Lightroom Cloud not syncing back to Local storage

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
March 8, 2025
1 reply
516 views

I'm looking at moving away from Lightroom Classic as i find i do more editing on my Ipad than my PC

However playing with desktop Lightroom, I have noticed that if i make a edit on my ipad it dosnt sync back to the local storage. Lightroom Classic dose do this and will update my edit from the ones on the cloud.

I currently have Stora a copy of all originals turned on.

Am i missing something?

Correct answer JohanElzenga

If you are referring to the 'Local' option in Lightroom desktop, then you must understand that this is indeed purely a local option. It saves the edits to a local XMP file, and does not sync them with the cloud. That means that editing an image on the iPad also does not sync these edits to the local option in Lightroom desktop. Saving a local copy in Lightroom desktop is only for backup purposes, and for having a local copy to speed up editing. The local copy itself remains unedited and there is no XMP file stored next to it.

JohanElzenga

Correct answer

Community Expert

If you are referring to the 'Local' option in Lightroom desktop, then you must understand that this is indeed purely a local option. It saves the edits to a local XMP file, and does not sync them with the cloud. That means that editing an image on the iPad also does not sync these edits to the local option in Lightroom desktop. Saving a local copy in Lightroom desktop is only for backup purposes, and for having a local copy to speed up editing. The local copy itself remains unedited and there is no XMP file stored next to it.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

R

ryanh81837746Author

Participating Frequently

This seems a bit of a large miss for. Adobe. The whole point of local storage is that I want to keep my photos and edits back up locally.

Lightroom classic can currently show cloud edits while your in a local folder. It will the. Let you save the XMP to your local storage. If I update the edit of my photo on the local side it sync it's back to the cloud

It seems a bit of silly move from Adobe to no include this in there lightroom desktop but have it in lightroom classic.

I guess I will need to stay with lightroom classic till they improve their eco system.

J

Jao vdL

Community Expert

The ideal thing would be for Classic to be able to sync full resolution raw to the cloud. Unfortunately Adobe has never enabled this: https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-ideas/p-should-be-able-to-sync-full-raw-files-to-the-cloud-not-just-smart-previews/idi-p/12248616

The local storage option in preferences in Cloud-based Lightroom is just meant to have fast access to your files, not as a option to store edits along the images. It's not a backup as it will immediately delete the files if you delete them from the cloud. The local browser is just that, a local file browser similar but much simpler to Bridge and that doesn't sync back to the cloud.

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