# Sync LR mobile to LR desktop and save to hard drive



## Andrew smith (Jul 14, 2017)

I've synced LR mobile photos to LR desktop and I can see them as three collections (which mirror the three collections I developed in LR mobile). Can I save these collections to my hard drive (do I use the publishing to hard drive tool so any amends are constantly updated), and if so can I then delete from my mobile devices but it will stay on LR desktop? What's the recommended workflow? 

Trying to use iPad as editing tool for photos on the go (downloading photos from camera to iPad and then importing those I like to LR mobile from iPad photo roll) but download once back home and save to hard drive (hard drive is then copied by sugar sync so it's all backed up and stored). 

New to all this so maybe doing it all wrong?


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## Jim Wilde (Jul 14, 2017)

Hi, welcome to the forum.

Unless you need to setup a publishing service for other reasons, there's no need to do so just to "save these collections to the hard drive", as they're already on the hard drive (when LR syncs them down from LRmobile they are automatically written to the hard drive location that you've specified in the Preferences>Lightroom mobile tab). If you've not previously changed the default location in the preferences, you can locate them by right-clicking on any of them in Lightroom and select "Show in Explorer", and if they're not in the location you want you can drag and drop them via the Folders Panel to a different location.

If you want to remove the images from your mobile devices, then simply remove them from the special All Synced Photographs collection in the Catalog panel (select them all via the three synced collections first, then switch to All Synced Photographs, right-click on any one of the selected photos and choose "Remove from All Synced Photographs").


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## Andrew smith (Jul 14, 2017)

Jim Wilde said:


> Hi, welcome to the forum.
> 
> Unless you need to setup a publishing service for other reasons, there's no need to do so just to "save these collections to the hard drive", as they're already on the hard drive (when LR syncs them down from LRmobile they are automatically written to the hard drive location that you've specified in the Preferences>Lightroom mobile tab). If you've not previously changed the default location in the preferences, you can locate them by right-clicking on any of them in Lightroom and select "Show in Explorer", and if they're not in the location you want you can drag and drop them via the Folders Panel to a different location.
> 
> If you want to remove the images from your mobile devices, then simply remove them from the special All Synced Photographs collection in the Catalog panel (select them all via the three synced collections first, then switch to All Synced Photographs, right-click on any one of the selected photos and choose "Remove from All Synced Photographs").


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## Andrew smith (Jul 14, 2017)

Not sure if I've clicked the correct box to reply. Wowwww great advice. Some brief extra questions:


If I delete anything on mobile or Lightroom, if it's saved to hard drive is it always safe there and not going to be deleted too?
Have the full res shots been placed on hard drive (it's what I imported in mobile lr)?
I'd like to keep the collection in Lightroom desktop. How can I delete from mob only?
If I want to see images later on lr mobile. I guess I share from or desktop to mobile, and is it then the lower res versions?
Is there a resource out there where all this is covered so I don't need to waste people's time with daft questions?


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## Andrew smith (Jul 14, 2017)

Tried what you suggested re right click and find with explorer and couldn't find it, see what it said on photo attached. Urghhh...I feel like giving up. Spent all yesterday totally confused lol! I haven't moved Lightroom, the pictures folder


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## Andrew smith (Jul 14, 2017)

Jim Wilde said:


> Hi, welcome to the forum.
> 
> Unless you need to setup a publishing service for other reasons, there's no need to do so just to "save these collections to the hard drive", as they're already on the hard drive (when LR syncs them down from LRmobile they are automatically written to the hard drive location that you've specified in the Preferences>Lightroom mobile tab). If you've not previously changed the default location in the preferences, you can locate them by right-clicking on any of them in Lightroom and select "Show in Explorer", and if they're not in the location you want you can drag and drop them via the Folders Panel to a different location.
> 
> If you want to remove the images from your mobile devices, then simply remove them from the special All Synced Photographs collection in the Catalog panel (select them all via the three synced collections first, then switch to All Synced Photographs, right-click on any one of the selected photos and choose "Remove from All Synced Photographs").



One more thing, some photo are 'img' and I can find them but the image in explorer is unedited, ie doesn't contain the edits I've made in Lightroom. Most are img, but some say 'P8261561.JPEG' and these starting with P it can't find as per photo


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## Johan Elzenga (Jul 14, 2017)

Andrew smith said:


> One more thing, some photo are 'img' and I can find them but the image in explorer is unedited, ie doesn't contain the edits I've made in Lightroom. Most are img, but some say 'P8261561.JPEG' and these starting with P it can't find as per photo



Lightroom is a so-called 'parametric editor'. That means that your edits aren't applied to the pixels of the original image, but stored in the catalog as an instruction set for what to do when the image is needed for printing, exporting or anything else. The original remains untouched, and that is what you see when you view the original in Explorer.


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## Andrew smith (Jul 14, 2017)

JohanElzenga said:


> Lightroom is a so-called 'parametric editor'. That means that your edits aren't applied to the pixels of the original image, but stored in the catalog as an instruction set for what to do when the image is needed for printing, exporting or anything else. The original remains untouched, and that is what you see when you view the original in Explorer.



Ok that's great. What do I do to save those changes to the hard drive image? Do I import that collection to the hard drive by publishing to hard drive? If so does that mean I have two images saved, one unedited and one edited?

Also, as per messages above, some of the photos starting with a 'P' can't be found when right click to find with explorer, see photo attached for what it says.


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## Johan Elzenga (Jul 14, 2017)

If you want to have a jpeg or tiff with the edits, you need to use the Export function in Lightroom to create a jpeg or tiff copy.


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## Johan Elzenga (Jul 14, 2017)

As far as those missing images are concerned: this message means that you moved the originals to another location, or you renamed them, outside of Lightroom. *Never do this*, because now Lightroom does not know anymore where they are. If you do know where they are, you can tell Lightroom by clicking the 'Locate' button.


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## Andrew smith (Jul 14, 2017)

JohanElzenga said:


> If you want to have a jpeg or tiff with the edits, you need to use the Export function in Lightroom to create a jpeg or tiff copy.


Do I export by publishing to hard drive so a copy with edits is there? If I delete the unedited photo does it leave the edited photo alone?


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## Johan Elzenga (Jul 14, 2017)

Andrew smith said:


> Do I export by publishing to hard drive so a copy with edits is there? If I delete the unedited photo does it leave the edited photo alone?



D*o not delete the unedited photo*! As explained, that is the master photo and the one that Lightroom uses. If you delete this photo, Lightroom will once again show you the 'missing photo' error. The master photo plus the edits stored in the catalog are all you need. You do not have to export an edited copy, unless you need that for something special, like sending to somebody a copy by email. There is no need to export or publish the photo just to 'save the edits to disk'. They are already saved to disk (in the catalog).


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## Andrew smith (Jul 14, 2017)

JohanElzenga said:


> D*o not delete the unedited photo*! As explained, that is the master photo and the one that Lightroom uses. If you delete this photo, Lightroom will once again show you the 'missing photo' error. The master photo plus the edits stored in the catalog are all you need. You do not have to export an edited copy, unless you need that for something special, like sending to somebody a copy by email. There is no need to export or publish the photo just to 'save the edits to disk'. They are already saved to disk (in the catalog).


Thanks. What if I want to view an edited photo outside of Lightroom or email to someone? 
I could be totally wrong here but isn't it safer to have the edited photo on yr hard disc and backed up? Or can I use windows explorer to go into Lightroom in pictures to find the edited photo? Sorry for being so dense! Should I back up my Lightroom folder that's in 'pictures' to the cloud via sugar sync (docs and other photos are)? Or is the folder useless without viewing it through Lightroom?


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## Johan Elzenga (Jul 14, 2017)

Andrew smith said:


> Thanks. What if I want to view an edited photo outside of Lightroom or email to someone?



That's what I just said: in that case you export a copy of the image. During export, you can resize it for example, because in many cases you do not need to send a full size image. After you've sent it, you can trash it because you can always export a new copy if needed. No need to keep all those exported copies. That's the great thing about Lightroom: you only keep the original and use it again and again to create copies as needed.



Andrew smith said:


> I could be totally wrong here but isn't it safer to have the edited photo on yr hard disc and backed up? Or can I use windows explorer to go into Lightroom in pictures to find the edited photo? Sorry for being so dense! Should I back up my Lightroom folder that's in 'pictures' to the cloud via sugar sync (docs and other photos are)? Or is the folder useless without viewing it through Lightroom?



No, it isn't safer to have the edited copy on your hard disk. Of course you need to backup the original image and the Lightroom catalog, but together those are just as safe as an edited copy. And the great advantage of parametric editing is that you can change edits at any time. Nothing is 'baked into the pixels'. You can't use Windows Explorer to go into Lightroom to find the edited copy, but why would you want to? You use Lightroom for that.

Yes, do backup that Lightroom folder because that is your Lightroom catalog. You do need Lightroom to view it, but isn't that always the case? If you write a letter in a text editor, you need the text editor to read it. You may want to get the free Lightroom guide from Victoria (The Lightroom Queen - Tips, Tutorials & Troubleshooting for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom).


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