Migrating From Adobe Cloud STORAGE To iCloud STORAGE

[syakir.zainol]

I am currently on a Lightroom subscription with 2 TB Adobe cloud storage. Since I've subscribed to similar 2TB cloud storage on iCloud, I am thinking of changing my Lightroom subscription to the basic 20 GB storage and I want to migrate the entirety of my Lightroom photos, folders & albums, and the catalog to iCloud instead. 

How can I do this from Lightroom? Thank you. 

[JohanElzenga]

You can't, for the following reason. The Creative Cloud storage is more than just simple storage space for images. It also contains the edits and uses artificial intelligence (Adobe Sensei) to do things like subject recognition (so you can search for a certain type of image without having to manually add keywords). That is obviously not available in iCloud.

[syakir.zainol]

I am a casual photographer. All I need is the folder/album management and the storage. I can live without the other stuff like rating, keyword management etc. Will this still be possible?

[JohanElzenga]

No, it will not be possible.

[Conrad_C]

If you mean moving photos currently in Lightroom (not Classic) cloud storage to 2TB of iCloud Drive cloud storage, yes, you can move your photos there, but there are no direct connections or conversion from Lightroom, so it’s a 100% manual process: Select all photos in Lightroom, then export to a folder on iCloud Drive. That part is not difficult.

Just be aware that such a move fully disconnects all of the photos from Lightroom. If you export all Lightroom photos to an iCloud Drive folder, Lightroom will no longer be able to see them, organize them, or edit them. In fact all organization you did in Lightroom will be lost (albums, folders). Other metadata stored only on the Adobe cloud server, such as versions, will also be lost. All that will be transferred are the photos. And if they are transferred without exporting first, then they will be the originals without any edits.

This is all because Lightroom manages all original files and edits on Lightroom Photos cloud storage. There is no way to edit a photo without uploading it to Lightroom cloud storage, and there is no way for Lightroom to edit any photo stored outside of Lightroom cloud storage (any photo you want to edit with Lightroom must be imported into Lightroom first).

If you move all your photos to iCloud Drive file storage, that is no problem, but you will have to find another photo editor to edit and organize them.

This is not unique to Adobe:

Apple Photos is able to sync photos across Macs and iOS devices only if you enable iCloud Photos, which uploads the original photos iCloud Photos cloud storage. Apple Photos only edits photos within its database or in iCloud Photos, but not in iCloud Drive storage, unless imported…just like Lightroom.

Google Photos is able to sync photos across devices only because it uploads originals to Google Photos cloud storage.

Adobe Lightroom, Apple iCloud Photos, and Google Photos are all separate cloud services that work similarly but they do not talk to each other. A photo stored in one is not visible in any of the others unless copied over.

It really is important to remember the difference between cloud sync specifically to sync photos and edits (Lightroom Photos, iCloud Photos…), and cloud sync for files in general (Creative Cloud Files, iCloud Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive…). If you put photos to a folder in literally iCloud Drive file storage (not iCloud Photos), those photos are not visible within either Lightroom or Apple Photos, again because those apps see photos within their systems, not out in the general file system. If you choose to move your photos to iCloud file storage, to edit one in Lightroom or Apple Photos it will have to be imported, which creates a copy. If you are OK storing two copies of photos you edit, then go ahead with your plan.

In other words: iCloud Drive storage is separate from iCloud Photos in the same way that the Creative Cloud Files synced folder is a separate cloud storage area unconnected to Lightroom Photos in the cloud.

I want to migrate the entirety of my Lightroom photos, folders & albums, and the catalog to iCloud instead.

By @syakir.zainol

This part is confusing because you’ve been talking about using Lightroom with Adobe cloud storage, but now you mention a catalog, which is only a feature of Lightroom Classic. (Lightroom has no “catalog” file, just an account on the Lightroom cloud server.)

If your goal is to store original photos in iCloud Drive file storage and have them editable in Adobe software, then Lightroom is not going to work. You will want to use Adobe photo software that can edit files stored in a normal file system, and that means Lightroom Classic, Photoshop, Adobe Bridge, and Camera Raw. Those can edit files stored in iCloud Drive file storage (not iCloud Photos).

Also keep in mind that a Lightroom Classic catalog is not designed to be used over a network. If a catalog is stored on a network share (e.g. an NAS server), it will refuse to open. Synced cloud storage like iCloud Drive is a slightly different thing and might not stop you (I just tried a catalog in iCloud file storage and it worked fine). Just know that catalog corruption may result if for example you are updating the catalog while it’s in the middle of syncing changes to the cloud. People do use Lightroom Classic catalogs with similar “synced folder” services such as Dropbox, but do run into glitches at times. It can be a tricky thing, so if go this way, keep rigorous local backups that are outside the synced cloud storage.

[nicolaswdlr]

Hi Syakir,

one solution that worked for me is to use the "Store a copy of all originals" setting in Lightroom CC.

Set it so it's a folder in iCloud and it automatically downloads all images to that folder in in a sorted structure.

Not sure if this setting exists in Lightroom Classic though.

Only downside is, you need enough local storage to store the images temporarily.
If you don't have enough storage you can let the images until your storage is almost full,
pause the sync in Lightroom, let the sync to iCloud finish and delete the local files in iCloud.

Repeat that as many times as necessary.

I am not sure if the sync will delete the files again in iCloud if you delete them later in Lightroom,

so safest thing would be to turn it off again after the transfer.

Also if you don't want to lose your edits after the Transfer you can filter by "not edited" in Lightroom

and only delete those. Of course this only works if you want to reduce the amount of storage -

you will still need some storage, but maybe that makes sense to have locally.

hope this helps

Best,

Nicolas

[photographerSteve]

Is this because when Adobe is used to backup the data for all adjustments made to the images are saved in Adobe storage as sidecar data (changes made to the images) and indexed to the proper images? If so how is that better or different from saving the images in iCloud and sidecar (data with adjustments) also in iCloud? My understanding was that if the sidecar data the files are saved each time the images are saved then they will be synced. If not, then I had a different understanding of  How changes are saved in Lightroom could clarify that would be awesome. Perhaps this Also helps Others in their understanding of the data and images are connected in Lightroom

[Conrad_C]

One thing that is different is that the XML sidecar files are used by Lightroom Classic, Lightroom in Local mode, and Adobe Camera Raw, but sidecar files are not used by desktop Lightroom in cloud mode, nor by any other cloud Lightroom clients (mobile and web).

Because this thread is asking about cloud Lightroom, then sidecar files are not used. All cloud Lightroom clients store adjustment metadata in the cloud.