# Where are images stored with saved in Creative Cloud Storage



## emesewe (Nov 20, 2018)

I have a simple question, I think.  It has to do with saving disk space on my local drive.  My question is if I store my image files in my Creative Cloud storage are they saved on both the cloud and the disk?  If only in the cloud, then saving images in Creative Cloud storage would have the potential to save disk space.  But if they are saved only in the cloud how does Lightroom Class CC have access to them?  I am confused and cannot find online a direct answer to this question.

Can someone please help my?  I would appreciate it very much


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## Zenon (Nov 20, 2018)

Lightroom Classic CC does not send files to the cloud. All your file are stored locally. When you sync with the cloud it only sends smart previews. You can access smart previews and edit them without the files themselves. As an example you can save your files locally on an external drive and sync to the cloud.  Disconnect the external drive and continue to edit using the smart previews. When you reconnect the external drive everything is updated. You can also edit  smart previews using a different computer or device .                 

Here is a quick example   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag21yJVnDF8


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## emesewe (Nov 20, 2018)

Thanks for your reply, but I did not express my question very well.  I am not asking about Lightroom Classic CC storing files, but rather moving files with the operating system moving files into the Creative Cloud Files folder in my file system.  These  files don't have to be image files at all.  When stored in the Creative Cloud Files folder they surely must be stored offline otherwise what is the 1TB for?  
So my real question is do they also stay on my hard drive at the same time?


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## MarkNicholas (Nov 20, 2018)

I'm not sure this answers your question either but here goes.

I'm not on my LR computer at the moment but I believe that if you upload originals via LRCC (not classic) then there is an option in LRCC  in the settings where you can choose the % of free hard drive space used for local data (not sure exactly what this data is and whether it includes smart previews). I guess you can set it to 0%.

LR Classic does have access to the original photos in the cloud by (if you have turned it on) syncing them and downloading the originals (copying) them to your hard drive. However, in your case this would seem to defeat the object of minimizing local disc usage.  To edit them without downloading them you would have to use LRCC.


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## Zenon (Nov 20, 2018)

emesewe said:


> Thanks for your reply, but I did not express my question very well.  I am not asking about Lightroom Classic CC storing files, but rather moving files with the operating system moving files into the Creative Cloud Files folder in my file system.  These  files don't have to be image files at all.  When stored in the Creative Cloud Files folder they surely must be stored offline otherwise what is the 1TB for?
> So my real question is do they also stay on my hard drive at the same time?



The 1TB is for LR CC. LR CC moves pushes the actual files to the cloud automatically. You can also store them locally if you want to. Using LR Classic CC your files are stored locally only. None are on the cloud - only smart previews.


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## Zenon (Nov 20, 2018)

I should point out if you are interested in LR CC which Adobe created for mobile applications ask some questions first. Using LR Classic CC and LR CC on the same computer can be tricky. People do to but it is not recommended. One or the other.


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## Conrad Chavez (Nov 20, 2018)

emesewe said:


> Thanks for your reply, but I did not express my question very well.  I am not asking about Lightroom Classic CC storing files, but rather moving files with the operating system moving files into the Creative Cloud Files folder in my file system.  These  files don't have to be image files at all.  When stored in the Creative Cloud Files folder they surely must be stored offline otherwise what is the 1TB for?
> So my real question is do they also stay on my hard drive at the same time?


It's very important to understand that Creative Cloud Files storage is separate from Lightroom CC photo cloud storage.
Lightroom cloud syncing does not connect to Creative Cloud Files storage, it only uses the Lightroom CC cloud storage area.

The only way Lightroom Classic can be connected to Creative Cloud Files is if you manually drag files into your local Creative Cloud Files folder and then import them into Lightroom Classic, but almost no one does that.

The only way the mobile versions of Lightroom are connected to Creative Cloud Files is if you use the Share feature to manually export a JPEG version to Creative Cloud files.

Technically, the answer to your question is that when you add a document to Creative Cloud Files storage, it works like Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, Box, etc: The files now exist both in the local folder on your computer, and on the cloud server. By default, editing, renaming, or deleting the file in one place will do the same to the copy of the file in the other place. (Unless you use a feature such as Dropbox Selective Sync or OneDrive Files On Demand, where some cloud files are excluded from being downloaded to local storage.)

I don't think Creative Cloud Files has a form of Selective Sync, so to answer your ultimate question, I don't think you can use Creative Cloud Files storage to save space on your local drive. The point of Creative Cloud Files storage is not to free up local storage space, but to be an online file exchange area between Creative Cloud applciations such as Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and so on. But not Lightroom, since it has its own cloud storage.


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