# Lightroom  Horrors



## 3dogs (Dec 13, 2019)

I recently had Win 10 installed on my two computers by a Computer Expert. Since then I have not been able to use Lightroom, that means EXACTLY what it says.. its unusable. So way I figure it I need to start again from scratch. I am not interested in finding out why, or how I can fix it from where it is now, I'd rather scrap it altogether and go to another product, which sadly will be equally shoddy.

I have collected ALL my images (14, 000+)  and currently have them on two separate portable drives.

Next I need to sort out if I have the correct version of Lightroom. I'm on subscription monthly and have ADOBE PHOTOSHOP LIGHTROOM CC 2015.13 release.  when I open that and go to about Lightroom it says I need to log in ?  WHY?  I am a SUBSCRIBER?

Prior to the shift to Win 10 EVERYTHIG was working just fine. Now when I open Lightroom  ALL the images are gone, there atr just 14,000 empty frames..  So my question is can I  a) uninstall Loghtroom altogether, then reinstall, and start again. or
b) simply delete all the headings and re import everything again, 

PLEASE do not suggest I try to relink via the Ligtroom process, IT DOES NOT WORK for me .....and I simply do not have either the skills, interest nor time to tinker with the product. I just want to get my images into the Lightroom and start processing and printing my pics.

thanks in advance.

Andrew

PS  I posted in the Lounge because the options on the home page are absolutely meaningless to me, that is I have Photoshop Lightroom CC, no idea what all that other stuff is, and that is because I have not been involved on a day to day basis for a coupe of years.

Example :  I cant even find LOG OUT on this page???


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## Hal P Anderson (Dec 14, 2019)

You really must make an effort to understand how things work, or you're going to have endless frustrations with Lightroom.

Moving to a new computer caused you to log out of the Creative Cloud app. You'll need to open the app and log in with your Adobe account.

No, you don't have the latest version of Lightroom Classic. It is 9.1. Probably you were running 2015.13 because later versions wouldn't run on your operating system. Now they will, so while you're in Creative Cloud, install version 9.1. It's a way better product.

You claim that you can't be bothered trying to relink your images. Fine. Just know that if you create a new catalogue and re-import everything, you'll lose all the work you ever did on those 14,000 photos.


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## 3dogs (Dec 14, 2019)

Hal P Anderson said:


> You really must make an effort to understand how things work, or you're going to have endless frustrations with Lightroom.
> 
> Moving to a new computer caused you to log out of the Creative Cloud app. You'll need to open the app and log in with your Adobe account.
> 
> ...


Hal,
Thank you for your response. You have answered my questions in a way that makes sense to me, finally I have a clear picture of the how why and what, its actually taken two years to get here believe it or not so again - thank you.  Please forgive my drafting, it was quite deliberate, and is the result of hours of thinking how to solicit  the answers I needed.  I have asked these questions a few times before which got me support in a way that I either could not undrstand or implement.
Are you saying that the 14,000 images on my portable drive will revert to the original if I use them to repopulate a clean Lightroom? I need to be crystal clear on that.

Also are you saying that when Adobe tells me that updates are available it will not automatically upgrage me to the latest version??
We have a Telco that does that and they are crooks since they were privatised.

I believe I have found an early 2019 catalogue that should have all my 'processed' images ( I hope)...
One final question please, when I exit Lightroom after a session a dialogue comes up asking me to save. Thats fine, but now when I open Lightroom the same lot empty frames are there and it takes for ever to repoulate.  I do not remember seeing that before the debarkle that is Win10.
Again many thanks it now feels like I can make some progress towards getting back to my photo processing.


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## Hal P Anderson (Dec 14, 2019)

3dogs said:


> Are you saying that the 14,000 images on my portable drive will revert to the original if I use them to repopulate a clean Lightroom? I need to be crystal clear on that.


It's actually more nuanced than that. In your Catalogue Settings, you might have elected to save metadata and edits in the images' XMP, in which case edits and other metadata will be saved with the images and importing them will also import your changes. In that case, you'd still lose all your collections and virtual copies and other things that are only saved in the catalogue. That's the best case,; the worst case is that you would have to start over editing and adding metadata. In any case, if you can find a good catalogue and reconnect your images, you'll be better off.



3dogs said:


> when I exit Lightroom after a session a dialogue comes up asking me to save


No, it isn't. It's asking you to back up your catalogue, which simply creates another copy of the catalogue. All changes are automatically saved in the master catalogue. That dialogue lets you specify where the backups are stored, and you ought to insure that they are being stored on a different physical disk than the one your catalogue resides on. If that disk fails and the backups are on it, you'll not be able to recover.


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## Philippe Coudé du Foresto (Dec 14, 2019)

> Also are you saying that when Adobe tells me that updates are available it will not automatically upgrage me to the latest version??


Automatic upgrade is possible, if you've configured Creative Cloud to do so.
Look here to see how to set automatic update.


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## 3dogs (Dec 14, 2019)

Hal P Anderson said:


> It's actually more nuanced than that. In your Catalogue Settings, you might have elected to save metadata and edits in the images' XMP, in which case edits and other metadata will be saved with the images and importing them will also import your changes. In that case, you'd still lose all your collections and virtual copies and other things that are only saved in the catalogue. That's the best case,; the worst case is that you would have to start over editing and adding metadata. In any case, if you can find a good catalogue and reconnect your images, you'll be better off.
> 
> 
> No, it isn't. It's asking you to back up your catalogue, which simply creates another copy of the catalogue. All changes are automatically saved in the master catalogue. That dialogue lets you specify where the backups are stored, and you ought to insure that they are being stored on a different physical disk than the one your catalogue resides on. If that disk fails and the backups are on it, you'll not be able to recover.





Philippe Coudé du Foresto said:


> Automatic upgrade is possible, if you've configured Creative Cloud to do so.
> Look here to see how to set automatic update.




Thanks for that...will go to Adobe and read it in English, though I do get the drift from the French


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## 3dogs (Dec 14, 2019)

Hal P Anderson said:


> It's actually more nuanced than that. In your Catalogue Settings, you might have elected to save metadata and edits in the images' XMP, in which case edits and other metadata will be saved with the images and importing them will also import your changes. In that case, you'd still lose all your collections and virtual copies and other things that are only saved in the catalogue. That's the best case,; the worst case is that you would have to start over editing and adding metadata. In any case, if you can find a good catalogue and reconnect your images, you'll be better off.
> 
> 
> No, it isn't. It's asking you to back up your catalogue, which simply creates another copy of the catalogue. All changes are automatically saved in the master catalogue. That dialogue lets you specify where the backups are stored, and you ought to insure that they are being stored on a different physical disk than the one your catalogue resides on. If that disk fails and the backups are on it, you'll not be able to recover.



Got that thanks. 
Spent 3hrs+ on line with Adobe, finally went remote and they seem to have untangled some of the problems and installed the upgrade.  Watching what they did was way, way beyond me.

I think it is tragic that Lightroom has been transformed from a user friendly platform into the crippled version of Photoshop.
It was a plug in and use, updated easily by anyone, now its a complex shambles in my opinion.  Then I believe that as soon as nerds got into Lightroom they could not resist trying, and succeeding in turning it into the same monster phoshop is.

Anyway, many many thanks, you have helped me get one computer back up and running my images, from what I can see, without loss.

Cheers

Andrew


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## Philippe Coudé du Foresto (Dec 15, 2019)

> ill go to Adobe and read it in English


Oop, sorry ! For the futur readers, here the link to the english version


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## 3dogs (Dec 18, 2019)

Ok!  the saga so far..........
the task of replacing the old Photoshop/Lightroom was really simple and straight forward,   it only took Adobe techs on screen share THREE HOURS!! that exercise has left me with this on my computer :
"a pop up message from Creative Cloud that saying it cant sync? ".... it does not bother telling me just exactly what it is trying to sync or why, or how to fix it, but there you go thats Adobe for you.
.......Adobe Bridge 2020   (*)
......Adobe Bridge CC 2015
......Adobe Creative Cloud.   (*)
......Adobe Extension Manager.   (*)
......Adobe Lightroom CC 2015.13 release.
......Adobe Classic 9.1 with Camera Raw 12.1.   (*)
......Adobe Photoshop 2020.   (*)
......Adobe Photoshop CC 2015.5
......Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.3 64bit.

a fine array of products,  I am assuming that the items (*) are the new products, but what do I do with the 'old 'products ? all have (different) images, but are populated.  Can I just uninstall them, or do I need to do something BEFORE I uninstall?

Phew!  It was easy installing the first version years ago, but it sure has me confused now  
appreciate some advice, thanks in advance.


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## Victoria Bampton (Dec 19, 2019)

Yes, uninstall all of the ones without the (*).

Which app are you viewing when it pops up saying it can't sync? If it's the Creative Cloud app, click the cloud in the top right corner and it may tell you more. Most likely the Creative Cloud Sync folder is set wrong in preferences.


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## 3dogs (Dec 19, 2019)

Victoria Bampton said:


> Yes, uninstall all of the ones without the (*).
> 
> Which app are you viewing when it pops up saying it can't sync? If it's the Creative Cloud app, click the cloud in the top right corner and it may tell you more. Most likely the Creative Cloud Sync folder is set wrong in preferences.


Thanks for the response I will now clear the decks as it were.
The message is on the Adobe site Cloud page...not on any App.  However, Win 10 keeps coming up with the same message. If Iclear it, itjust comes back.
I have no idea what or where the cloud sync folder is or what it does, or what settings are there, I will google that one .....


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## Victoria Bampton (Dec 20, 2019)

If you open the Creative Cloud app that manages the installations, try the cloud app in the top right corner of there, and the cog icon next to it for settings.


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## 3dogs (Dec 20, 2019)

Thanks Victoria, found that and the settings do not seem to be the problem.
It may be the way Adobe are trying, by stealth to get folks locked into their cloud storage as a revenue stream. Or it could be that I have all my operating systems on one SSD drive and run Lightroom on another and back up to an external.
My computer tech, who also has Lighttoom has his Cloud storage turned off and Adobe is not happy with him. He favours the 3 drive I adopted as the culprit in this case.
Thanks heaps
Andrew


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## MarkNicholas (Dec 21, 2019)

3dogs said:


> It may be the way Adobe are trying, by stealth to get folks locked into their cloud storage as a revenue stream.



Myth. You are free to use any software you like. You are not tied to Lightroom. Any work you have done in Lightroom is fully retrievable even after your subscription has expired.



3dogs said:


> My computer tech, who also has Lightroom has his Cloud storage turned off and Adobe is not happy with him.



How does he know Adobe are not happy with him ? How have they expressed this unhappiness ?


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## Victoria Bampton (Dec 21, 2019)

MarkNicholas said:


> How does he know Adobe are not happy with him ? How have they expressed this unhappiness ?


That's exactly what I was just wondering. 

There's no question that Adobe would like people to use their cloud storage, but they're not exactly being covert about suggesting that.


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## 3dogs (Dec 21, 2019)

MarkNicholas said:


> Myth. You are free to use any software you like. You are not tied to Lightroom. Any work you have done in Lightroom is fully retrievable even after your subscription has expired.
> Not myth, fact! Step one, move to subscription, step two, cloud storage.....what do you imaginecloud storage is, some other diamension in the sky that is free, secure and everlasting??
> If its fully reversable, how come the original is unmodified, all edits are separate, so that if i do not preserve all my lrcat and link images to it, then they are lost.  That sounds very much like I am well and truly 'tied' to Lightroom to me.
> 
> ...


Like me, he gets constant reminders that its turned off.


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## 3dogs (Dec 21, 2019)

Victoria Bampton said:


> That's exactly what I was just wondering.
> 
> There's no question that Adobe would like people to use their cloud storage, but they're not exactly being covert about suggesting that.


Much like Microsoft, Adobe have as part of their client interface, a routine pop up that 'reminds' a person that its off.  I switched it off, thats how I want it...I dont need reminding, its naging at least and intrusiveness that I do not appreciate or want.


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## clee01l (Dec 21, 2019)

3dogs said:


> Like me, he gets constant reminders that its turned off.


Sync'ing on or off should not generate any messages.   If you have file in the cloud that want to sync, you might get messages.  But If you don't put any images in the cloud (i.e. you are not using the cloud) there should be no reason to get a reminder.  Also if you have assigned collections to sync to the cloud,  LR Classic is going to remind you that you have unfinished business.  If you have not designated any collections to sync, thenLR Classic should be happy.
Adobe Creative Cloud Application Manager should be always running as a background task.  This is the only way Adobe can verify that you have a valid subscription.


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## Philippe Coudé du Foresto (Dec 22, 2019)

I agree with Cletus. I use LR Classic without any image sync'ed to the cloud and confirm I never get such a message. My LR never complained about the cloud.


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