# Smart Previews Only in Lightroom CC



## nkawoods (Mar 24, 2020)

I'm using Lightroom on two computers, Lightroom Classic on one (my primary computer) and Lightroom CC on a smaller computer (which I use for travel). Several of my photos in Lightroom CC indicate that there is only a smart preview available in the cloud. I thought what I needed to do to fix things was delete those photos in Lightroom CC, then go back and add them to my synced collections in Lightroom Classic (they were still in Classic in their original file folders and stored on my hard drive),. So far so good, but after I've added them back to synced collections in Classic I open up Lightroom CC and they show up immediately (no time needed for syncing), and are still just the smart previews. How can I force the full original file to upload to the cloud? I know that Lightroom in the Cloud keeps deleted files for a period of time - is that part of the problem?

Last edited: 10 minutes ago


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## Jim Wilde (Mar 24, 2020)

The problem is that LR Classic can only sync smart previews to the cloud, it cannot sync full original files. To get originals into the cloud you have to import them directly into any one of the "cloudy" apps (LR Desktop, LR Mobile, LR Web). If you do that, and if the files are still synced from Classic as smart previews, the system should recognise that and simply replace the smart reviews with the originals. 

If the files are not currently synced from Classic, but are still in the Classic catalog, adding them as originals to a cloudy app will cause those originals to be synced back down to Classic.....but as they already exist in Classic they will be added to the Classic catalog as Virtual Copies (so you'll have a strange situation in Classic whereby some originals in Classic will not be synced, but the Virtual Copy of them will be synced). So if you want originals in the cloud, and they already exist in Classic, best to sync those images as smart previews from Classic first, before adding them to a cloudy app.


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## Victoria Bampton (Mar 24, 2020)

You might also question whether you need the originals in the cloud for those photos. Unless you're sending files to Photoshop, the smart previews may be plenty for your travel computer.


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## prbimages (Mar 25, 2020)

Victoria Bampton said:


> You might also question whether you need the originals in the cloud for those photos. Unless you're sending files to Photoshop, the smart previews may be plenty for your travel computer.


Especially since you get _unlimited _cloud storage for the smart previews, but full-size originals will take up part of your allocation (20GB if you're on the lowest plan).


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## nkawoods (Mar 27, 2020)

prbimages said:


> Especially since you get _unlimited _cloud storage for the smart previews, but full-size originals will take up part of your allocation (20GB if you're on the lowest plan).


Thanks @Victoria Bampton and @Jim Wilde - I do sometimes want to pull something into Photoshop when I’m traveling, but am coming to terms with the fact that I’m fighting a losing battle.  The workflow becomes so cumbersome to try to maintain full res files in the cloud with LR Classic as my primary library and editor.   I’ve moved to a higher plan but I’m thinking I should just go with the Smart Previews and go back to the lower plan.  I currently have both full res and smart previews in the cloud - any suggestions as to a (relatively) easy way to move back to just smart previews?  Or will I need to deal with it photo by photo?  (I guess I’ll have time in the next few weeks!)


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## Victoria Bampton (Mar 28, 2020)

nkawoods said:


> any suggestions as to a (relatively) easy way to move back to just smart previews?  Or will I need to deal with it photo by photo?  (I guess I’ll have time in the next few weeks!)


If you're not sharing web gallery links with people, the simplest way is to unsync the collections, remove everything from All Synced Photographs in Classic, let it finish syncing and then mark the collections to sync again.


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## nkawoods (Mar 29, 2020)

Victoria Bampton said:


> If you're not sharing web gallery links with people, the simplest way is to unsync the collections, remove everything from All Synced Photographs in Classic, let it finish syncing and then mark the collections to sync again.


Thank you so much, that makes sense.


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