Turning off sync for folders does not seem to be working

[KathleenMartin]

I use Lightroom Classic and Lightroom with my library synced to Adobe Cloud.  I am running low on cloud space so I wanted to slect a series of folders in Lightroom Classic that I no longer want to sync to Adobe Cloud.  So I un-checked the sync icon next to several folders (which equates to about roughly 1/3rd of my synced images).  The overlay message popped up for each icon that I clicked that said I had turned sync off.  And the icon went from the arrow to the empty box.  All seemed fine.  However, the size of my cloud sync did not change.

I thought I was doing this right.  But maybe not?

Help!?

[JP Hess]

Clearing folders that have been synchronized FROM Lightroom Classic won't free up any of your cloud space. Lightroom Classic only synchronizes smart previews that have been organized into collections, and those smart previews do not impact your cloud allotment. The images that impact your cloud allotment are those that have been imported directly from Lightroom, the cloud version, or from your mobile phone. So removing collections that have been synchronized from Lightroom Classic won't fix anything. Your have to go to Lightroom, the cloud version, and identify images that you have imported using that version and delete those if you want to increase the amount of cloud space that you have.

[KathleenMartin]

Thanks, Jim.  Let me try to clarify a bit because this isn't what I recall from doing this previously.

I import everything using Lightroom (not LRC).  Lightroom syncs to Adboe Cloud and then from there my local LRC libary is updated/synced.  That may make a difference?

I could have sworn that in the past, I was able to clear cloud space by unsyning folders in LRC.  And even when I did that today, in Lightroom, the folders that I unsynced in LRC are still showing... but they are empty.  Yet my total cloud space remains the same. 

[JP Hess]

In that case, you might find it necessary to go to Lightroom and actually delete the images using that program. That will not remove the images from Lightroom Classic.

[KathleenMartin]

So basically, Cloud "Sync" isn't a sync at all? That doesn't make sense.

[KathleenMartin]

[Posted above before I was done typing]

...If I am in LRC and I uncheck the "sync" icon.. and LRC gives me the popup that says that this folder will no longer sync with Adobe Cloud, how does that not mean (or function) that those photos no longer sync with Adobe Cloud? Seems like the literal defintion of what the "sync" button is supposed to do?  

[JP Hess]

It seems to me that you are talking about two different situations. If you are unchecking a collection in Lightroom Classic that has been shared then that is a collection that was shared FROM Lightroom Classic, not images that were originally imported to Lightroom. I just tried unchecking a collection in LrC, and it was immediately removed from Lightroom. If you imported images to Lightroom that were then added to your LrC catalog they won't be in a shared collection. They will be in a folder wherever you have chosen to have those images stored on your computer. But they won't be listed as a shared collection.

[Jim Wilde]

It seems to me that you are talking about two different situations. If you are unchecking a collection in Lightroom Classic that has been shared then that is a collection that was shared FROM Lightroom Classic, not images that were originally imported to Lightroom.

Not true, Jim. An album created in Lightroom will still appear as a synced collection in LrC, and if "unsynced" in LrC it WILL be removed from  Lightroom.

The problem that the OP is having here is the misunderstanding that unsyncing a collection from Classic or deleting an album from Lightroom will delete the associated images from the cloud. That is not the case, and to be honest, the warning dialog that appears when you do either of those two things clearly states that the photos are not deleted/will remain. There are two ways to delete images from the cloud.....in Lightroom select the images then right-click and select Delete Photo(s), or in LrClassic select the photos, go to All Synced Photographgs, right-click and choose "Remove from All Synced Photographs".