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Tom 70irving
Inspiring
February 20, 2019
Answered

Keywords for mobile use

  • February 20, 2019
  • 2 replies
  • 1741 views

I want to be able to search a large collection of photos in Lightroom CC Mobile on my iPhone. I have spent years assigning keywords to my photos in Lightroom Classic CC. If I sync Lightroom CC to my desktop Lightroom Classic CC, will all my keywords pass through and be usable for me to search with on my iPhone?

      Correct answer john beardsworth

      The underlying problem is that Adobe decided not to sync keywords between LrClassic and the LRCC-branded apps.

      However, keywords can be synchronized once from Classic - although this is more an accident than a workflow. Any later changes to keywords won't sync.

      To send the keywords from Classic:

      1. ensure the photos are not already synced
      2. ensure they do not have smart previews  - Library > Previews > Delete Smart Previews
      3. Metadata > Save Metadata to File
      4. Sync the photos

      2 replies

      S
      ScanVT
      Participating Frequently
      February 20, 2025

      I think I found a solution!!  The latest version of Lightroom Classic doesn't sync keywords even once anymore, and I tried everything I could think of to work around this huge problem.  After all, what is the use of having 50,000 images at your fingertips if you can't find what you're looking for?  Try this:  Open Lightroom Classic.  Open LR on your desktop as well.  Physically drag and drop images from Classic to LR.  Voila!  All your keywords will be there.  No, they don't sync, but that's ok with me.  Good luck!!

      Jim Wilde
      Community Expert
      Jim WildeCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 20, 2025
      quote

      I think I found a solution!!  The latest version of Lightroom Classic doesn't sync keywords even once anymore, and I tried everything I could think of to work around this huge problem.  After all, what is the use of having 50,000 images at your fingertips if you can't find what you're looking for?  Try this:  Open Lightroom Classic.  Open LR on your desktop as well.  Physically drag and drop images from Classic to LR.  Voila!  All your keywords will be there.  No, they don't sync, but that's ok with me.  Good luck!!


      By @ScanVT

       

      The problem with that approach is that when using "drag and drop" into LrDesktop you are actually doing an Import, which means that you are putting originals into the cloud rather than the Smart Previews which LrC adds to the cloud when syncing directly. Consequently, each image that you add by "drag and drop" (or by standard Import) is then using up cloud storage space, and if you do that with all 50K images you're likely to need over 1TB of cloud space.

       

      Also, you would still need to save metadata to XMP in LrC before importing into LrD in order to get the LrC-added keywords into the cloud.

       

      And one more complication: if the image that you drag and drop into LrD from LrC is not already synced as a Smart Preview, when the "import" into LrD is complete a copy of that newly-added original is then downloaded back into LrC where it will appear as a new image in whatever download folder you have specified. So that would be in addition to the original image in LrC.

      Jim Wilde
      Community Expert
      Jim WildeCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 21, 2025

      Yes, I'm seeing the effects of that as they are being imported.  I don't mind paying for more cloud space if that's what it takes to have the keywords, but I'm concerned about the newly-added original being downloaded and bloating my LrC with "duplicate" images.  Is there a way of managing that situation, so that they don't appear in my LrC files?  Thank you for your reply, it's really helpful!


      The problem that I'm seeing now is an inconsistent result when using this drag and drop process.....in some of my tests the downloaded original replaced the existing original in LrC, which would be exactly what you want. But some other tests resulted in the downloaded original being added to the catalog, i.e. resulting in two copies of the same file in LrC, so NOT what you want.

       

      In the second situation, I guess you could remove (and delete from disk) the original (unsynced) image, leaving the new downloaded original in its place. That can be messy, especially if the deleted copy had been added to multiple collections, and you'd have to be super careful when deleting files to make sure there was no mistake.

       

      john beardsworth
      Community Expert
      john beardsworthCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
      Community Expert
      February 20, 2019

      The underlying problem is that Adobe decided not to sync keywords between LrClassic and the LRCC-branded apps.

      However, keywords can be synchronized once from Classic - although this is more an accident than a workflow. Any later changes to keywords won't sync.

      To send the keywords from Classic:

      1. ensure the photos are not already synced
      2. ensure they do not have smart previews  - Library > Previews > Delete Smart Previews
      3. Metadata > Save Metadata to File
      4. Sync the photos
      T
      Tom 70irvingAuthor
      Inspiring
      February 21, 2019

      Thank you very much. I must say that is a surprise and a huge disappointment.

      john beardsworth
      Community Expert
      john beardsworthCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 21, 2019

      I agree - I expected better of Adobe.

      Do add your voice to Lightroom: Keywords don't sync between CC and Classic, but don't expect them to change.

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