Quite a number of Adobe Creative Cloud subscribers have reported recently receiving an email from Adobe. The subject is ‘Discontinuation of Creative Cloud Synced files’. The immediate question asked is does this mean I’m losing all my Lightroom photos in the cloud?
First, it is a genuine email from Adobe. Second, you don’t need panic (but some may need to take action)
The email
Here’s what the email says:
What does it mean and what do I need to do?
Most importantly, this has nothing to do with your Lightroom photos on the Adobe cloud. They are and will be unaffected.
It’s purely the Dropbox-like folder/file sharing that’s being eventually discontinued. All of the in-app stuff like Photoshop’s Cloud Documents and Lightroom’s Sync are not changing so nothing to worry about.
To see if you have any documents that are affected, open your Creative Cloud Files folder on your computer. It’s documents you may have synced to there that will be affected (although not until next year.) Simply ensure they are moved from there to another location before February 1, 2024. You can also check by visiting https://assets.adobe.com/files which will again show you the files that will be affected.
For most Lightroom users, you will have nothing to do but continue enjoying your photography work!
For extensive information on Lightroom Classic, see Adobe Lightroom Classic – The Missing FAQ.
If you have the Photography Plan, then as well as Classic you have access to the Lightroom cloud ecosystem including the mobile apps and web interface. For more information on these apps, see Adobe Lightroom – Edit on the Go.
Note: purchase of these books includes the first year’s Classic or cloud-based Premium Membership (depending on the book purchased), giving access to download the latest eBook (each time Adobe updates the software), email assistance for the applicable Lightroom version if you hit a problem, and other bonuses.
We also have a special bundle offer for the two books. This includes Premium Membership for the first year as described above for the whole Lightroom family!
I’m so confused. I use Photshop and save my documents as a PSDC. I have them in my ‘cloud storage.’ They are not saved locally on my PC.
Do I need to transfer all of these files locally? Its like 358gb worth of stuff.
Photos that are saved within apps like Lightroom or Photoshop aren’t affected. It’s purely the basic file sharing that’s going away.
Is there anything that can be done if this problem was not spotted in advance and I now open LR and everything has disappeared?
This doesn’t affect photos stored in Lightroom at all. It’s purely the Dropbox-style folder/file sync that’s discontinued. Everything disappearing from Lightroom could have other causes like a subscription that expired long ago, or logging into a different Adobe ID. I can see you’ve already posted on the forum, so probably easiest to continue the conversation there.
My LRC catalogs are stored in the CC folder. Will that continue to work or do I need to move the catalogs? Guessing this is a “Dropbox-like” usage so probably have to move them.
Ypu will need to move them, this isn’t supported by Adobe on their Cloud.
Thank you for your explanation. I too, thought my LR pictures would be deleted from the Adobe Cloud. I specifically came to your website today to see if you knew our next step. I learn so much from you and we appreciate your hard work.
I’m glad we could reassure you Mimi!
Hi,
Will my LR photo library & all edits made still sync across all of my devices, even after the change?… I store/upload Raw photos to a Mac then work on them on phone, ipad, Macbook & Mac using the LR CC apps. Will this very convenient & efficient work flow remain exactly the same?
Many thanks!
Yes, they will. They are part of the Lightroom functionality.
I have 1TB storage option in Lightroom. Will my Lightroom synced files deleted? Because I want to share photos between my phone and computer with Lightroom.
No you’re fine Baris, this doesn’t affect Lightroom Sync files.
I take it this change does not affect processed photos uploaded to Behance
Yes that’s right
Explained SO well — thank you!
To mirror many comments, thank you so much for providing clarity that my LR files are safe! I didn’t even know the synced files folder existed.
We’re really pleased to have clarified for many, the wording of Adobe was confusing!
Thank you for explaining everything properly. Adobe’s explanation was poorly worded.
What I find funny is Adobe’s statement that “Adobe is modernizing the Creative Cloud storage experience and will begin discontinuing Creative Cloud Synced files on February 1, 2024.”
That’s right folks – we’re “modernizing” by discontinuing an existing service without providing an alternative. As modern as the pandemic.
I, as many other Adobe customers I assume, have never used it to sync files, photos or other (Adobe isn’t a cloud storage business and I don’t trust them that way). So no skin off my back. I’d still expect them to be more honest and say something closer to the truth, like “very few customers used this service so it’s costing us too much to maintain it, therefore we’re discontinuing it. Go use a real cloud storage service for your file sync needs.”
Their wording does leave something to be desired, for sure – as evidenced by the amount of confusion the emails have caused!
I kinda hate this. I use this folder to sync files between mac and windows machine while working on a photo. This will make things more tedious again
Most tend to use established Cloud services that are specifically aimed at sharing (Dropbox, for example)
Do you know if this affects CC libraries? Are those being discontinued as well in this update?
As far as I know, it’s purely the file sync, libraries aren’t affected. If I hear anything different, I’ll update accordingly. It looks like Adobe’s just focusing on their in-app stuff rather than trying to “do it all”
Where do I look locally on a Mac to check for these files?
By default, the Creative Cloud folder is placed in your user account, next to the default Pictures and Documents folders. If you don’t know, you’ve probably never used it, so just checking the website would be plenty.
Thanks! I guess I’ve never used it…
I don’t use Creative Cloud to store anything, but want to set up an Adobe Portfolio soon. I pay for Lightroom, Classic, and Photoshop with my plan. Will I still be able to sync my photos from LrC to Lightroom for setting up Adobe Portfolio pages?
Thanks.
Yes, photos synced from Lightroom Classic with the Phptography Plan (20GB) are unaffected by this.
Thank you for clarifying this for this old-school user that uses cloud storage very sparingly. I wasn’t even aware that a Creative Cloud Files folder existed.
We’re pleased the blog post helped. Quite a number received the email and worried what it means!