Make these Documents Available in the Creative Cloud Files on our Computers

[Jared Platt]

It is about time you make the cloud accessible.  Right now, we have so many steps we have to go through to get access to our cloud documents.  If I want to access it, I should be able to go right to my Creative Cloud Files on my computer and grab whatever I want and copy or move it or open it wherever and however I want to.  You make it so cumbersome to do it that I don't want to put my files in the cloud because it is far TOO inconvenient.  And I thought the point was to make things convenient.  But the current access points are anything but convenient.  FIX IT, PLEASE!  It's been a very long time since your pre-release testers asked for this and nothing has changed.

[CoryShubert]

Hi @Jared Platt thanks for the post.  It could be very helpful if you could give the team a workflow or process you would like to use in dealing with cloud files, like an A then B, then C sort of layout.  We will be more than happy to share with the team and we agree that making the clould easier is a goal that we should strive to deliver.

Thank you,

Cory

[Jared Platt]

Here is the workflow we should be able to accomplish:

Rational and Convenient Workflow:

1.  Working on a RAW, JPG or PSD image in Lightroom Classic, LR Desktop, LR Mobile (or anyAdobe Image application other than Photoshop).
2. Save the image directly to the Cloud Documents Area from, which either saves it from the application as a Cloud Document or the application saves it as a PSD the Cloud Document Area and the Cloud Converts it to a Cloud Document.
3. I should also be able to drag 100 PSD and JPG files into the Cloud Documents Folder that should show in the Creative Clouds Synced Files folder on the computer and they should all be converted to Cloud Documents without any additional steps.  
4.  Open Photoshop on the desktop or on the iPad or the Web Beta, and navigate to the image in the Cloud Documents area.  Edit that image and save it (and of course you are able to share that image from Photoshop).
5. If you are then looking to open that image in some other program, InDesign, Illustrator, Lightroom Classic or Lightroom Desktop, or Lightroom Mobile, you should then be able to use the file open command, or Import or Place and navigate to the Cloud Documents area and open that Cloud Document.  And I know the objection from Photoshop Team is going to be that they don't control the other apps, but that is why you should also be able to navigate to the Creative Cloud Files Synced folder and find a folder there called Cloud Documents so you can just click open on the Cloud Document and have he application either view or convert that document.
6. I should also be able to go directly to the Adobe Creative Clouds Synced Files and open the "Cloud Documents" and see right on my desktop, or in Bridge, or sync that folder to Lightroom as a watched folder and see everything that is in my Cloud Documents folder. 
7. I should also be able to (from my finder) drag any Cloud Documents from the Cloud Documents folder in the Creative Cloud Synced Folder on my computer to any other folder and have them be converted on the way out to a PSD or whatever filetype is appropriate or that I choose. 
8. If converting needs to be done through the Adobe Cloud Application, fine, allow me to open it, go to the "Cloud Documents" and select the ones I want and then click an option to Export them as converted images.  

The problem that the Photoshop and Photoshop Cloud Document teams seem to be having is that they assume that all people using this cloud feature start in photoshop on their computer and end in photoshop on their computer or another computer.  So you have to go into photoshop with a photo, then switch that image's location and filetupe in Photoshop to a Cloud Document and then save it ONE AT A TIME.  Then you are free to have the convenience of using that Cloud Document ONLY in PHOTOSHOP on your Desktop, a Beta online or on your iPad (which you can only download the images to reside on your ipad ONE AT A TIME) and then, when you want to use those images somewhere else... guess what you have to do!  That's right... go back to Photoshop on a computer or device and open up the Cloud Documents ONE AT A TIME and then save them ONE AT A TIME to somewhere you can use them as a different document type and then use them.  None of that is convenient.  First off, in the real world, we use photoshop to edit lots of images and then we put those images into projects (layouts, slideshows, albums, books, advertisements, documentary films, brochures, webpages, digital catalogs for collateral image banks, and none of that kind of work is done ONE IMAGE AT A TIME.  So as cool as the team thinks it is to be able to open ONE IMAGE and put it on the cloud to edit it somewhere else in Photoshop ONE AT A TIME... it isn't helpful at all until you remove the massive barrier to use... which is putting the images into the system in mass and using the images in mass.  Adobe should have required every one of their platforms that can see and use a PSD to have the CLOUD DOCUMENT available for use as well by the date of the launch of the Cloud Document.  I should be able to use a PSDC in InDesign, Illustrator, Lightroom, Adobe Portfolio, Bridge, Premiere, XD, Camera RAW, Rush, After Effects, etc...  The access point on all of them should be in the File Menu, but if that is a hard ask, then as long as the Cloud Documents Folder is Visible in the Creative Cloud Synced Files Folder, and the programs can actually see an use the PSDC file, then we can make our own workflows!  And isn't that the best solution?  Instead of the Photoshop team coming up with a barely workable workflow and trying to get people to adopt something that is intolerably slow for any working professional, they could just make the system available to us and then let us make our own workflow.  But Adobe has to work together rather than separately.  All of the teams need to work together and commit to reading that ONE FILETYPE.  

Is there any chance this will ever happen?  I keep trying the Cloud Documents hoping it will work for any rational workflow, but there are too many steps to get to the document from any other programs.  If the Photoshop team thinks that the best route to every document is THROUGH photoshop, they are not looking at real-world uses.

I have promoted this to the Photoshop team directly when it was still in the early stages, but nothing has come of it.

[Pete.Green]

Thanks for the good workflow feedback @Jared Platt, Have taken note of this and passed it on to some of the team members working on cloud document solutions. Some of the challenge here I imagine is the PSD vs PSDC file type, but it sounds like you describe some sort of conversion between the two to enable better file management within your synced files and other apps, does that sound about right?

While I can't guarantee any workflow adjustments today, we'll definitely take this feedback and see what comes next.

Regards,

Pete

[Jared Platt]

At the bare minimum, there needs to be a swift and easy way to convert multiple images at one time from one to the other. Both ways. But in the end, other applications in the Adobe line should be able to read and use the PSDC documents.


Sincerely,

Jared Platt
[edited by moderator]