LR Mobile File Location(s) - Galaxy S7 w/ Ext SD Card

[jethrodesign]

Hi, I'm trying out Lightroom Mobile on my Samsung Galaxy S7, mostly for the new HDR shooting mode. I have no real desire to sync with my desktop version (files too big, takes too long).

But I'm trying to understand where LR Mobile SHOULD be storing files, and what I'm experiencing.

My phone does have an external 64GB SD card, and that's where I would PREFER all photos kept. But even though I set the 'Use SD Card' setting in Lightroom, it appears that new photos are still being stored on the internal memory as well.

When I take a shot, here are the files I can find when digging around (again, the 'Use SD Card' setting is turned on):

- Internal Memory > DCIM > Lighroom Camera:

This appears to store a copy of the '...-hdr.dng' file (~40+MB)

- SD Card > Android > data > com.adobe.lrmobile > files > carouselDocuments > (really long random characters & numbers) > Originals > 2017 > (month) > (day):

This appears to hold the original '...-hdr.dng' file (~40+MB).

But it also holds a '...-hdr_proxy.dng' file for each image (~20+MB).

Then, if I save out a copy of the adjusted final file as a JPEG, it gets stored here:

- Internal Memory > Pictures > AdobeLightroom

---------

So for every shot I take, I end up with well over 100MB of files in various places, including on my Internal Memory that is nearly full!!! I really just need the one master on my SD card which has a lot of free space.

1) Does this sound correct for how LR Mobile 'SHOULD' be storing images on Android?

2) If not, how can I change things to get better organization? I would really like to get all photos on SD card, and in a more simplified folder structure if possible.

Thanks for any help! I love the new HDR features, but file management is going to kill me at this rate...

[jethrodesign]

Does anybody use Adobe Lightroom Mobile for taking pics and have storage concerns?!?

[Michael J. Hoffman]

Hi jethrodesign,

I think we all must be concerned about storage on our mobile devices, since the space is limited. Especially on iOS, where we can't add an SD storage card.

Here's what I do:

• I do sync my mobile photos to the desktop, and back. This has gotten faster with recent releases, even for large HDR images. I have a few portfolios in my desktop catalog that I like to keep synced with mobile so I can show my work, and I have LR Mobile set up to drop the new mobile images into my desktop photos in the same organization strategy I use for my DSLR images.
• I have a single collection I use while I'm on the go with LR Mobile and taking photos (I call it "On The Go"). Whenever I'm taking photos with LR Mobile, I make sure I'm in this collection, so the photos get added there.
• Back on the desktop, once my mobile photos have come in, I routinely remove them from the "On The Go" selection, and select the option to stop syncing these photos. This not only clears the "On The Go" collection, but also frees space on my mobile device, because the photos are automatically removed in the next sync.
• By the way, I also have LR Mobile's "Auto-Add" feature enabled for my "On The Go" collection. This way, any photos I take with the native camera app or other apps are imported from my camera roll into LR Mobile as well.

You'll need to develop your own strategy, but I hope this gives you some ideas. My strategy has been to automate as much as possible, so I'm not plumbing the depths of my mobile device's files looking for neglected data.

Mike

[jethrodesign]

Hi Michael. Thanks for the reply.

I'm guessing LR Mobile is probably a bit different from iOS to Android. But it's looking like you're implying that the only way to really 'remove' images from your mobile device may be through syncing and then doing things from Desktop LR, correct??

I hadn't really desired to clutter up my Desktop LR with the mobile images with syncing, as I use those for different purposes. I would never do any important editing on a phone, only stuff to share quickly on social media outlets. I'm really only using LR Mobile for the HDR camera feature (which is pretty amazing!).

I'll have to try syncing when I get home and see if this does actually allow physically deleting all the image files on the phone when I do it as you're explaining. Then, it's much easier to delete images in LR Desktop. Just seems like a hassle just to delete photos on the phone.

Out of curiosity, when you setup the 'Auto-Add' feature to import photos taken with your built-in camera, does that just import 'copies' of the images?? Wondering if when you stop syncing to clear out the mobile collection (which includes your auto-imported images), if this just deletes copies brought into LR Mobile, or the original image itself?!? It would guess only a copy...

- Any LR Mobile on Android users have a different workflow for managing the actual (large) image files???

[Michael J. Hoffman]

Hi Jethrodesign,

No, syncing back through the desktop isn't the "only" way, but it's a way that I've found to be effective for my workflow. I take lots of photos, and want them ALL to be accessible in my Lightroom catalog. Different people (you) may have different priorities, so you may have to experiment with what makes sense for your own workflow.

Deleting items on the phone in LR is cumbersome and slow - on the desktop I can view my "On the Go" collection, Ctrl-A to select all the images, and "delete" to remove them from the collection and from LR Mobile (while still keeping them in my desktop catalog). It's pretty fast, and comparatively easy.

"Auto-add," to answer your question, imports a copy. If you later delete that either in LR Mobile or on the desktop, the original image that was taken still resides in your camera roll on the mobile device. LR doesn't remove it from there (although if that were a feature, I'd use it!)

Mike

[jethrodesign]

I found an interesting development in the past few days since upgrading my phone to Nougat (Android v.7), in case it's helpful to anyone.

- Every shot I take with the Lightroom camera (Auto/Pro/HDR) stores a copy of the file in: 'Internal Memory > DCIM > Lightroom Camera' (as originally noted).

But NOW (since upgrading I'm pretty sure), those copies show up in my default Samsung 'Gallery' app! The thing that surprised me, and I'm pretty sure this is new, is that it can read & display the DNG's now (not just JPEGs)!

I'm not certain if this is handy or annoying yet, but at least when I delete them from the Gallery app, it deletes these file copies (not the originals in LR directory, though).

Still, this should be an option in LR preferences to help keep all these large file copies under control if you don't desire this behavior. For me, I would generally want to do editing to the images (only possible with DNG's in LR Mobile), then export out JPEGs from these for the Gallery app. This process does work OK.

I really hope Adobe can refine this process or a lot of people who use the LR Mobile camera are going to run out of space on their phones pretty quickly, and possibly not even realize why (or how to correctly delete).