Does Lightroom CC delete local photos after uploading to Cloud?

[ridgers84]

Hi guys,

First post so be gentle 😇

So this is my scenario...

Today I've worked offline sorting through photos stored on an external SSD as I've had no internet access. I'm guessing these have been stored locally in a Lightroom folder on my Mac until they can be synced to the cloud. 

My question is, when I get access to the internet again and Lightroom CC on my Mac resumes sync, will it automatically delete those photos stored locally on my hard drive once the sync is complete? I'm wanting my library to be fully on the cloud with no photos stored locally on any of my devices. 

Thanks in advance 🙏

[John Waller]

Are you using the Cloud-based Lightroom or the Library-based Lightroom Classic?

Cloud-based Lightroom was formerly known as Lightroom CC but you mentioned your library which would be Lightroom Classic.

[ridgers84]

Thanks for the reply. 

Sorry for the confusion, I use Cloud based Lightroom with a subscription. When I referred to a library I meant my own personal library which I had stored in my external SSD. 

[selondon]

When you import into the Cloud Based Lightroom it creates a copy in its local library and uploads this to the Cloud. After a while, depending on your cache settings and/or how much you access the imported photos, they will be deleted from the local library.

None of this affects the original photos on the SSD.  Once imported into the local library, Lightroom has no interaction with these and thus doesn’t delete them, you’d have to do

that yourself, but it’s probably advisable to keep them in cold storage somewhere.