Free up cloud storage

[billwatson82]

Hello,

my cloud storage is full and I'd like to free up space, while keeping the current images stored locally and accessible through Lightroom on my laptop.  I've seen some quite old posts on how to do this, but was afraid in case things had changed and I accidentally deleted something permanently.

I would like to keep the cloud storage available for my current projects where I may edit in my laptop or iPad.

The images currently on the cloud are selected as 'stored locally' to my raid drive, but I'm not sure what to do next.    I'm using Mac in case that's a different approach.

thanks so much for your help !

[Sameer K]

Hey, @billwatson82. Welcome to the Photoshop Community. I'll clarify this for you.

Here are a few points to quickly set it up:

• Lightroom mobile & Lightroom Desktop (non-classic) sync the full-size raw file to the cloud at Lightroom Web (https://lightroom.adobe.com)

You can use Lightroom Classic on the iMac.

• Lightroom Classic downloads the full-size raw image to the system as, by design, Lightroom Classic needs access to the full-size image at all times.
• As a test, once an image is synced to Lightroom Classic, you can try deleting the photo from Lightroom Web & the locally downloaded copy should still be available in Lightroom Classic.

You can learn more about the sync ecosystem here: https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/sync-faq.html

Let me know if this helps.

Thanks!
Sameer K

[billwatson82]

Hi Sameer,

Will migrating to Lightroom classic make it impossible to edit on my iPad Pro?

I would like to be able to edit on the iPad, or the laptop.

There has to be a way to do this. What photographer’s collection tops out at 1tb?

Sent from my iPhone

[Sameer K]

Hey there!

Lightroom Classic continues to Sync with Lightroom Web & Lightroom iPad and the other way around too. Check the FAQ I shared above, it'll help you get started.

You're also not limited to 1TB, you can upgrade with additional storage too. Check here to learn how: https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/upgrade-creative-cloud-storage.html

Thanks!
Sameer K

[Theresa J]

Lightroom Classic syncs to the cloud with Smart Previews. These are available to edit on an iPad. The edits will sync back to Lightroom Classic. This is the workflow I use. All of my master images reside on external hard drives. Only smart previews, and mobile phone images are in the cloud.

Lightroom Classic has a bit of a learning curve though. It's easier to understand if you have good file management skills.

You may want to migrate your Lightroom library to a Lightroom Classic catalog. Here's an article to help with that. https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-do-i-move-from-lightroom-cloud-to-lightroom-classic/

[Theresa J]

Sounds like you need to be using Lightroom Classic.

With Lightroom, the master file is always in the cloud. The locally stored copy is really only necessary when you need to work on images without internet connection. If you delete an image in the cloud, it will also delete the locally stored copy.