# What Am I Missing??



## SarasotaSunshine (May 22, 2019)

Am I seriously missing something I'd really love by not using the cloud-based version of Lr?  

Background:  I've been using Lr for about five years.  I use Lightroom Classic 8.x via the Photography subscription plan on a windows 10 desktop.  I also use Photoshop.   I sell my work, mostly coastal landscape and wildlife, through my website and have about 500GB of carefully organized sets of Lr folders to help me manage my work.  I backup my entire computer and external drives daily to Backblaze.  I do not travel much, so rarely, if ever, need to edit photos on the go.

Question:  Are there important benefits I'm missing by not using the cloud-based version?  If I decided to use the cloud-based version, can I choose to sync specific folders of my photos?  What I'm afraid of is that I'll turn on the sync process and find myself having to pay for cloud storage for photos I don't need stored in the cloud.  I do realize that the cloud-based version has limited functionality at the moment, and I do not want to give up any of my beloved Lr Classic functionality.  Can I have the best of both worlds???

Thanks for your thoughts on this!


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## Linwood Ferguson (May 22, 2019)

Short answer: No.

In my mind classic still (and will for some time) exceeds CC (or whatever I'm supposed to call the cloud version now) in power, especially in publishing and 3rd party plugins.  It also allows me to maintain my own archive in whatever way I trust and back it up and test it (if I want) for integrity.

I am missing (except I really don't) the ability to edit on tablets and phones and another windows box and keep them all easily in sync.  Actually I could so some of this in a limited way with Classic, editing smart previews.  But I don't.

Your use sounds a lot like mine, and until Adobe breaks their paradigm of including new develop features in Classic as well as Cloudy version, I just do not see a use case FOR ME that is interesting.  And since Adobe chose to make Classic and Cloudy mildly incompatible I just avoid Cloudy.

My GUESS is one day Adobe will stop improving Classic.  I doubt anytime real soon.  But when that happens I will take a harder look, but by then they may have flushed out the Cloudy ecosystem further and I won't feel like I am going from powerful to braindead if I go there.


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## SarasotaSunshine (May 22, 2019)

Thanks, Ferguson.  Appreciate your POV and it sounds right for me, too.


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## MarkNicholas (May 22, 2019)

SarasotaSunshine said:


> Am I seriously missing something I'd really love by not using the cloud-based version of Lr?
> 
> Background:  I've been using Lr for about five years.  I use Lightroom Classic 8.x via the Photography subscription plan on a windows 10 desktop.  I also use Photoshop.   I sell my work, mostly coastal landscape and wildlife, through my website and have about 500GB of carefully organized sets of Lr folders to help me manage my work.  I backup my entire computer and external drives daily to Backblaze.  I do not travel much, so rarely, if ever, need to edit photos on the go.
> 
> ...





Ferguson said:


> Short answer: No.
> 
> In my mind classic still (and will for some time) exceeds CC (or whatever I'm supposed to call the cloud version now) in power, especially in publishing and 3rd party plugins.  It also allows me to maintain my own archive in whatever way I trust and back it up and test it (if I want) for integrity.
> 
> ...


Completely agree.
However, I do use the Cloud to transfer my phone photos to Classic. I also sync smart previews of all my photos from Classic to the Cloud which does not take up any storage allowance and which allows me to view them remotely on my phone or other device and also allows me to share them (particularly useful for sharing on WhatsApp from my phone) and also edit which will then sync to Classic when the desk top is turned on.


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## SarasotaSunshine (May 22, 2019)

MarkNicholas, thank you.  Your uses actually sound like what I'd like to be able to do.  Would you be able to point me to step-by-steps for setting up to do those things?  My fear (as I said) is that in my ignorance about setting up Lr cloud functionality, I'll inadvertently turn on some sync setting that will sync things I don't want to sync or change my desktop to the CC version.  I'm very comfortable with Lr on the desktop, but have no experience at all with what you are describing.


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## PhilBurton (May 22, 2019)

MarkNicholas said:


> Completely agree.
> However, I do use the Cloud to transfer my phone photos to Classic. I also sync smart previews of all my photos from Classic to the Cloud which does not take up any storage allowance and which allows me to view them remotely on my phone or other device and also allows me to share them (particularly useful for sharing on WhatsApp from my phone) and also edit which will then sync to Classic when the desk top is turned on.


I try to keep things simple.  To transfer photos from my iPhone/iPad or my wife's devices, I simply connect the device to my system, open up the phone as a "drive," open up the DCIM folder and go from there.  

I agree completely with Ferguson's comments in post #2 in this thread.

Phil


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## Jim Wilde (May 22, 2019)

PhilBurton said:


> I try to keep things simple.


So do I, Phil.

I take a picture with my iPhone, leave the Lightroom app open for a minute while the photo uploads. And that's it....next time I start Classic that photo will immediately download from the cloud into the correct date-based folder and appears in the collection which contains all my "to be processed" new images.

It can't really get any simpler than that, but then I don't have to worry about my wife's phone.


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## chrishowe (May 22, 2019)

I agree with above - I recently moved from Classic to LRcc cloud, because I was going to be travelling with just iPhone & iPad for 6 weeks, and because I wanted to try the new mobile version.  However I miss the speed of LR Classic desktop (the cloud version just waits for ages sometimes before you can do stuff).  I didnt realise that I could be "mobile" like Mark & Jim above and still use "Classic" - I guess now that I have 1.3Tb of cloud storage with Adobe that there is no way back?  ... and then there is the Printing issue - I have to use Classic for that


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## Linwood Ferguson (May 22, 2019)

If you do decide to mix Classic and Cloudy versions, take a lot of time to read Victoria's various articles and lots of postings and blogs about it.  Adobe, in my opinion, did the worst of all worlds - they did not integrate them completely, but they did integrate them.  

Those who have figured out the integrations and limitations and live within it find it works fine.   Others who stumble over the things you think should work but do not have not been so lucky.


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## PhilBurton (May 22, 2019)

Ferguson said:


> If you do decide to mix Classic and Cloudy versions, take a lot of time to read Victoria's various articles and lots of postings and blogs about it.  Adobe, in my opinion, did the worst of all worlds - they did not integrate them completely, but they did integrate them.
> 
> Those who have figured out the integrations and limitations and live within it find it works fine.   Others who stumble over the things you think should work but do not have not been so lucky.


I'm with Ferguson here.  Lightroom desktop is complex enough and I spend too much of time time trying to sort out software integration issues.   That all said,  Jim Wilde's post enough gives me pause because he is one of the gurus on this forum.  I'm starting a new thread with some further questions.

Phil


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## MarkNicholas (May 23, 2019)

SarasotaSunshine said:


> MarkNicholas, thank you.  Your uses actually sound like what I'd like to be able to do.  Would you be able to point me to step-by-steps for setting up to do those things?  My fear (as I said) is that in my ignorance about setting up Lr cloud functionality, I'll inadvertently turn on some sync setting that will sync things I don't want to sync or change my desktop to the CC version.  I'm very comfortable with Lr on the desktop, but have no experience at all with what you are describing.



Here is a link to an earlier post of mine. Please note that my explanation is rather long winded but its actually very simple. As Phil and Jim have said try to keep it as simple as possible. My way of doing it is convenient for me but others may find simpler ways. I suggest you have a play and see what works for you.

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/comm...-on-desktop-and-syncing-smart-previews.34226/


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## Victoria Bampton (May 23, 2019)

Ferguson said:


> Adobe, in my opinion, did the worst of all worlds - they did not integrate them completely, but they did integrate them.


Yeah, I think they dug themselves into a hole. They started out trying to shoehorn cloud sync into Classic, eventually realized that wasn't going to work very well and moved development to a separate app, but had to leave the existing sync stuff in Classic because removing it would break so many people's workflows.


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## SarasotaSunshine (May 26, 2019)

Thanks for your thoughts, everyone!  MarkNicholas and Jim Wilde, it sounds like having some smart previews from my desktop Lr 8.x Classic available for viewing from my phone via the cloud as well as being able to quickly upload phone photos to my Lr Classic on the desktop are two uses I would enjoy and something you've found to be not too complex or "dangerous" to do.  But I'm unclear on several things.  My questions, I know, make it obvious that I am pretty ignorant about anything Lr CC, syncing, and managing smart previews only as opposed to actual photos.  As I said in my original post, I have only ever used Classic on desktop where I've stored my photos on hard drives.

I've asked my questions below, but totally understand if I'm getting into areas that can't be quickly or easily answered here and y'all just ignore them or tell me I should forget trying to do this right now.  

Mark, I did read your step-by-step you linked here.   It seems easy to follow for syncing phone photos and uploading them as smart previews once I'm set up properly.  But I am totally unclear on the proper set-up that must have occurred before those steps could be done.  I don't know what to install where.  I also don't know how to set up syncing of smart previews from the desktop.  Do I install LrCC on my phone and NOT on my desktop?  If I install LrCC on my phone and turn on sync on my desktop Lr Classic, I don't understand how I insure that only smart previews of my desktop photos are sync'd to the cloud and not my actual photos.  Can I limit which of my desktop photos are sync'd as smart previews to the cloud (just sync a sub-set of my photos)?

Thanks, again!


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## Jim Wilde (May 26, 2019)

A couple of things you need to understand about use of the cloud ecosystem, which should partly answer your questions:

First, and most important is naming of the apps. "CC" no longer exists in the names of most of the Adobe apps, so the longer some of us continue to use old names the more difficult it will be communicating with the user population in general. So, going forward I'll use the current names, which are as follows:

a) Lightroom Classic (easier to just use Classic) is the current name of the traditional desktop-based app that has been in existence for over 10 years, i.e. the app you currently use.

b) Lightroom is now the general name for the family of apps which comprise the cloud ecosystem, formerly known as Lightroom CC. There are several variants, platform dependent, so.....
i) Lightroom Desktop (LrD for short, runs on MacOS or Windows systems)
ii) Lightroom Mobile (LrM for short, runs on mobile devices such as phones and tablets, may be sub-categorised as LrM for iOS or Android if relevant)
iii) Lightroom Web (LrWeb, runs in most browsers)
iv) Lightroom Apple TV

So, back to the important stuff:

1. Any image added/imported into the Lightroom apps, i.e. the cloud-based apps, is automatically synced to the cloud in full original format, and thus will automatically be available in preview form in any of the other Lightroom apps. Note, however, that the user can control whether that original file is also downloaded to those other apps/devices, though some functions (such as editing) will require the original to be downloaded. Also, because these are original format files, they all count against the user's cloud storage allowance

If Classic has also been sync-enabled, those images added to the cloud from any of the Lightroom apps will also automatically download in the same original format into the Classic catalog. The user can control where those originals are stored, via the Preferences>Lightroom Sync tab.

2. In Classic, nothing gets synced to the cloud unless/until the user decides to do that. It can be done either by adding images to a collection and then enabling that collection to be synced (so all images in that collection are synced), or by adding images to the special All Synced Photographs collection in the Catalog panel (which should match the total of All Photos in any of the Lightroom cloud apps). NOTE: images synced from Classic ONLY upload in Smart Preview format, not original, and they do NOT currently count against the user's cloud storage allowance. Thus it is possible to upload every image in the Classic catalog to the cloud, thus having them available on all mobile devices or in any browser window, at no cost to the user.

3. Deletions.....this bit needs to be understood carefully. If a file is deleted from ANY of the Lightroom cloud apps, it is deleted from the cloud and thus also deleted from any of the other Lightroom cloud apps. However, it is NOT deleted from Classic, though it will (logically) be "unsynced", meaning that it will be removed from the All Synced Photographs special collection AND from any synced collection(s) that it may have been in.

*NOTE: If you delete/remove a synced file from the Classic catalog, it will be deleted from the cloud as well, thus it will also be removed from the Lightroom cloud apps.*

So, with the above in mind, to get Smart Previews into the cloud, you sync from Classic. To get phone images into the cloud and thus into Classic you need to install the Lightroom Mobile app on the phone, then set it up to automatically add new phone captures into the app, and thus into the cloud and then down into Classic (having sync-enabled the Classic catalog). The mobile app has various settings which can be used, though the easiest method is simply to use the LrMobile app's own camera function as any such captures are automatically added to the app and thus synced to the cloud.

And no, it is not necessary to install the LrDesktop app on your Classic system, though it can be useful sometimes.


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## Replytoken (May 26, 2019)

MarkNicholas said:


> Completely agree.
> However, I do use the Cloud to transfer my phone photos to Classic. I also sync smart previews of all my photos from Classic to the Cloud which does not take up any storage allowance and which allows me to view them remotely on my phone or other device and also allows me to share them (particularly useful for sharing on WhatsApp from my phone) and also edit which will then sync to Classic when the desk top is turned on.


Mark,

For point of clarification, when you share images from your phone, do you export the image from the mobile LR app?  And does this just attach the photo to the app that will share the photo (e.g. Whatsapp or Gmail), or does it create a local copy that can be shared again later?

--Ken


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## SaraLH (May 26, 2019)

If you are a big keyword user in Classic make sure that any images that you share to "Cloudy" are fully keyworded before you sync them to the cloud. Any keyword changes made in Classic after the initial sync will not be updated in the cloud.


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## Jim Wilde (May 26, 2019)

SaraLH said:


> If you are a big keyword user in Classic make sure that any images that you share to "Cloudy" are fully keyworded before you sync them to the cloud. Any keyword changes made in Classic after the initial sync will not be updated in the cloud.


A couple of important points to add to this:

1. Metadata needs to be written to XMP before a file is synced from Classic.
2. An existing smart preview cannot exist in the Classic catalog before syncing a file.....Classic will upload any such existing SP (which won't contain existing metadata), but if an SP does not exist it will be generated for the syncing process and will then include any metadata that has been written to XMP.


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## MarkNicholas (May 27, 2019)

Replytoken said:


> Mark,
> 
> For point of clarification, when you share images from your phone, do you export the image from the mobile LR app?  And does this just attach the photo to the app that will share the photo (e.g. Whatsapp or Gmail), or does it create a local copy that can be shared again later?
> 
> --Ken


Ken,
Yes I do this directly from the Lightroom App on my phone. I simply click the share Icon (square box with an arrow pointing upwards) and then get a list of options. Choose the share option (same icon) and this then prompts you to choose a file size. You then get the usual options for sharing -  email, twitter, instagram etc. and of course WhatsApp. Click on WhatsApp and choose who to send to (including multiple recipients) and away you go. Just a few clicks. No local copies are created for later sharing but you can either repeat the process or save the photo to camera roll.


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## MarkNicholas (May 27, 2019)

SaraLH said:


> If you are a big keyword user in Classic make sure that any images that you share to "Cloudy" are fully keyworded before you sync them to the cloud. Any keyword changes made in Classic after the initial sync will not be updated in the cloud.



Yes this is a very important point.


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## Replytoken (May 27, 2019)

MarkNicholas said:


> Ken,
> Yes I do this directly from the Lightroom App on my phone. I simply click the share Icon (square box with an arrow pointing upwards) and then get a list of options. Choose the share option (same icon) and this then prompts you to choose a file size. You then get the usual options for sharing -  email, twitter, instagram etc. and of course WhatsApp. Click on WhatsApp and choose who to send to (including multiple recipients) and away you go. Just a few clicks. No local copies are created for later sharing but you can either repeat the process or save the photo to camera roll.


Thanks, Mark.  I am starting to do hardware and software upgrades, and that will finally include LR.  I want to use Classic, but it would be great if I had access to smart previews from my catalog so I can easily share if editing is not needed.  Your posts, and Jim's have been especially helpful in sorting out the possibilities for those of us not wanting the full CC Monty.

Thanks,

--Ken


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## chrishowe (May 27, 2019)

That all sounds fantastic Mark - and I will re-read it and draw a flowchart tomorrow! .... BUT is it possible for me to go back to Classic now that I have stored all my RAW files etc up in the Adobe Cloud?


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## PhilBurton (May 27, 2019)

Jim Wilde said:


> A couple of things you need to understand about use of the cloud ecosystem, which should partly answer your questions:
> 
> First, and most important is naming of the apps. "CC" no longer exists in the names of most of the Adobe apps, so the longer some of us continue to use old names the more difficult it will be communicating with the user population in general. So, going forward I'll use the current names, which are as follows:
> 
> ...


Jim,

Thank you for a cogent description of a hot mess.  My (short-term) solution?

Classic only.  Cloud sync would be to Dropbox or other "generic storage" in the cloud.  

I never thought I would sound like an old curmurgeon, (because I'm not one), but Adobe is pushing me in that direction.

Phil Burton


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## SarasotaSunshine (May 27, 2019)

I really thank you all for your detailed and patient explanations!  I need to figure out what I want to do now. 

Oh, and Phil Burton, maybe not a curmudgeon, but it does say you're a "senior" member...  

But, yeah, I agree.  I assume the reason Adobe opted to release this confused mess (including the names) long before it was fully cooked was the typical rush to market, meaning the QA folks got the releases at the last minute with no time to test and the bugs reported in the little testing they had time to do were deemed too big to fix before the release date.  "Let's just get it out there and see how it goes over and we can fix it later."   Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Classic and Ps!  I just hate the uncertainty and the apparent lack of concern for actual long-time users (notice I didn't say "old-time").


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## PhilBurton (May 28, 2019)

SarasotaSunshine said:


> I really thank you all for your detailed and patient explanations!  I need to figure out what I want to do now.
> 
> Oh, and Phil Burton, maybe not a curmudgeon, but it does say you're a "senior" member...
> 
> But, yeah, I agree.  I assume the reason Adobe opted to release this confused mess (including the names) long before it was fully cooked was the typical rush to market, meaning the QA folks got the releases at the last minute with no time to test and the bugs reported in the little testing they had time to do were deemed too big to fix before the release date.  "Let's just get it out there and see how it goes over and we can fix it later."   Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Classic and Ps!  I just hate the uncertainty and the apparent lack of concern for actual long-time users (notice I didn't say "old-time").


So SarasotaSunshine, do you work for a software development company?  Because you sure seem to understand the reality of how a project that is late "suddenly" is on time again.  It's also the product management/product marketing people who get jammed, because they don't know what's in the release until way too late to do a proper job.  (Been there, done that ...)

OK, so I am a "senior" member?  Did I ever say that I started out photography with one, then two Nikon F2 bodies?  Shooting Kodachrome II.  I still have those F2 bodies, just in case I want to shoot film again.  

I could also say when I first learned how to program, in university, we used punch cards.

I think that the real damage to Adobe is from new and prospective customers, who are thoroughly confused about the different products all called Lightroom.  At least we know that Adobe seems committed to the continued development of the desktop product, and not forcing us all to the the cloud products.


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## SarasotaSunshine (May 28, 2019)

PhilBurton, I am retired now, but I was a QA lead for many years, and later a software development manager.  I don't write any code.  I got into QA in the early 80s, at a water engineering firm that used VAX computers with dumb terminals on people's desks.  It wasn't called QA in those days - just "make sure it works right."  I loved the work when I worked for firms whose software development products were NOT their main product (either geared toward internal processes or used as a give-away to support customers using the company's other products and services).  Once I began working for firms whose main products were the software, I wasn't as enthusiastic for the reasons given above.  Not to mention the fact that I actually don't liked the staple diet of software developers -- Pizza.  Still ... it provided a good living and I'm grateful, especially because my last company allowed me to move from Portland, OR, to Sarasota, FL and work remotely for my last year before retirement!  I can put up with almost anything while sitting at my pool in the sunshine! 

I am not convinced that Adobe will remain committed to development of the desktop product.  My concern is that as soon as they figure out how to get all the power and functionality into the cloud version, they'll begin to sunset the desktop version.  Why not?  They can sell the subscription with a basic amount of storage which will never be enough for even a hobbiest, and then sell the "upgrades" to cloud storage.  Two sales for each user each year!


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## SarasotaSunshine (May 22, 2019)

Am I seriously missing something I'd really love by not using the cloud-based version of Lr?  

Background:  I've been using Lr for about five years.  I use Lightroom Classic 8.x via the Photography subscription plan on a windows 10 desktop.  I also use Photoshop.   I sell my work, mostly coastal landscape and wildlife, through my website and have about 500GB of carefully organized sets of Lr folders to help me manage my work.  I backup my entire computer and external drives daily to Backblaze.  I do not travel much, so rarely, if ever, need to edit photos on the go.

Question:  Are there important benefits I'm missing by not using the cloud-based version?  If I decided to use the cloud-based version, can I choose to sync specific folders of my photos?  What I'm afraid of is that I'll turn on the sync process and find myself having to pay for cloud storage for photos I don't need stored in the cloud.  I do realize that the cloud-based version has limited functionality at the moment, and I do not want to give up any of my beloved Lr Classic functionality.  Can I have the best of both worlds???

Thanks for your thoughts on this!


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## Victoria Bampton (May 28, 2019)

SarasotaSunshine said:


> I am not convinced that Adobe will remain committed to development of the desktop product.  My concern is that as soon as they figure out how to get all the power and functionality into the cloud version, they'll begin to sunset the desktop version.  Why not?  They can sell the subscription with a basic amount of storage which will never be enough for even a hobbiest, and then sell the "upgrades" to cloud storage.  Two sales for each user each year!



There's a variable that tends to get missed here... they're dependent on what people will buy. Whatever the marketing guys would like to sell, they're still dependent on what people want to buy. I suspect that will one day be entirely cloud-based, but they're building for the future. At the moment, most people don't have fast enough internet to make that viable, even if they wanted to. So I can't speak to someday, but I'm not seeing any signs of sunset for the foreseeable.


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## clee01l (May 28, 2019)

SarasotaSunshine said:


> Why not? They can sell the subscription with a basic amount of storage which will never be enough for even a hobbiest, and then sell the "upgrades" to cloud storage.


Moving every subscriber to the "cloudy" version (I like how that has been introduced for distinction) is going to require an enormous cloud storage on Adobe's part.  There are two distinct types user.  One a casual mobile user and another a professional or semi professional that uses the mobile cloud to augment their regular workflow.   I think Adobe will buy and manage just enough cloud storage to effectively compete with Apple for the casual user and  perhaps a little more of the pro-sumer that needs some cloud storage but not cloud storage for everything.   If Adobe scales up to move everything to the cloud, I think they will fail.   First, I don't thing Adobe can scale up to store everything for everybody without other people's data usage interfering with other customer's  Second, I don't think the data risk of losing some client's once in a lifetime wedding photos to the cloud could be tolerated without a high risk of Adobe being sued by some professional wedding photographer AND the wedding party.
I think there will always be a locally based app to manage photos


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## Johan Elzenga (May 28, 2019)

I agree. I think there are probably professional photographers who are not even legally allowed to store photos in the Adobe cloud, for privacy reasons. Think about medical photographers, for example, or forensic photographers.


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## SarasotaSunshine (May 28, 2019)

All good points!


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## PhilBurton (May 29, 2019)

Victoria Bampton said:


> There's a variable that tends to get missed here... they're dependent on what people will buy. Whatever the marketing guys would like to sell, they're still dependent on what people want to buy. I suspect that will one day be entirely cloud-based, but they're building for the future. At the moment, most people don't have fast enough internet to make that viable, even if they wanted to. So I can't speak to someday, but I'm not seeing any signs of sunset for the foreseeable.


There are actually two issues here.
1. Merge the code base for Classic and cloud products, for engineering productivity.  (It's really crazy to have two separate sets of software.)
2. Pricing plans and product configuration options so that people can still use the merged product primarily as a desktop tool.  Alternatively, people will be forced to store all photos in the cloud.

For the first option, assuming that the products maintain their separate identities, the only way we users will notice this result is the cloud product will get a lot of the features it's now missing.

For the second option, Adobe must drastically lower the cost per TB of cloud storage, to be competitive with "free" services.  Beyond that, if they offer only a cloud-based product, in effect they are "firing their customers."  No rational company does absent a very good reason.

Phil Burton


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## MarkNicholas (May 30, 2019)

Jim Wilde said:


> First, and most important is naming of the apps. "CC" no longer exists in the names of most of the Adobe apps, so the longer some of us continue to use old names the more difficult it will be communicating with the user population in general. So, going forward I'll use the current names, which are as follows:
> 
> a) Lightroom Classic (easier to just use Classic) is the current name of the traditional desktop-based app that has been in existence for over 10 years, i.e. the app you currently use.
> 
> ...



I hope that in the next round of name changes Adobe adopt the term "Cloudy version" as coined by Cletus


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## clee01l (May 30, 2019)

MarkNicholas said:


> I hope that in the next round of name changes Adobe adopt the term "Cloudy version" as coined by Cletus


I did not "coin"the term.  Someone else on this forum did.  I just appropriated it.


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## SarasotaSunshine (Jun 3, 2019)

Hi, Folks,
Just getting back to this idea.  I re-read through all your great tutorials, etc., but I'm still very timid to start and have lots more questions.  I hope you're still willing to help, but if not, I'll understand that this is a long list of questions!  

Jim Wilde said I could use the "All Synced Photographs" collection in the Catalog panel to tell Classic what smart previews to sync to the cloud.   Collections are something in Classic I use infrequently, so I am not sure what I can and can't do to efficiently get the photos I want synced into that folder.

If I have a whole (quite large) folder I would like sync'd like this.  What is the best way to get those photos into that collection?  I tried right-clicking so I could set it as my target collection so I could add the photos in that folder to the target collection, but there's no right-click menu on that collection.  Can I drag the folder itself to that collection, or highlight all the photos in my folder and drag them to the collection?  

Once I move photos into that collection, do I then need to turn on Sync with Lightroom from the top/left?  That option seems to either be "on" or "paused," so I assume there's no "off" and it syncs anything in that folder automatically unless it is paused?

Can I assume that, however I get the photos into that folder, that they are only there 'virtually' and not in reality, and that they and their folder remain in their original location both in Classic and on my PC?

Must any photos I have in that "All Synced Photographs" collection remain in that collection and, thus, if I remove a photo from the collection does it get removed from the cloud?

If I create regular collection(s) and use the right-click > Sync with Lightroom option instead, is that still dependent on having the Sync with Lightroom (upper left of screen) un-paused?  

Which method is better (the All Synced Photos or regular collections) in terms of organizing the photos once they're in the cloud?

Do I need Lightroom installed on my Android phone in order to see those synced photos from my phone?  

Exactly where do I go (URL?) to see my photos that are in the cloud?


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## MarkNicholas (Jun 4, 2019)

SarasotaSunshine said:


> If I have a whole (quite large) folder I would like sync'd like this.  What is the best way to get those photos into that collection?  I tried right-clicking so I could set it as my target collection so I could add the photos in that folder to the target collection, but there's no right-click menu on that collection.  Can I drag the folder itself to that collection, or highlight all the photos in my folder and drag them to the collection?



If you have already created a collection then just drag those photos into it. If you have not yet created a collection then select the photos > Library > New Collection.



SarasotaSunshine said:


> Once I move photos into that collection, do I then need to turn on Sync with Lightroom from the top/left?  That option seems to either be "on" or "paused," so I assume there's no "off" and it syncs anything in that folder automatically unless it is paused?



Yes otherwise the photos will not sync. I only pause when editing.



SarasotaSunshine said:


> Can I assume that, however I get the photos into that folder, that they are only there 'virtually' and not in reality, and that they and their folder remain in their original location both in Classic and on my PC?



Yes they are only virtual. If you delete the collection the actual photos will not be touched.



SarasotaSunshine said:


> Must any photos I have in that "All Synced Photographs" collection remain in that collection and, thus, if I remove a photo from the collection does it get removed from the cloud?



If a photo is synced it will be in "all synced photos". You can un-sync photos from "All synced Photos" and they will disappear from "All synced photos" but remain in your collection.



SarasotaSunshine said:


> If I create regular collection(s) and use the right-click > Sync with Lightroom option instead, is that still dependent on having the Sync with Lightroom (upper left of screen) un-paused?



Yes if its paused they will not sync.



SarasotaSunshine said:


> Which method is better (the All Synced Photos or regular collections) in terms of organizing the photos once they're in the cloud?



It seems to me (others will put me right if I'm wrong) that the "All Synced Photos" is just an inbuilt smart collection that identifies all photos that are synced with the cloud. You cannot manage photos from there, except you can un-sync photos as stated above. 



SarasotaSunshine said:


> Do I need Lightroom installed on my Android phone in order to see those synced photos from my phone?



Yes... but you could possibly view them from the browser and log into your account on the Adobe site.



SarasotaSunshine said:


> Exactly where do I go (URL?) to see my photos that are in the cloud?



Photo Editor | Online Photoshop Lightroom


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## SarasotaSunshine (Jun 5, 2019)

I just wanted to thank you all for your patience and excellent help!  I now have successfully synced smart previews of specific photo groups from Classic on my PC to the cloud.  I did this by creating collections in Classic for each related group of photos, turned on sync for each collection and for the main sync switch at the top-left in my Classic window.  It worked perfectly and did not count against my 20GB I'm allocated via my Photography Plan subscription.  I can now view these photos from my phone (or any other device or PC) by logging into https://lightroom.adobe.com. 

In case it's helpful to anyone else playing around with this, here is what I confirmed to be the behavior of the collections I created for syncing, the default collection that Classic creates (All Synced Photos) in the Catalog panel when I sync, and the photos, once synced:

Once I create a COLLECTION and turn on syncing for it, the photos will sync to the cloud (assuming the main Sync switch is also turned on).
After everything syncs, if I ADD MORE PHOTOS TO A SYNCED COLLECTION, those new photos will sync as they are added (again, assuming both the collection sync and the main sync switches are turned on).
If I TURN OFF SYNCING for one of the synced collections I previously created, the photos already synced from that collection remain in the cloud and remain in the All Synced Photos collection in the Catalog panel in Lightroom Classic, but any subsequent photos I put in that collection will not be synced unless and until I turn syncing back on for that collection.  However, on the lightroom.adobe.com site, the collection name is no longer displayed in the "Albums" list, and the photo(s) appear only in the "All Photos" list.  
If I DELETE A SYNCED COLLECTION that I created, Classic gives me the option to leave the photos in All Synced Photos or not (therefore leaving them in the cloud or not).
If I delete a COLLECTION SET with synced collections below it, Classic currently does NOT warn you that you are deleting synced collections and, therefore does NOT give you the option to leave the photos in All Synced Photos.  The photos in the collections inside the set will be removed from the cloud.
If I DELETE A PHOTO from All Synced Photos in Lightroom Classic, this will completely remove it from the cloud.
COLLECTION SET hierarchy does NOT sync.  For example, if I create a hierarchy in Classic like this:  Family Photos > Dad, the set name of "Family Photos" does not sync.  Only the "Dad" collection syncs as an Album.  You can create Album hierarchies once on the adobe site, but I did not find a way to sync hierarchies created within Classic Collection Sets.
Within the adobe site, there is limited EDITING CAPABILITIES (Basic sliders, but no Adjustment Brush, Radial/Graduated Filters, Spot Removal, etc.).


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## Jim Wilde (Jun 5, 2019)

SarasotaSunshine said:


> Within the adobe site, there is limited EDITING CAPABILITIES (Basic sliders, but no Adjustment Brush, Radial/Graduated Filters, Spot Removal, etc.).


Which is why it makes more sense (to me at least) to install the relevant cloud client app on mobile devices (or even another desktop)....the editing capabilities of the Lightroom client apps are far more comparable to those in LR Classic. The Lightroom Web app is great for sharing albums (and adding Title and Caption metadata), but less useful for editing.


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## MarkNicholas (Jun 6, 2019)

Jim Wilde said:


> Which is why it makes more sense (to me at least) to install the relevant cloud client app on mobile devices (or even another desktop)....the editing capabilities of the Lightroom client apps are far more comparable to those in LR Classic. The Lightroom Web app is great for sharing albums (and adding Title and Caption metadata), but less useful for editing.


Agree. If you are viewing on your phone then its much better to use the "Adobe Photoshop Lightroom" app. I have only ever used the Web site when my access was limited to a 3rd party computer.


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## PhilBurton (Sep 4, 2019)

Jim Wilde said:


> A couple of things you need to understand about use of the cloud ecosystem, which should partly answer your questions:
> 
> First, and most important is naming of the apps. "CC" no longer exists in the names of most of the Adobe apps, so the longer some of us continue to use old names the more difficult it will be communicating with the user population in general. So, going forward I'll use the current names, which are as follows:
> 
> ...


A late reply, upon re-reading Jim's excellent post.  As if the rules regarding deletions aren't complicated enough, I often (but not always) copy over photos from my wife's phone.  I have my way handing photos, and my wife has her way.  Imagine if I decided that I didn't want to keep one of my wife's photos that was synced from her phone to Classic, only then I decided to delete that photo.  Imagine that my wife liked that photo and wanted to keep it on her phone, only it just disappeared without warning.  Uh-oh.

My stupid-simple way of copying photos from the DCIM folders in iPhones/iPads maintains peace at home.


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