Lightroom CC - Classic Sync upload issue

[LeePope]

Lightroom Version Number

Lightroom Classic Version 9.3

Operating System

1. Windows 10

Hi all.

I'm new to the forum and I have found some great information on here so I'm hoping you can help me.

I recently created a sync folder in classic so I could move cloud photos into it that which I wanted to end up in my Lightroom classic catalogue.

It seems that all the photos in the cloud are syncing with classic not just the ones in the synced folder. They appear in the all sync'd photographs location in classic.
That's not exactly what I expected but not really an issue.

My issue is though that when I open classic all of my cloud photos are there but it is uploading them for some reason. They are all photos that I have taken with the Lightroom camera on the phone. None of them originated from classic. The numbers match exactly & they are all still in the cloud.

I can't work out why it thinks it needs to upload them. They don't appear to be duplicating in the cloud but the time it is taking to go through (and the impact on my broadband connection) suggests that it is actually uploading them. I haven't touched them in Lightroom Classic & i haven't moved anything from my local photos to the all synced collection or any synced collection.

Does anyone know what else may cause it to trigger an upload from the Classic version or why its trying to upload them?

 

[Johan Elzenga]

If you sync the Lightroom Classic catalog to the cloud, then all the cloud photos will be downloaded into Lightroom Classic. You cannot change that. You can only select photos when you upload from Lightroom Classic, not when you download.

 

[LeePope]

Thank you for getting back to me. OK that's clear then.

Do you know any reasons why Classic would be uploading the photos that are already in the cloud though? That's the main issue.

The only files in the all synced collection are the ones that originated on the phone. They are been downloaded to the classic catalogue successfully but now its syncing them, with sync type uploading. I haven't done anything with them in Classic.

I am trying to work out what would cause it to think they need to be uploaded. it doesn't seem to be duplicating them in the cloud but the time its taking and impact on my broadband suggests its definitely uploading them.
It will finish eventually but if it keeps behaving like that I will have to switch off syncing altogether.

 

[Jim Wilde]

Thank you for getting back to me. OK that's clear then.

Do you know any reasons why Classic would be uploading the photos that are already in the cloud though? That's the main issue.

The only files in the all synced collection are the ones that originated on the phone. They are been downloaded to the classic catalogue successfully but now its syncing them, with sync type uploading. I haven't done anything with them in Classic.

I am trying to work out what would cause it to think they need to be uploaded. it doesn't seem to be duplicating them in the cloud but the time its taking and impact on my broadband suggests its definitely uploading them.
It will finish eventually but if it keeps behaving like that I will have to switch off syncing altogether.

In the Catalog Settings>Metadata tab, is the option to "Automatically write changes into XMP" checked or unchecked? The issue is that when images are synced from Classic to the cloud, only smart previews are uploaded. These do not change, so subsequent amendments of any type are synced only as metadata changes, which should be very quick.

Syncing the other way, i.e. the images originate within the Lightroom cloud ecosystem (LrMobile on the phone in your case), the full originals are uploaded to the cloud, and subsequently downloaded in original form into Classic. However, any physical changes to any of those original files in Classic will result in a complete sync upload of the full original file, and not a simple metadata sync. The only way a physical change could be made in Classic is if the file is re-written, which would occur when changes are written to XMP (either automatically via the Catalog setting, or manually by using the Ctrl/Cmd+S command). So that's one way that you could experience a full upload of original files from Classic to the cloud.

Also, I think there are some issues (which I still haven't got to the bottom of) when Classic rebuilds previews for synced originals, which can result in it thinking the file has changed so it forces a re-upload. That's happened to me many times in the past, though I haven't experienced it much of late.

 

[LeePope]

Automatically write changes into XMP is checked.

Thanks for the info on previews. The idea is to just use the cloud as an easy way of getting all of the photos I take on the phone to end up in Lightroom on my local storage.
Once I have moved the current ones out of the cloud I'll check if it tries to upload the next ones I take after it generates previews. That may have been it.

It just struck me as odd why it would upload them when I haven't even looked at them in classic yet. I didn't even know they were there until I noticed it was syncing again.