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Bianca5DB8
Participant
February 27, 2021
Answered

I cannot find my original photo files in my cloud storage

  • February 27, 2021
  • 1 reply
  • 1454 views

I imported photos into Lightroom, believing I could access the original files via the cloud. When I access the cloud, I see that there are files stored. But the files are nowhere to be found. How and where can I access the original photo files?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Jim Wilde

    No, it's not totally impossible....you can optionally store a copy of the originals locally (either all of them or on a per album basis). See the Preferences>Local Storage tab, where you can additionally choose to change the storage location from the default (on your system drive) to another location of your choosing.

     

    However, you need to understand that the local copy, if accessed by another application, will not show any of the edits that you may have applied. Lightroom is a "non-destructive" editor, meaning that edits are stored in the catalog and the original image is never changed....what you see in the Lightroom app would be a preview created from the original and incorporating your edits. But those edits are only usable by Lightroom, so your other programs would only see the unedited original. If you want those other programs to see the edited file, you would have to export them, and that is generally true for all non-destructive editors.

    1 reply

    Jim Wilde
    Community Expert
    Jim WildeCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 27, 2021

    Can you clarify what you are trying to do? Are you trying/expecting to see the image files in the Creative Cloud Files folder on your local system after they have been imported into Lightroom and synced to the cloud? If so, it doesn't work like that....while images imported into Lightroom, and files added to your Creative Cloud Files folder, both use the same cloud storage allocation, they are separate entities which are accessed differently. Lightroom can only "see" the images added by any of the Lightroom apps, and similarly the Creative Cloud Files folder only shows what has been added to the equivalent folder on any of your connected devices.

     

    But if that's not what your issue is, could you explain a bit more? ANY of the Lightroom apps can access all the image files imported from any of the same apps and synced to the cloud, but the cloud is not accessible from any non-Lightroom app. Also the original images files CAN be stored locally as well as in the cloud, either by user choice or automatically by the app in certain situations.

    B
    Bianca5DB8Author
    Participant
    February 27, 2021

    If I understand you correctly, it is impossible to access the original image files in the cloud. That is a massive bummer as I lost part of my original files. And sometimes, I want to use the original files in other programs. Just making an export from Lightroom is not always the solution. The quality sometimes is less than the original.

    Is it really impossible to access the original files?

      Jim Wilde
      Community Expert
      Jim WildeCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
      Community Expert
      February 27, 2021

      No, it's not totally impossible....you can optionally store a copy of the originals locally (either all of them or on a per album basis). See the Preferences>Local Storage tab, where you can additionally choose to change the storage location from the default (on your system drive) to another location of your choosing.

       

      However, you need to understand that the local copy, if accessed by another application, will not show any of the edits that you may have applied. Lightroom is a "non-destructive" editor, meaning that edits are stored in the catalog and the original image is never changed....what you see in the Lightroom app would be a preview created from the original and incorporating your edits. But those edits are only usable by Lightroom, so your other programs would only see the unedited original. If you want those other programs to see the edited file, you would have to export them, and that is generally true for all non-destructive editors.

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