# Predictions on Lr Classic and CC (laptop) interoperability?



## RobOK (Nov 25, 2018)

Hello crystal ball gazers —

Will there eventually be full compatibility between Classic catalogs and CC, like for collections and tagging and other things?

A different way of asking is I want the capability of Classic on two computers (home big screen and laptop) running off the same catalog (natively in Lightroom). 

I don’t think I see the migration path with extensive back catalogs?

Thanks for any info or even speculation!

Rob.


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## Johan Elzenga (Nov 25, 2018)

Not likely. Adobe has said that Lightroom Classic won’t get any new sync features, so what does not sync right now, will probably never sync.


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## Zenon (Nov 25, 2018)

Adobe also said LR would never go subscription.  Couldn't you use Smart Previews for that?  Copy the current the catalogue to laptop before a trip and then back to the desktop at home?  I use Classic only and currently don't use the cloud, but I'm thinking about it.   

Not sure if this helps with what you seek. When I travel with a laptop I create a travel catalogue and then use the Import from another catalogue command on my desktop when I get home.  It merges the travel catalogue into the master one.  I just don't have access to my current files when on the road. Since it is not for business it doesn't matter to me.


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## johnbeardy (Nov 25, 2018)

Zenon said:


> Adobe also said LR would never go subscription.



Not true. They said that a non-subscription option would be available for an unlimited time or "indefinitely". Which of course allowed for wishful thinking....



RobOK said:


> Will there eventually be full compatibility between Classic catalogs and CC, like for collections and tagging and other things?
> A different way of asking is I want the capability of Classic on two computers (home big screen and laptop) running off the same catalog (natively in Lightroom).



My prediction: Adobe will allow the current unhappy mess to continue. Collections do sync properly, but keywords don't, which Adobe seems to think is OK.

To have Classic on two computers, have Classic on two computers, and look into how to work with your catalogue on Dropbox or some other cloud drive, and with smart previews allowing editing capability even if the originals are on the other computer.


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## Zenon (Nov 25, 2018)

I see. Thanks.


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## Zenon (Nov 25, 2018)

johnbeardy said:


> Not true. They said that a non-subscription option would be available for an unlimited time or "indefinitely". Which of course allowed for wishful thinking....
> 
> 
> 
> ...



So how would that work? A catalogue is on device A. You sync smart previews to the cloud and then access them with device B. Since it is a different catalogue would any edits be retained or does LR know that they were edited and device B gets updated? I know with Classic the catalogue is not in the cloud.


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## Johan Elzenga (Nov 25, 2018)

Zenon said:


> So how would that work? A catalogue is on device A. You sync smart previews to the cloud and then access them with device B. Since it is a different catalogue would any edits be retained or does LR know that they were edited and device B gets updated? I know with Classic the catalogue is not in the cloud.


Read it again. The *catalog* is in Dropbox, so both computers are using the same (Dropbox synced) catalog. The second computer does not have access to the original files, but because the catalog folder also contains smart previews, it does not need to have access for editing.


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## RobOK (Nov 25, 2018)

Thanks all for the thoughts, I remain "not optimistic" by your points.

* @Zenon - yes, i do that sometimes with the catalog moving and merging. I am not rigorous in doing it though and sometimes get confused what is one each computer. This is what I want to evolve out of

* @JohanElzenga Yes, I had the dropbox sync setup for a while. I may go back to it. It involved a "virtual link" (not sure that was the right name), and even though I am tech savvy, that always threw me for a loop.  This is why i wrote "natively in LR" in my post, i want to not have to do that. Maybe I have to try again. (Does someone have a current link to instructions since the way Presets are handled changed recently).

* @johnbeardy What do you mean Collections sync? Yes, I can select a Collection in Classic, but if I open in any of the CC apps the collection name is not there. I have to make new things called Albums which don't sync back to Classic. So not sure what you mean, but hope you are right that there is some secret I am missing!!


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## Johan Elzenga (Nov 25, 2018)

RobOK said:


> I can select a Collection in Classic, but if I open in any of the CC apps the collection name is not there. I have to make new things called Albums which don't sync back to Classic.


Are you sure you’ve synced this catalog? These two things should both work fine, but you have to mark the collection for sync. Synced new albums should appear in a collection set called ‘From Lr Mobile’ or something like that.


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## johnbeardy (Nov 25, 2018)

RobOK said:


> * @johnbeardy What do you mean Collections sync? Yes, I can select a Collection in Classic, but if I open in any of the CC apps the collection name is not there. I have to make new things called Albums which don't sync back to Classic. So not sure what you mean, but hope you are right that there is some secret I am missing!!



If you sync a Collection in Classic, it will be in the LRCC apps as an Album. And vice versa. Maybe you aren't setting the Collection to sync? 

Unfortunately, it is only dumb collections, not collection sets and certainly not smart collections.


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## Jimmsp (Nov 25, 2018)

RobOK said:


> A different way of asking is I want the capability of Classic on two computers (home big screen and laptop) running off the same catalog (natively in Lightroom).



I use two computers - a desktop and a laptop. But I don't use the laptop often;  just for a class I teach and when I travel.

So I take the brute force approach.  I just copy the up-to-date active catalog from one pc to a portable external hard drive, along with an up-to-date copy of the photos I am or will work on.  I then recopy those to the other pc. I use a pc backup app called Allway Sync that only copies differences to and from a pc.

It probably costs me less than 30 min to make the transfers, which isn't much for the few times a month I do it.
It is not a good solution for changing pcs daily; though it would work.


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## Zenon (Nov 25, 2018)

Jimmsp said:


> I use two computers - a desktop and a laptop. But I don't use the laptop often;  just for a class I teach and when I travel.
> 
> So I take the brute force approach.  I just copy the up-to-date active catalog from one pc to a portable external hard drive, along with an up-to-date copy of the photos I am or will work on.  I then recopy those to the other pc. I use a pc backup app called Allway Sync that only copies differences to and from a pc.
> 
> ...



I like that idea. Gone longer on the next trip. Think I'll pick up a couple of extra portable ED's and copy my files over from the powered ED.


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## johnbeardy (Nov 25, 2018)

I prefer to do a variation on Jim's suggestion. I copy the catalogue, a large number of smart previews (20000 photos) ,  and only those originals that I expect to edit while away.


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## RobOK (Nov 25, 2018)

i will investigate my syncing, but this has been a sticking point for me. Did they add it in a release that maybe I did not notice?


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## RobOK (Nov 25, 2018)

johnbeardy said:


> Unfortunately, it is only dumb collections, not collection sets and certainly not smart collections.



Ahh, sorry for my confusion on collections.... I had not used LRCC in a while!! It was Collection SETS that I use a lot to group my collections. So on LRCC I had to make new Folders and move things around to make it organized.


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## RobOK (Nov 25, 2018)

JohanElzenga said:


> The *catalog* is in Dropbox, so both computers are using the same (Dropbox synced) catalog. The second computer does not have access to the original files, but because the catalog folder also contains smart previews, it does not need to have access for editing.



Does someone have a good link that explains the setup for this?

Thanks,
Rob.


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## PhilBurton (Nov 26, 2018)

johnbeardy said:


> Not true. They said that a non-subscription option would be available for an unlimited time or "indefinitely". Which of course allowed for wishful thinking....
> 
> 
> 
> ...


My _*guess*_:  Over time Adobe will more and more have just one code base for both products.  At some point, keywords will sync.  This is just a guess of course.    It is insanity to have two very similar products with two different code bases (sets of programming instructions).

Lightroom is a huge, complex program with the added complexity of running on both Windows and MacOS, so for this purpose "over time" is certainly years.  In the meantime, we all have to be patient, or be like those of us including me who use just Classic.

Phil Burton


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## Linwood Ferguson (Nov 26, 2018)

I'm less optimistic than Phil.  I think the sync issues are native to their cloud not the software, and if they were going to build their cloud to work with Classic they would have.  It would be 1000 times easier to do so before they released CC in the first place (or at least Lightroom mobile) than now that it is released.  Since there's been broad acceptance of CC and Classic, separately (i.e. no peasants with pitchforks attacking Adobe's castle), and a more or less lethargic acceptance that the two are only somewhat interoperable, I doubt Adobe will bother with a live retrofit to the cloud.

We are all just speculating.  And it is quite possible that some quirks will get worked out over time.   But my GUESS is that it will be driven only by large and loud customer pressure, which does not seem to be materializing.

My GUESS is it is far more likely they will dramatically improve CC with the hope that for those who need Classic to sync better, the more forward looking path (for Adobe) is to make CC work well enough you stop needing Classic.

Keep in mind Adobe speculation is a sport at best, but none of us know.   My suggestion is assume what you have now is what you will get, until you get something else, at least then you won't be disappointed.


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## Zenon (Nov 27, 2018)

Hard to tell how much customer pressure there is. A lot of Adobe - the evil empire threads on various sites. Many claimed to have dropped Adobe yet sales does not show that. Some of it the usual trolling but not sure what type of customer pressure it would take outside of not buying the product, which is probably what you meant. We will see what the public does if Classic is actually dropped one day and no alternative storage options are offered.


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## Linwood Ferguson (Nov 27, 2018)

Zenon said:


> not sure what type of customer pressure it would take outside of not buying the product, which is probably what you meant. /QUOTE]
> 
> Well, a couple of examples ... when LR changed the input dialog to dumb it down, LOTS of people complained, and Adobe reacted.  When they went subscription, LOTS of people complained, and (at least my memory is that) only after that did they introduce the Photography Plan at a decent price.
> 
> I just haven't seen a similar set of complaints at the lack of close interoperability between Classic and CC.   Sure, lots of people saying "death of classic is coming" (yet Adobe has done a lot for Classic since), but not all that many postings lamenting close sync'ing.  I think many of us are just happy with Classic generally, did not really need multi-computer (at least not badly, or the workarounds worked).  I think many others jumped on CC and were happy.  Sure, there are a lot of people here (as you might expect) with a foot in both worlds, but even the ones that know a lot of how to manage the interaction do not seem really upset about it.  Nothing like when they screwed up the input dialog.


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## Zenon (Nov 27, 2018)

Yes they have been doing a lot for Classic.


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## MarkNicholas (Nov 27, 2018)

There are clearly people in the know on this forum that probably know the long term plan so the rest of us can only guess. My own guess is that they have put the two versions out there and they will wait and see how popular LRCC becomes compared to LR Classic. 

I use the two versions. I use Classic on my desktop at home and my laptop whilst travelling. I use LRCC on my phone.


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## Jim Wilde (Nov 27, 2018)

Ferguson said:


> Well, a couple of examples ... when LR changed the input dialog to dumb it down, LOTS of people complained, and Adobe reacted. When they went subscription, LOTS of people complained, and (at least my memory is that) only after that did they introduce the Photography Plan at a decent price.



I don't think that's quite right, Linwood. IIRC subscription was first introduced for Photoshop and the other Creative Suite apps, but excluding Lightroom. When subscription was eventually introduced for Lightroom, it was with the Photography Plan. At that point all the complaints started from many Lightroom users (not about the price, but just about subscription generally), which resulted in Tom Hogarty's "perpetual license will remain available indefinitely" post.

But I'm not certain my memory is right, either!


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## Linwood Ferguson (Nov 27, 2018)

Jim Wilde said:


> But I'm not certain my memory is right, either!



Honestly I have trouble remembering breakfast most days, so the details are certainly vague.  I just seem to remember that Adobe's early release had PS very expensive, and can't recall LR, but my recollection is that the $10 price bundle was a concession due to all the complaints.  Maybe someone has a better chronology, though it is more curiosity than anything else.

My real point is that Adobe is a massive ship on some course and getting them to change really takes a ground swell of input; input I am not seeing on the Classic vs CC interoperability shortcomings.  I say that not from knowledge of Adobe, but of software development -- these shortcomings appear pretty baked into the cloud itself, not Classic per se.  Adobe's cloud is not like Amazon S3 cloud, or others -- it is itself an intelligent processor of data, proprietary and structured.  This is not just about CC vs Classic, it is a triangle of CC, Classic and Cloud.

And so my recommendation to the OP is "what you see is what you most likely will get, so do not just wait, choose how you want to use it". 

But as mentioned -- it's all speculation. 

Now, about breakfast... I finally remembered, I have not had it yet, so ...


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## Zenon (Nov 27, 2018)

The only hope I have is if it did happen Adobe would have to find a way to deal with many multiple TB customers. Lets just use 5 for example. Not just storage but seamless access. The 20GB plan is $10. The 1TB is $20. There will probably be volume discounts but even so I would not pay $50 a month when I can get 5TB of storage for under $200. 

That being said things are changing so rapidly 100TB may be nothing in a few years but I admit I know very little of how cloud storage works, it's limitations, etc.


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