Inspiring

Answered

Lightroom Desktop Use Case

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
March 23, 2021
1 reply
564 views

I'm currently running Lightroom desktop and loving it.

I have it set up to store originals to a location on my computer.

This works fantastically - except for 2 use cases:

* deleting a photo using a mobile app while lightroom desktop is not running on my desktop

* deleting a photo using lightroom desktop while the local storage is not available.

In both cases, the photo appears to never be removed from the local storage.

In all other cases, lightroom syncs my local storage with the cloud - this is FANTASTIC.

* adding photos from lightroom mobile does not depend on lightroom desktop running - when I open lightroom desktop, my local storage location is correctly updated.

* adding photos from lightroom desktop while the local storage was not available - when the local storage is recovered and lightroom is restarted, the local storage is updated.

Is there a way to make delete from mobile sync the local storage when lightroom desktop is not running?

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer AllanGraves

Jim-

thanks for your time.

you've given me 2 valuable pieces of advice - the location of the support forum, and the confirmation that it's supposed to work the way i think it should.

i don't know that you need to spend more time, unless you want to.

I filed: https://feedback.photoshop.com/conversations/lightroom-desktop-cloudbased/lightroom-cc-does-not-delete-files-if-app-is-not-running/605a4963d0f0d8130ab817bb

there, it was confirmed that this should work the way you and i think it should. 😉

we'll see where it goes from here.

the fact that it works when lightroom is up and running suggests it is an issue in lightroom, not the way i have it set up (my nas, etc). but... could be anything, i suppose. Aren't computers fun? 🙂

For those following along on the internet - I found that Lightroom will delete the photo on the second restart of lightroom. So your collection is in sync, just slightly delayed. Not sure if this is a bug or intentional.

Happy Editing!

Jim Wilde

Community Expert

When you delete an image from the cloud, no matter which app you use or whether the desktop app is running, the deleted image is moved to the "Deleted" section where it remains for up to 60 days (until either the 60 days elapses or the user manually deletes it from the Deleted section). It's the user's "change of mind" safety net.

Any local copy of deleted items are not automatically deleted until the original is deleted from the Deleted section, but even then it won't/can't happen until/unless the desktop app is running. And obviously it can't happen if the local storage is unavailable.

So I'm afraid the answer to your question is "no".

A

AllanGravesAuthor

Inspiring

Jim,

Thanks for your long response.

For these tests, all images were removed from the "Deleted" section manually - using the 'remove all' - and you are correct, this is a nice safety net.

As a cloud file system engineer, I take "exception" to your statement: "And obviously it can't happen if the local storage is unavailable." 🙂 (Trust me, we've solved this many times in other products.)

Just as a simple example, dropbox will sync deleted files when your computer comes back online - the client does not need to be running for files to be deleted.

The fact that local storage is synced with new files, regardless of whether or not Lightroom is running or the local storage is available, is why I consider this a bug. This allows the local copies to drift from the server copy - and could excessively take up local storage.

In the meantime, I did find this cool utility: https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-cc/kb/download-lightroom-photos.html It will redownload your local copies - so, if you do find your local copies have way too much space consumed, this is a neat way to get space back - just delete the directories under "Originals" in your local storage location, and then use this downloader to redownload them all. Might be interesting as a once a year thing or something.

(Also, as a cloud file system engineer - I ... REALLY like to have local copies. 😛 I don't solely trust the cloud, although it is EXTREMELY useful.)

Again, thanks for your response, but I think this is a bug. 🙂 At: https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-cc/using/preferences.html?mv=product&mv2=lr# there is no mention of maintaining a running copy of Lightroom CC at all times.

Jim Wilde

Community Expert

As a cloud file system engineer, I take "exception" to your statement: "And obviously it can't happen if the local storage is unavailable." 🙂 (Trust me, we've solved this many times in other products.)

"Unavailable" to me means offline/powered off/disconnected/dismounted (pick one), and in that state it is obvious (to me at least) that it's not possible to selectively delete images from the drive. However, if you say you've solved that challenge then all I can say is that technology sure has moved on since I was last involved with it.

The wider issue seems to be that you want something other than the Lightroom desktop app to manage the Lightroom desktop app's local storage, though quite what that would be I don't really know. The overall Lightroom system is designed as a central cloud-based hub with a bunch of synced clients on disparate devices. The cloud hub "owns" the cloud-stored assets and is responsible for ensuring all the client apps are kept up to date with changes made by any other of the clients. Each client can, and does, store data locally, and the local user has some control as to the amount and (in some cases) the location of that locally stored data. But it's the local client which is responsible for "managing" that local storage, not the cloud hub (which makes a lot of sense from a performance perspective and also when you consider that it allows the travelling photographer to access their data even when their computer may be offline). It logically follows that, in terms of the Lightroom desktop app, only the local app can effect changes to the locally stored data in response to changes made elsewhere in the system, i.e. if an image is deleted on a mobile client, the next time the Lightroom desktop app syncs with the hub it will be advised of the deletion and so will then effect the deletion locally (if a copy of that image had previously been stored locally on the desktop). If at the time of that sync the local storage is unavailable, the local deletion of the copy is delayed, though in all other aspects the image is removed from the local catalog.

If you want to delete an image from Mobile and then have the copy, which may or may not be stored locally on your desktop, deleted from the local storage pool on that desktop, without the desktop client being active, then I suggest you make a feature request using the official feedback site: https://feedback.photoshop.com/topics/lightroom-desktop-cloudbased/5f5f2093785c1f1e6cc40874

BTW, the Lightroom Downloader is a utility primarily designed as a lifeboat for those users who have decided to exit their Lightroom subscription (or have deceased), but at the moment I'd describe it as a leaky lifeboat. I certainly wouldn't depend upon it as my only copy of my cloud images, there are too many issues with it for my liking (or at least there were when I last tested it). YMMV.

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