Preserving edits in Lightroom Classic even after deleting files from cloud

[briantium]

I like to have full size files available to me on the cloud when I'm editing away from home, so I upload to LR cloud, but when I need to clear out space from Adobe cloud I don't want to lose all those edits when I delete them. What's the process recommended to get those edits into Classic? 

[Rob_Cullen]

The process is- Turn on Sync in Lightroom-Classic and allow it to automatically download all the full-size files (before you delete them from Cloud storage.)

Hint- Set up a 'download' folder in LrC preferences so you know where they will download to.

SYNC SETUP IN CLASSIC

[Jim Wilde]

If you enable cloud syncing in your LrC catalog, a copy of any images that you have uploaded directly to the cloud will automatically download into LrC and will be stored on your local hard drive. They will also be automatically added to the special All Synced Photographs collection (in the Catalog panel in the LrC Library module). Once they are downloaded into LrC, you can then use LrC to remove the originals from the cloud (simply by removing them from that All Synced Photographs special collection). That deletes the image from the cloud, but retains it (and its edits) in the LrC catalog.

There are some procedural things to do before you enable syncing in the LrC catalog. First, decide where you want the downloaded images to be stored, and decide if you want them stored in one of the standard Lightroom date-based folder schemes.....you can do both of those things on the LrC Preferences>Lightroom Sync tab.

Note also that if the images were placed in an album in the Lightroom app when first imported to the cloud, that album will appear as a synced collection in LrC during that sync process. If after deleting the images from the cloud, by removing them from the All Synced Photographs special collection, those images will automatically be removed from that synced collection (because a synced collection cannot contain images which are no longer synced), so it might be prudent to unsync that collection in LrC before removing the images from All Synced Photographs (thus allowing the images to remain in that collection). 

[briantium]

Thanks for the replies. I just wish the process was simpler and more straightforward. I did find what seems to be a solid solution—for me, anyway—where you export your edited files in LRcloud as Originals+Settings, and then importing those into LRclassic, which will include the edits. That might not be the "standard" solution, but it seems to work the way I need it to. Thanks for your help!

[Jim Wilde]

Personally, I find the method that I outlined to be simple and straightforward....all it takes is a few minutes setting up the preferences, then perhaps a brief trial of the process to get your workflow established. After that it's pretty easy to manage, and I certainly find it much simpler than the export and import option.

[briantium]

I'll explore your method in addition to the Originals+Settings as I had already had the preferences you outlined set up; I just never utilized the All Synced Photographs folder before. 

[Rob_Cullen]

Nothing could be simpler than - Turn on 'Sync' in Lightroom-Classic.!!!  The method we have been suggesting.

Turn Sync on, leave it on. Never worry about it again. All Cloud photos will download to the LrC Catalog and hard-drive automatically.

[briantium]

Right, but I'm talking about preserving the edits I made on LRcloud after I've deleted the files from Adobe Cloud...which he outlined above by deleting from the All Synced Photographs folder.

[Jao vdL]

If you're syncing with Classic, it doesn't matter how you unsync, whether by deleting the image in the cloud itself, or by unsyncing the image in Classic by removing it from all synced images or unchecking the sync icon next to a synced collection. The image is retained in Classic with all edits intact regardless. The reason is that Classic is very different from the cloud version of Lightroom. Classic considers its own catalog to be the authorative version and the cloud is just a far away copy. If an image disappears from the cloud, Classic will not delete its own copy. Contrary to this in the cloud version, if you delete an image anywhere, it gets deleted everywhere (except in the synced Classic catalog!).