Editing from Smart Preview

[MarcRJacobs]

Lightroom Version

6.5

Operating System

1. macOS 13 Ventura

Hi;
I have most of my photos originally imported into LrC. I now have everything synced to Lr Desktop and to my iPhone and iPad. These all seem to be Smart Previews. Is it ok to edit the Smart Preview and expect the edits to get back into the original image in LrC, or is there a way to bring the original image from LrC into Lr Desktop or Lr Mobile?

 

[Rob_Cullen]

I look at my similar circumstances like this-
Forget the term "Smart Previews"! It makes very little difference as to where you are editing your images, either in LrC, or in a mobile Lr device- You are ALWAYS looking at some kind of "Preview".
The one difference is that any image synced from LrC to Lr does not allow some Lr functions like- Edit in Photoshop at full-size, and Export from Lr at 'full-size'. And yes, editing 'Previews' in Lr WILL sync back to the LrC catalog (with a couple of limitations)

You can Import the Original image file into Lr-Desktop, but that complicates things for LrC and uses much more of your 20GB storage.
You really need to decide which App is going to be the 'Master' of your image files. ie. the App that stores your 'originals' (LrC or Lr)
COMPARE LIGHTROOM & LIGHTROOM-CLASSIC FEATURES

 

[MarcRJacobs]

I look at my similar circumstances like this-
Forget the term "Smart Previews"! It makes very little difference as to where you are editing your images, either in LrC, or in a mobile Lr device- You are ALWAYS looking at some kind of "Preview".
The one difference is that any image synced from LrC to Lr does not allow some Lr functions like- Edit in Photoshop at full-size, and Export from Lr at 'full-size'. And yes, editing 'Previews' in Lr WILL sync back to the LrC catalog (with a couple of limitations)

You can Import the Original image file into Lr-Desktop, but that complicates things for LrC and uses much more of your 20GB storage.
You really need to decide which App is going to be the 'Master' of your image files. ie. the App that stores your 'originals' (LrC or Lr)
COMPARE LIGHTROOM & LIGHTROOM-CLASSIC FEATURES

Thanks for the responses and information, I appreciate it.

 

[johnbeardy]

Is it ok to edit the Smart Preview and expect the edits to get back into the original image in LrC

Depends what for, and depends on the image. A smart preview is usually fine for getting images into roughly their final state, so you might adjust brightness and add some masks while you're on the train home or later when you're sitting with the family while they're watching TV. Sometimes that's all they'll need, and then you can email the file to someone or stick it on Facebook or whatever. But preparing a picture to print or fine tuning it, then you're more likely to want to use LrC, or have the full res files in the cloud.