Switching from Lightroom to Lightroom Classic

[tonickk]

I have technical questions about switching from lightroom CC to lightroom CLASSIC.

1. Should I first download a test version of Lightroom, then open it and sync to my Lightroom CC? Finally I would then officially change my subscription to the photography plan.
2. Would the synced data contain metadata, edits, keywords etc?

This is very important for me and I haven’t been able to find any clear answers by searching on the web. If keywords are not synced I would lose an extremely valuable asset. Can anybody help me answer these questions?

[Jao vdL]

You have a bit of a timing issue here. The simplest would be to get the subscription that includes bith Classic and Cloudy and the full 1TB cloud space and just have Classic download all images. Then delete the images from the cloud (they will remain in Classic) and change to the lower cloud space subscription with Classic. An alternative is to use Adobe's Lightroom Downloader tool. https://lightroom.adobe.com/lightroom-downloader 

You won't get your albums but you will get settings and keywords for all images. You also do not need to have a more expensive subscription for a short while.

[tonickk]

Thanks, that's really helpful. I already used the downoader tool but don't know how to integrate the data into Classic. Can I just link it as a library in Classic? If that were the case and and keywords were included I could apply keywords beforehand to my major albums. What do you think?

[Jao vdL]

You import the folder of images and sidecar files you get into Classic. If you want to keep the images in the same spot, use "add". If you want the images to be filed in nice dated folders, use "move" or "copy" in the import panel and set up the dated folder structure. Classic will nicely file the images into folders with names that are the dates of the images.

Keywords (except the sensei AI keywords they store behind the scenes) should come along indeed, so you could keyword first indeed and they should show up in Classic.

[tonickk]

Thanks Jao, again - that was really helpfull and competent. Yesterday I spent hours in Chats with Adobe and nobody could or would answer my questions. 

[tonickk]

Am I right in rereading your answer that your first solution would keep my folder and album structures?

[Jao vdL]

Yes. they will sync down to Classic that way. Before you do it, it is smart to set up the sync location in Classic to be a location on your discs that makes sense and with a folder structure that makes sense (folders means something different in Classic than in Cloudy - they are physical locations on your hard disk)

[tonickk]

Hello Jao,

It's taken a long time to carry out the switch from Lightroom CC to the Classic version. Days and days of syncing. Now I'm done and have the Photography Plan 20 GB up and running. Here's the reason I'm checking back with you: Under my Collections there is a folder called 'From 'Lightroom'  But there is also a folder with over 40.000 images - directly under my SSD - called Synced Data. I'm afraid to click on 'Delete All Synced Data' in Preferences incase I lose everything. Is it safe to do this?

Thanks, Nick.

[Jao vdL · Accepted solution]

The synced data folder directly under yor SSD in the left hand panel is an actual folder on your hard disk. It likely contains all your images that were synced down from Lightroom cloud. If they are all present on your hard disk and Classic appears to have synced down everything, it is likely safe to "Delete All Synced Data". Note that this is not the same thing as the folder you saw even though it is named the same. Lightroom Classic won't just delete local images when you choose that option, what it does is to remove all the cloud library data (it's all metadata about images, not the images itself) and download a new copy from the cloud. The idea is that sometimes the local copy of the cloud metadata gets out of sync and deleting it and recreating it might help.

[tonickk]

Hi Jao,

Many thanks for your help. Everything is now fine. Here for the record are the final stages of my switch from CC to Classic:

• On selecting “Delete All Synced Data” I was instructed to “Go to Lr Web to proceed”.
• I opened Lr Web where I had previously deleted all the files in 5,000 batches.
• I went to the folder ‘Deleted Files’ and permanently deleted all of these, again in 5,000 batches. It took a while!
• I have not lost any data as far as I can see. Previously I had made two backup copies: one with all my synced data and another using the Adobe Download app.
• There’s still a lot of sorting out to do but the transfer from Lr CC to Lr Classic has been completed as well as it could have been.
• This would not have been possible without a a few very time consuming ‘Chats’ with Adobe and a huge amount of help from you.
• I can’t tell you how grateful I am for your clear and competent support. And for giving your time and help so generously.

Cheers,

Nick

[Cliff36231647d6s7]

How do I switch from Lightroom (installed by mistake) to Lightroom Classic?