# Migrate Catalog from CC to Classic?



## Snapstan (Dec 3, 2018)

Hi
I'm a Classic user and am considering a 2018 iPad Pro 11" for mobile use, and thus Lightroom CC. Do you know please if step 4 in the following workflow is possible?
1. Import RAW photos from card to Lightroom CC Mobile on iPad
2. Process photos on iPad (selects; edits)
3. Files sync to Lightroom CC desktop (RAW orig. and metadata for edits) when have wi-fi (am assuming have to sync from iPad to Lightroom CC and cannot sync to Lightroom Classic)
4. On desktop, migrate/ copy/ export catalog from Lightroom CC desktop to Lightroom Classic, preserving native files and all edit info. 
Why step 4? I want to 
1. Preserve my library structure on disk
2. Rename files (YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS_Filename_MyName.extension)
3. Export edited picks to JPG, with rename
4. Upload picks with rename to SmugMug (which I like to order by filename)
Since CC does not (it appears) support file renaming, I've thought of this workaround. 
Thanks!
Steve


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## Jim Wilde (Dec 3, 2018)

No, step 4 doesn't work. You cannot migrate an LRCC catalog into LR Classic.

But your assumption in step 3 is also not correct. Provided that your Classic catalog is enabled for syncing, the images that you import on the iPad will first upload to the cloud (and are thus then available in all LRCC apps), and from the cloud they will automatically download into that Classic catalog (full copy of the original). So step 4 becomes somewhat unnecessary.

When they download into Classic, you have control over which location they are copied into, and also you can use one of the standard Lightroom date-based folder structures. 
While LRCC does not facilitate file renaming, any renaming done in Classic on synced images is also synced and applied to the originals in the cloud.

So everything apart from "preserving your library structure on disk" is achievable by using the existing syncing capabilities.


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## LouieSherwin (Dec 3, 2018)

As Jim mentions in the "Lightroom Sync" tab of your Lightroom Preferences you can specify your own path to folder where the CC sync will place the images when it uploads them from the cloud. There is also an option to specify a date based folder structure that   are the same or very close to the same as offered in the Import dialog. 

I don't know what your current library structure is but I use the YYYY/YYYY-MM/YYYY-MM-DD folder structure both here and in my Import presets. After all the images are uploaded to my Classic library I rename them all with the same rename template I use in my import presets and  it is a simple matter of drag and drop in the Folders panel to move them all into my main image storage structure.

I take the additional step of removing the images from within a CC app. This currently will remove the original from the Cloud but leave it on your desktop and in the Classic catalog. But you have to be very sure that all the originals have synced to your desktop Classic first. Otherwise the removal from the cloud is instant and permanent. I don't know if this actually documented so it probably should be tested with each new update of CC and/or Classic. Adobe could change this without warning. 

@Jim Wilde  I seem to recall that you determined that in Classic if you moved an image out of the CC synced folder to another folder in your library that this also un-synced the image and may even have removed the original from the cloud. Would you confirm or deny? 

-louie


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## Jim Wilde (Dec 3, 2018)

LouieSherwin said:


> @Jim Wilde  I seem to recall that you determined that in Classic if you moved an image out of *the CC synced folder* to another folder in your library that this also un-synced the image and may even have removed the original from the cloud. Would you confirm or deny?


It depends what you mean by "the CC synced folder". If you mean removal of an image from a synced collection in Classic, then you should receive the attached warning dialog, which is pretty clear (but in case it's not clear, removal from All Synced Photographs will remove the image from the cloud, see below):




If, OTOH, you mean removing the image from the All Synced Photographs special collection, then you would instead receive this dialog, which is again pretty clear:



But if you mean moving the image from the original folder into which it was placed when it synced down from the cloud, into a different folder, then that should have no effect on the sync status of that image, and thus no affect on the image stored in the cloud.


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## Snapstan (Dec 3, 2018)

Jim and Louie, thank you.


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## Snapstan (Dec 29, 2018)

Have acquired myself an iPad Pro for Christmas and am experimenting away! Good fun. On renaming files/ folders, yes it seems that LRClassic needs to remain in the workflow ... Images synced down from LRCC Mobile can be renamed, moved, and removed from the Adobe Cloud on the desktop with LRClassic. 

Apart for looking for ways of removing LRClassic from the workflow entirely, posting photos externally from LRCC Mobile would be a use case for wanting to rename files on LRCC Mobile. EG., upload a set of images from iPad to Smugmug. With renaming, the images can be named YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS_FileName_SteveJackson.jpg ... without, it can only be FileName.jpg. Why bother: If Smugmug Gallery contains images from multiple cameras the sorting by FileName will be off. Also, if images downloaded from Smugmug, it’s nice that they use an identifying name.


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