during the import. 

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Contributor ,
Nov 19, 2020 Nov 19, 2020

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Thanks for the input.

 

I no longer want to import though Classic as I want my files in the cloud. I have 5tb of storage. I think I have a solution, but it will mean I manually move the photos in Classic to new folders. I will,then have the photos in the cloud, stored locally via cc's preferences, and another copy stored on a backup drive via classics preferences.

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Community Expert ,
Nov 19, 2020 Nov 19, 2020

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With your workflow there is no connection between Classic and the photos in the cloud. Edits will not sync between Classic and Lightroom. If you turn on the sync you are going to create big problem of duplicate images.

Be very careful. It sounds like you may not completely understand the relationship between the two applications. Good luck.

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Contributor ,
Nov 20, 2020 Nov 20, 2020

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I'm not sure how exactly there would be doubles and what I don't understand. I've been using these two apps together since cc came out. 
If I import an image into CC it's stored in the cloud and locally in a specified spot. If it's in an album and I open classic, the smart preview will sync and I can access it through that collection in Classic. Now if I have Classic set to download an original of synced images to a different location it will do just that. How exactly will this create a double?

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Community Expert ,
Nov 20, 2020 Nov 20, 2020

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"If I import an image into CC it's stored in the cloud and locally in a specified spot. If it's in an album and I open classic, the smart preview will sync and I can access it through that collection in Classic."

This is the part you are misunderstanding. If you import the image into Lightroom it is in the cloud. When you view it it Classic, the full master file is also copied down to a hard drive, not a smart preview. If you turn on the "store local copy" option in Lightroom, that stores in a copy in a different location. In this scenerio you actually have three copies of the photo.

If you had also imported the same photo into Classic, before importing it into Lightroom, you have a fourth copy. It is confusing, and why using both apps together is always discouraged.

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Contributor ,
Nov 20, 2020 Nov 20, 2020

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I don't believe this is accurate so I will follow up with Adobe. If I import into Lightroom and open in classic it does not automatically download a full res copy. It only does this if I ask it to in the preferences. At least with the tests I have done. I am currently reimporting everything in my classic library to CC and it is 100% not creating extra copies. As long as the photo is already synced in a collection. 

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Community Expert ,
Nov 20, 2020 Nov 20, 2020

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If you have syncing turned on in Classic, it copies down everything from the cloud. This is how it works. I know what I am talking about. I'm trying to help you because I know how confusing this is.

If you do not turn on syncing in Classic, nothing downloads, but then you also won't see Lightroom Albums as Collections in Classic.

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Contributor ,
Nov 20, 2020 Nov 20, 2020

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I'd like to first say I know you are trying to help me and I appreciate that. I am not saying you are wrong, I would just like to simply explain all these tests I have been doing based on what other users have guided me to do. 

I have 60k image in Lightroom classic, all of which were imported into classic and all of which are synced in collections, and with smart previews available in CC. Yesterday I reimported 1,000 image into CC. I opened classic, and it DID NOT re download new copies. Sync is turned on. It says up to date. I have checked every local location and done searches of all connected drives. It did not happen. I was told to do this by another user, and a screenshot has been posted below in my response to Jim. So reimported already synced image does not add another copy. 

My next test was this which I did a matter of minutes ago. I imported an image that was not in either catalog to CC. CC uploaded it and stored it in the local folder where I specified in the preferences. I opened classic and yes the full res copy downloaded there as well. In Classics preferences I had turned OFF "specify location for synced images" so it downloaded the original to my default drive. 

I then imported another image that was in neither library into CC. But this time I checked the box to specifly location for synced images as well as the one to be sorted by date, within the Classic preferences. This image also synced, downloaded the original, but this time it went to my specified folder and DID NOT download another to the default folder. This was as I expected it to do. 

I know this discussion has gotten off topic. I orignally asked about getting all of my already imported files into this file structure, and I know I will need to do that manually. But the conversation morphed into this alternative workflow I would like to use, and it sure seems like it works, judging by several tests I have done. Nothing I have done has given me extra copies locally. I will again state my goal. I will be re importing all previously imported files to CC. Im not sure why you think that will add extra copies, it simply doesn't. If it has already been synced, CC is able to identify that the smart preview is already there and the number of "synced images" doesnt actually change when I import these images. That number has stayed the same from day one. All it does is add a copy to the cloud, and to the local folder designated in the prefs. Maybe this is a new feature, I don't know. But I've re imported 300gb of images this week, the synced images number has not changed, nor has my hard drive space, and sync is turned on in Classic I assure you. I just watched images the new images sync with my own two eyes. 

So as far as my new import workflow-My goal was to have full res access in LR Classic, LR CC, and LR Mobile. I planned on having the cloud copy, a local copy, and an additional backup copy as I always have. 

So I import my photos to CC. This gives me my cloud copy and my local copy in the folder specified in CC's preferences. Now I set the synced folder location in Classic to be on the additional backup drive. So yes Classic will dowload another full res copy to this drive. Now I have access to the full res files there as well. 

 

Maybe I explained this wrong in the above posts. But this is my goal, seems to work just as planned, and I'm not really sure why anyone thinks it won't. Again I appreciate your imput and trying to help. I think this could be a really great workflow for people who want to have full res access in both apps so I am making sure it does what I need before promoting it. I hope this all makes sense.

 

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Contributor ,
Nov 20, 2020 Nov 20, 2020

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Apparantly I cant edit so Im adding this. I think we are just misunderstanding what is considered "extra" images. I know when I reimport those photos to CC they will save a new local copy. Thats part of the goal. My point is that Classic does not then redownload yet another copy. I am aware that my tranfer of files to CC means I am moving the location of my local storage to the one I set in the preferences. 

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Contributor ,
Nov 20, 2020 Nov 20, 2020

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Ive written pages down below and cant delete them. I went and reread all of your comments. It sounds like we are on the same page. I have plenty of cloud storage so im not concerned about that. 

The whole confusing issue is whether classic will redownload, which it wont if the photo has already been synced. I actually really like your idea of starting a new catalog and turning on sync, and letting them all download to my new backup location but I don't know how to specifly which catalog utilizes the sync feature. 

 

I was not wrong in saying that Classic will not download a new copy when sync is on, if the photo has previously been synced. 

 

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Community Expert ,
Nov 20, 2020 Nov 20, 2020

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I just tested this for myself. You are correct. If an image has been synced to Lightroom as a smart preview, then you upload the original full res to the Lightroom cloud, the full resolution image will replace the smart preview and not redownload to Classic. I did not know it worked like this. I'm sorry. It's pretty crazy though I think, and confusing.

I still think my original directions make the most sense. When you turn on the sync in the new catalog you will be asked if you want to replace the current synced catalog. Say yes to this. The original catalog will no longer be connected to the Lightroom cloud, but it won't loose any of it's content. You won't loose any images in the cloud either, but you will get a new download of everything.

I feel like I should state this again for anyone who finds this and reads it. This is NOT the intended way to use Lightroom or Lightroom Classic. Your computer file management skills need to be top notch to keep on top of what is where, and not end up with lots of duplicates.

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Contributor ,
Nov 20, 2020 Nov 20, 2020

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Thank you for confirming. No need to apologize it's a pretty confusing process. I'm just glad it will work as I want! I agree about your original description. My worry here was the bandwidth of redownloading my whole library yet again (xfinity only allows 1tb per month) so I simply used the metadata filter to move my photos to a by date structure by month, instead of by individual day which saved a lot of time. When I have some time and bandwidth I will likely do a new catalog with your idea. Thanks again for all of your input.

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LEGEND ,
Nov 20, 2020 Nov 20, 2020

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Theresa has given you some valuable information, and has warned you about the pitfalls of what you are setting yourself up for. What you are planning to do really isn't a good idea in my opinion, either. However, the choice is yours and if you think you know better then go for it.

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Contributor ,
Nov 20, 2020 Nov 20, 2020

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For some reason my workflow is not working in the way she has mentioned. It's not that I know better, it's that i am witnessing what is happening.

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Contributor ,
Nov 20, 2020 Nov 20, 2020

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Note this response from a different conversation, though it is in direct reference to reimporting photos to CC that have already been imported to classic and synced to CC.

144656D3-F692-4E11-B095-8F4D31D1D09F.jpeg

 

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Community Expert ,
Nov 20, 2020 Nov 20, 2020

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Ok, I am going to inject a thought about the interaction / sync with LrC (Classic) and Lr (cloud-based) on the same computer.

When using LrC you can create collections of image files and sync with the Adobe Cloud and smart-previews will be uploaded and be available for viewing and working with Lr and Lr Mobile.

There is another option to sync smart-previews from LrC to the Adobe Cloud and that is to select images from Folders in LrC and drag to "All synced photographs".

This means you can have smart-previews in Adobe Cloud for all the files that are imported to LrC.

Original image files remain in storage on your computer.

If you now use Lr on your computer and add image files to the application then original files will be uploaded to Adobe Cloud, so there are Original Files and Smart-previews in the cloud. My normal expectation is that copies of the original files will downloaded to the computer. So you would now have two originals on your computer and one in the cloud.

Is your expectation that it would be recognized that there are smart-previews in the cloud that match the originals now uploaded from Lr and know that your computer has originals and not download another original?

I have not tested this concept.

 

PS- Ok I am seeing Theresa post above and she indicates she has tested this and agrees that this is possible and I think there have been others that have indicated this. I just have not seen it documented as an acceptable workflow. It's just one that would undertake since I have approxametly 40,000 images in my Catalog but I only have about 7,000 images from

Collections being syncing.

 

 

Regards, Denis: iMac 27” mid-2015, macOS 11.7.10 Big Sur; 2TB SSD, 24 GB Ram, GPU 2 GB; LrC 12.5, Lr 6.5, PS 24.7,; ACR 15.5,; Camera OM-D E-M1

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Contributor ,
Nov 20, 2020 Nov 20, 2020

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This is correct and that's how it works. I am fine with several copies being "on my computer" because I'm actually putting those copies on several external drives and they will be acting as backups. But at the same time they will be allowing me full res access in both apps:)

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