Lr Stuck In Perpetual Sync

[ccirelli]

In the last week, I've noticed that Lightroom 4.2 desktop (running on Mac OS 10.15.7) has been stuck in an endless Sync loop, trying to sync 2 photos. When I try to filter syncing photos via Sync Status > Syncing, nothing displays, other than the standard "Oh no. A black hole." message.

My other 2 devices are totally fine - an iPhone and an iPad (both are set to store Smart Previews only). Total photo counts match exactly across all 3 devices - but my desktop application just refuses to resolve its running sync status for 2 photos I cannot locate anywhere.

I've looked into other posts on this issue and I have yet to find a solution that works. It's the first unsolvable issue I've encountered in Lightroom and I really need to get to the bottom of this. Thanks for any tips / solutions anyone can provide.

[selondon]

One option would be to check http://lightroom.adobe.com/ for any sync errors there, to identify the photos (check above Albums on left).

Another, to also post on the following forum, which is monitored by the engineering team:
https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/categories/photoshop_family_lightroom_cc ..... they may have further insight.

[ccirelli]

Thanks, great idea / will do! It's still syncing today... 

[Jim Wilde]

One thing to check is in the Deleted items entry in Lr Desktop, it's often the case that an image may be deleted before it's been fully synced, so ends up still trying to sync. Look for any evidence on the thumbails in the Deleted items of ongoing syncing activity. If you find them, permanently deleting them should resolve the issue.

[ccirelli]

Thanks Jim, that was one thing I tried already. I looked at Lr desktop, Lr's web interface, and both of my mobile devices.

I also wnet into prefs and ran the "mini report". Lr identifies 2 specific files as "metadata upload needed"... I delete these 2 files... and no luck.

Re-running the mini report shows the same "metadata" error as above... BUT in two different files / different file names. Bizarre, and no idea how to fix now.

My latest idea: Go into prefs > local storage, uncheck "store a copy of all originals at the specified location", re-launch Lr and allow it to purge its library. Wait for sync to resolve. Go back into prefs, check "store originals", and allow Lr to download all originals from cloud storage.

[ccirelli · Accepted solution]

For those following along, here's what did the trick:

• back up local Lr library to an external drive, then disconnect external drive
• delete Lr library / empty trash
• restart computer
• launch Lr, it will create a new library and then download all originals from the cloud server (I have Lr's prefs set to keep originals on my iMac)

This instantly fixed my sync issues. If you have originals stored on your local drive like I do - you'll of course have to wait for the new initial download for a few hours (depending on your connection speed). But, I spent much more time trying other fixes that never worked.

Make sure to let that initial download completely finish, before doing any work in Lr. Hope this helps!

[Old Irish Lad]

Thanks so much! Adobe gave me 2 suggested solutions, neither of which worked, and abandoned me.  Great business model.  This was the solution, and so straightfoward!