Using LR Mobile to review and delete

[Stephen Dewey]

Is it possible to use the mobile app to review shots and eliminate non keepers from the desktop import/catalog ?

[Mohit Goyal]

Hi StephenDewey,

No, Lightroom mobile is more likely used for editing while you are travelling. You can sort your images using the start rating and sync it to the main catalog. You can remove images only from the Lightroom catalog.

Regards,

Mohit

[Stephen Dewey]

Thanks for replying so swiftly and explaining.

[Conrad C · Accepted solution]

Yes, you can do what you asked, but not exactly as described.

Lightroom Mobile has ratings and flags, so you can assign star ratings or Pick/Reject flags to any photo that's synced to Lightroom Mobile. You can't delete photos from the desktop directly from Lightroom Mobile, but you definitely can delete them with just one more step:

1. In Lightroom Mobile, apply the Rejected flag to photos you want to delete. This setting will sync back to the photos on the Adobe server. When you get back to your desktop computer and start Lightroom there, it will sync down all the ratings and flags you applied in Lightroom Mobile.
2. Now, in the Lightroom desktop application, choose Photo > Delete Rejected Photos, and every photo with a Rejected flag will be moved to the computer's Trash and removed from the Lightroom catalog.

For me, there is no difference between how I eliminate images in Lightroom on the desktop or in Lightroom Mobile. In either, I'll make a pass with Reject flags first, then check to make sure I didn't mark something as a Reject by mistake. Then, in Lightroom on the desktop, I finally delete them all at once with the Delete Rejected Photos command.

[Stephen Dewey]

Hey Conrad, thanks for this clear explanation of how to achieve what I was talking about. I had a feeling the technique would be something like this, I think it will work just fine, the extra step is pretty straightforward. There are so many moments during the day away from the desktop where one could be cleaning up the catalog and using the mobile app will absolutely make that possible.

[christopherp56860603]

I did research on Lightroom and using an iPad Pro for my photography workflow. The goal was to rely on my iPad as my primary tool for photography. So disappointed to learn that I still need to return to my desktop to remove rejected photos. Very disappointed.

[Conrad C]

What is going to make or break this for you is whether making the iPad Pro your primary tool also means making the cloud the primary storage. If you want the cloud to be primary storage, then this will work for you because you will be using Lightroom desktop (not Classic). If you require local desktop storage with Lightroom Classic on the desktop, then it won’t work.

To explain further: If you make the iPad Pro your primary tool, with your desktop application being Lightroom (not Classic), then everything will work the way you want. Because Lightroom desktop (not Classic) is just another “terminal” to Lightroom Photos cloud storage, essentially the same as all other clients of the Lightroom Photos cloud system (Lightroom on iOS and Android phones and tablets, Lightroom desktop [not Classic] on Mac and Windows, and the Lightroom editor in a web browser). All of those work the same way, all of those manage the primary cloud storage the same way. Deleting a photo in any of those clients, including the iPad, will permanently delete it from cloud storage. The photo will no longer be accessible from any client include Lightroom non-Classic desktop. Your goal will be achieved, no disappointment needed.

(When not using Lightroom Classic, photos deleted using a cloud client actually sit in a “Deleted” section in case you want to un-delete them, then after 60 days there a photo is permanently deleted. Or you can permanently delete it from there.)

If what you mean is you want to be able to do this with Lightroom Classic, then it won’t work. Partly because Lightroom Classic uses desktop storage as primary, so it will download all Lightroom cloud photos to satisfy the requirement that desktop storage is primary. This also means that all of the clients of the Cloud system (including the iPad) cannot override how Lightroom Classic manages photos in local storage. Basically, today you have all Lightroom applications on all platforms forming a single photo management system, except Lightroom Classic with is an exception that’s just not technically set up to be a full cloud member and cannot sync all changes.

That’s the breakdown, and I only went into that explanation so that you can be less disappointed…if you want your desktop Lightroom application to be the non-Classic, cloud-oriented version. Because that is the one way you will be able to manage (and delete) photos from any of the mobile or desktop clients including the iPad.