File-storage and Synching Issues

[b_p_w2]

Hi all,

I've recently run into an issue with Lightroom Cloud. When I right-click the image, select Edit in Photoshop, I see the message 'Unable to download original file' - 'Original file was not found'. Then it mentions something about a 'Smart Preview'.

Having done some research into Smart Previews, I've come to understand that Lightroom Cloud does not import or access full-size images on a local drive but saves the full-size version in the cloud. The idea being that the full-size images can be accessed from anywhere and loaded on demand? I'm still confused on this point, because I haven't found anything definitive in Adobe help.

So what does this message mean? That my full-size image has gone missing? When I look at the Cloud Storage details, I see the message 'Synched and Backed Up', suggesting that all images (Smart Previews) have a related image in the Cloud. It seems this isn't so. Thankfully, I didn't remove my originals from my local disk and I can retrieve them.

The file-storage/synching options seem way too complex and fraught with danger/bugs for my liking. Can we trust Adobe to hold on to the originals with back-ups? I haven't found a way to access my uploaded images on the Web - to see if everything is there. Perhaps someone could point me in the right directions there.

I'm thinking of reverting to Lightroom Classic and referencing the originals locally, as well as saving a copy online. I'm interested to know what others are doing. Is this the best approach?

Paul

[Jao vdL]

The message probably means that you only have a smart preview of this image in the cloud. That typically happens if the file was originally synced from Lightroom Classic. Classic will unfortunately only upload smart previews to the cloud. If that's the case you need to import the full original image in Lightroom Cloudy. 

The way Lightroom Cloudy works by the way is that it does store copies of the full raw images locally up to a point. The master copies are indeed in the cloud. If you haven't touched an image for a very long time and if the local storage exceeds a certain amount set in the app preferences, it will delete the local copy. If you then later need to access the image again, it will automatically redownload a copy to work from locally and keep it around for a while. This is all supposed to happen automatically in the background but can be problematic if you have network/internet connection issues which could also be an explanation for the error message you saw. You can also set Lightroom Cloudy to always store local copies in that same preference screen regardless of how much space it takes. Of course if you run out of hard disk space also this will end.

[b_p_w2]

Thanks for your response.

I suspect the issue was with importing from Classic, as you say. But I would expect Adobe to save a full-size version of the file to the cloud as soon as I start to use the LR Cloud version. It seems the safe thing to do. After learning all about file storage, and after moving to LR Cloud, I might choose to delete my local files, safe in the knowledge that I have copies in the cloud. But if what you're suggesting is true, this might not be the case.

There are so many posts in these forums by users who don't understand how file-storage works with these products. Also by users who have lost their images through this misunderstanding. Eventually you must question whether Adobe is doing a good job here. If so many users are confused and in a mess, there has to be something amiss with the product and/or approach.

Anyway, I'm back with Classic. I just hope they continue to support it?!

Thanks again.

[Jao vdL]

P.S. if you click on the little (i) symbol on the bottom right when an image is selected, you can see (might need to scroll down) what versions of the image you have local and in the cloud in the sync status area of the info tab