# Managing All Photos and files not in any Album



## SteveH (Jul 26, 2018)

Hi. I appreciate that LRM and LR Classic don't play together too well but I do manage to sync a number of Collections / Albums between the two successfully for mobile viewing purposes.  My biggest frustration, currently, lies around the All Photos  (All Synced Photos ) concept.  I can cope with managing them within my synced Collections/Albums but I always seem to have lots of photos in All Photos/ All Sync that are _not_ in any collections as a result of either failing to remove from All Sync when removing from a Collection or taking photos with the LRM camera.  
So it boils down to two questions - how do I easily identify / filter out synced files _not_ in any collections and is there a way of forcing  the LRM camera to auto-save to an Album rather than get lost in the mass of 'All Photos'?


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## Johan Elzenga (Jul 27, 2018)

AFAIK, you can do the latter by starting the Lightroom camera from an album.

Finding synced photos not in a collection is a problem. You can make a smart collection that will search for photos not in a collection  (source : collection : not 'a e i o u'), but I don't see an option to search on synced. So the only work around seems to be to select all photos in the 'All Synced Photos' collection and add some keyword to them (or mark them in another way). The smart collection can then search on the combination. Because adding this keyword won't be automatic, you would have to do this manually each time you want to use the smart collection.


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## SteveH (Jul 27, 2018)

Many thanks.  Tried that, and yes,  I  need to start in an album to ensure a LRM camera shot saves there.  Messy but works if I remember.  Also the workaround for the synced photos is doable.  Again, more work and ongoing maintenance required so I guess I simply have to think: if I prefer to stay with desktop Classic then I should accept the limitations of cloud syncing with an app that is not really designed to fully support it.


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## Jim Wilde (Jul 27, 2018)

SteveH said:


> Many thanks.  Tried that, and yes,  I  need to start in an album to ensure a LRM camera shot saves there.  Messy but works if I remember.  Also the workaround for the synced photos is doable.  Again, more work and ongoing maintenance required so I guess I simply have to think: if I prefer to stay with desktop Classic then I should accept the limitations of cloud syncing with an app that is not really designed to fully support it.



Something else to note: you can designate one of the albums in LRCC for iOS to be the "auto import" album, i.e. all new pictures added to the Camera Roll are automatically imported into that designated album (and thus automatically synced). This feature also works for any new captures made with the LR camera....*but only when no other album is currently selected* (i.e. you need to be in the main albums page). As you've already discovered, if you are already "in" an album when taking a picture with the LR camera, the new picture is added to the currently open album, not the designated "auto import" album.

I've been complaining about that apparent inconsistency ever since LRmobile was introduced, but it clearly hasn't been addressed.


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## SteveH (Jul 27, 2018)

Jim Wilde said:


> Something else to note: you can designate one of the albums in LRCC for iOS to be the "auto import" album, i.e. all new pictures added to the Camera Roll are automatically imported into that designated album (and thus automatically synced). This feature also works for any new captures made with the LR camera....*but only when no other album is currently selected* (i.e. you need to be in the main albums page). As you've already discovered, if you are already "in" an album when taking a picture with the LR camera, the new picture is added to the currently open album, not the designated "auto import" album.
> 
> I've been complaining about that apparent inconsistency ever since LRmobile was introduced, but it clearly hasn't been addressed.


Goodness! Yes, main albums page works too set like that  - I don’t think many people realise that auto-import can be made to do that. Good to know thanks.


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