Please explain the cloud workflow to me because I must not understand it...

[IJVeenstra]

So my typical workflow is offload RAW images from my camera to a local folder on my computer. I then add those photos to a new album in Lightroom CC (trying to make the change to CC since I know Classic will eventually lose support). From there Lightroom tries to upload my thousands of Raw files to the cloud and obviously can only handle a tiny percentage of the shoot before running out of my storage.

Question 1: Why does Lightroom try to upload every RAW file automatically? I'm obviously going to go through and cull out the bad ones first so why waste time uploading everything immediately instead of giving me the option to upload later if I want?

Even though my original files are still on my PC locally, Lightroom now needs to "download images" in order to make edits to them (such as panorama merges). The original files weren't removed from my computer so,

Question 2: Why the hell does Lightroom need to download images back onto my computer that are already stored on said computer locally?

I'm now out of the country for work and dealing with crappy hotel internet trying to download huge RAW files onto my computer so I can continue editing, even though the files are already there (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

Question 3: Who is this feature for?? Photography is only my secondary gig but I simply don't understand why any professional photographer would want their editing workflow to involve this pointless and inefficient cloud BS...

Looking into it further I'm now discovering that the after telling CC to store albums locally, It's re-downloading the RAW files as copies to an entirely new folder! Again, these are files that are ALREADY ON MY COMPUTER, now Lightroom is taking up additional storage space to download them... WHY??

I am frustrated

[steve_b · Accepted solution]

Q1: Lightroom Desktop is cloud-based, so it expects to find its data in the cloud - the the image in cloud storage is, as it were, the primary copy. Therefore it makes sense (to me, anyway!) that the first thing it does when you import new images is to upload them, and you do the reviews and culling afterwards.

Because of your current circumstances this isn't working for you, but there is a workaround. In Lightroom, pause syncing before you do the import (click on the cloud-shaped icon top-right). Do the import, and with syncing still paused do the culling. The re-enable syncing. Only the remaining images will be uploaded.

Q2. Lightroom does not need to download images after uploading them, but it will do so if you have chosen to keep a local copy (Edit / Preferences / Local Storage). In you circumstances, I would suggest keeping Smart Previews locally, but not a copy of originals.

Q3. Lightroom Desktop (i.e. the cloud version) is for people who are likely to work on their images on more than one device (PC in the office, laptop out on the road and maybe a phone or tablet). The central cloud storage facilitates this. Lightroom Classic is for people who work mainly or exclusively on one computer, where local storage will be quicker and more convenient. It is possible to combine the two approaches and I did for a while, but I found it easier to go fully cloud based. I'm not a professional, though, just a hobbyist.

As you your final query - I think Q2 covers it.

Hope this helps.

[Theresa J]

Sounds like you would be better off using Lightroom Classic.

Lightroom Classic stores images on hard drives. Everything in Classic MUST be on a hard drive. It is possible to sync images to the cloud with smart previews, but the original always remains on the drive.

Lightroom stores images in the cloud. Everything in Lightroom is ALWAYS in the cloud, even if a copy is stored locally. 

I don't recommend using both Classic and Lightroom together on the same computer until you fully understand how the sync works between Classic and Lightroom. 

[JohanElzenga]

I think your basic assumption is wrong. Lightroom Classic is not going to be abandoned. It is not the "old" Lightroom, on its way out, it is a different version for different users. Professional users, for example, who have large numbers of raw images and do not want to store them all in the cloud. Or are not even allowed to store them in somebody else's cloud, for privacy reasons. Maybe you didn't notice, but new features are often first introduced in Lightroom Classic, and later in Lightroom cloud. That should tell you something...