How do you manage space on the cloud?

[Meels]

Operating System: Mac Sierra (soon to be high sierra)
Exact Lightroom Version (Help menu > System Info): Lightroom CC version: 1.0 and Lightroom Classic CC


G'day,

I have recently purchased a Lightroom CC subscription. I was previously using Lightroom 5, but very novice at it. So I initially uploaded my photos from an SD card (DSLR shot in RAW) from a recent trip to Lightroom Cloud. 900 photos in and I've exhausted my 20 GB and still have another 1500 photos to go. I realised that I should probably have uploaded to the LR classic to have them on my hard drive on the desktop as I don't need on the go editing right now. I did edit some photos in the cloud, but not many. I have since uploaded the photos to classic, and I'm happy to re edit the few I have done. Is there a way I can delete all photos from the cloud? I haven't found a straight forward answer online, and perhaps I am not asking google the right question. Ideally, I'd like to use the cloud function while I'm travelling to store photos and then put them in the LR classic app on my desktop when I return and don't require them to stay in the cloud. If I do edit photos in the cloud am I able to then put them in my LR desktop app? Thanks in advance for any assistance.
Cheers,
Meels

 

[Jim Wilde]

You can delete the images from the cloud manually in LRmobile, LRCC, or LRWeb by selecting them all and deleting them. Or you could go to the LR Classic Preferences>Lightroom CC tab, and choose Delete All Data.....but only if you have enabled syncing in Classic.

If you're staying with the 20gb limit for now, you need to develop a workflow that will work within that limit. Uploading raw images via any of the LRCC apps will upload the full originals, which will mean exhausting that limit very quickly. If you enable sync in Classic, you could import the images into a synced collection and that will only upload smart previews to the cloud, which take up a lot less space (and there's even some debate about whether such smart previews count towards that 20gb limit). Those smart previews will then be available to access on any/all of your LRCC apps. But that workflow won't be much use if you're wanting to upload while travelling and don't have a computer running Classic with you.

 

[JimHess43]

While you go to see how much cloud storage space you have available? I have the new Lightroom CC installed on the same computer with Lightroom Classic. I'm thinking of installing Lightroom CC on my wife's laptop, but I still don't understand how it works with downloading full resolution images to the cloud and how it interacts with Lightroom Classic (or if it even does). Are there any tutorials available anywhere?

 

[Jim Wilde]

Jim, it's pretty straightforward:

If you initiate syncing from LR Classic (by adding to either a synced collection or the All Synced Photographs special collection), Classic will only upload a smart preview of the original file. Once that has been uploaded, it will automatically appear in any of the LRCC apps (the new desktop app, LRWeb, or LRCC on iOS or Android), but only the smart preview is available for download.

If you add images to any of the LRCC apps, the full original will be uploaded, which will be automatically downloaded into Classic and will also appear in the other LRCC apps.

If you are using LR Classic and LRCC together, note that some things do not sync between them. Notably Keywords and Location Data, though these do sync between the LRCC apps (though you can't yet add/edit keywords in LR Web).

If you want to use Classic and LRCC, you need to figure out the workflow you want to use, i.e. where you'll import to, and add metadata. My own workflow is still Classic-centric on my Mac (and will remain so for the foreseeable future), though all the images in my personal catalog have been synced to the cloud and so I have them available on all my mobile devices, plus in the LRCC desktop app on my Windows system.

 

[JimHess43]

Okay, I've got the smart preview thing down. That's pretty basic and the way it has worked for quite a while. But let's say that I put Lightroom CC on another computer and download images that go to the cloud. You say that puts the full-sized images in the cloud and also downloads them to my Lightroom Classic. Where does it put them? That's what I don't understand. Also, how do I monitor my cloud usage?

 

[johnbeardy]

In each of the cloud-connected apps, it does tell you how much you're using. So the overall usage is available.

However, you can't get more detail. So you can't use LRCC in any of its forms to show you all the images that are full res in the cloud. And that's no good, not if you want to be proactive. Let's say you are planning for a trip, know you are getting close to your limit, and you think lots of full res TIFs must be to blame. You could free up that space in Classic, by removing all TIFs from sync. But that's a blunt tool. I doubt Adobe will provide much more....

John

 

[Jim Wilde]

But let's say that I put Lightroom CC on another computer and download images that go to the cloud. You say that puts the full-sized images in the cloud and also downloads them to my Lightroom Classic. Where does it put them? That's what I don't understand.

There are location options on the Classic>Preferences>Lightroom CC tab, which allow you to select your own location (rather than the default location in your Pictures folder). You can even choose one of the dated-folder schemes as well, which is what I do.....so all images, no matter where I import into (Classic or any of the LRCC apps), will ultimately also end up in the same standard dated folder system in the one location.

 

[JimHess43]

I understand that you say that it's all pretty straightforward. But to me it seems that it takes a lot of the control away from me and I don't like it. I still haven't imported any images using the new Lightroom CC, and I don't intend to. The workflow just doesn't "flow" in my head yet. Don't know if it ever will.

 

[clee01l]

But to me it seems that it takes a lot of the control away from me and I don't like it.

If by control, that means you can't try to organize by descriptive folder names, then in a way yes. While Lightroom Classic permits that "organize by folder scheme" it has never been a recommended means of using LR effectively. That said, you can still create descriptive folder names where ever you like AFTER import or Syncing from the cloud. So if you ever want to sync images from Lightroom CC on a mobile device, LRWeb or Lightroom CC on a laptop you can designate a folder to receive sync'd files and then move then to what ever folder scheme that you wish.

 

[JimHess43]

I guess the main problem is that I cannot use mobile devices. I won't bore you with the reasons why, but I just can't. I can wrestle with a laptop a little bit, but mobile devices are simply out of the question. So I suppose Lightroom CC just isn't going to be my Program of choice. But I'm getting along okay with Lightroom Classic CC. Just for my own information, however. On a PC, using the new Lightroom CC, how do you monitor how much cloud storage space you have available?

 

[clee01l]

On a PC, using the new Lightroom CC, how do you monitor how much cloud storage space you have available?

In Preferences, there is a section called "Account". It tells you how much storage is included in your subscription and how much cloud storage is available.

 

[JimHess43]

Good grief! It was there all the time and I just overlooked it. Thanks.

 

[MarkNicholas]

If you enable sync in Classic, you could import the images into a synced collection and that will only upload smart previews to the cloud, which take up a lot less space (and there's even some debate about whether such smart previews count towards that 20gb limit). Those smart previews will then be available to access on any/all of your LRCC apps. But that workflow won't be much use if you're wanting to upload while travelling and don't have a computer running Classic with you.

I can confirm that smart previews synced from Classic do not take up any storage at all (at the moment !) I now have over 12,000 photos synced. Storage was only required for the 3 folders I created which was nominal.

 

[Jim Wilde]

Thanks Mark. If they really aren't counting the smart previews against the cloud allowance, that's interesting. Given that smart previews are generally between 1mb and 2mb, your 12k images are likely taking up between 12 and 24gb, so in theory you could have already exceeded the 20gb "free" allowance.

 

[clee01l]

Thanks Mark. If they really aren't counting the smart previews against the cloud allowance, that's interesting. Given that smart previews are generally between 1mb and 2mb, your 12k images are likely taking up between 12 and 24gb, so in theory you could have already exceeded the 20gb "free" allowance.

This is want I am seeing too with 4700 Smart previews and no originals, I still have my full 1TB available

 

[JimHess43]

So here's another dumb question. I'm considering (just to get a feel for things) adding some images directly to Lightroom CC, the new one. That means that the full-sized images will be downloaded to the cloud if I'm understanding things correctly. Will that only download the images that I choose from the SD card, or is that going to start the process of uploading my entire catalog which I don't want to have happen?

 

[Jim Wilde]

I don't understand the question, Jim. What do you mean by "uploading my entire catalog"? If you mean your LR Classic catalog, then no, how could it? LRCC has no connection to your LR Classic catalog, all connectivity is through the syncing mechanism via the cloud.

So....if you add any new images to LRCC they will automatically be uploaded to the cloud. From there, they will automatically be downloaded to any of the other LRCC apps, and/or LR Classic, provided they are all sync-enabled to the same Adobe ID.

Ditto if you add new images to LRCC for iOS/Android, or to LRWeb....the originals are uploaded to the cloud and back down to the other apps.

If you add new images to LR Classic, they are not automatically uploaded unless/until you enable syncing for those images (either by adding to a sync collection, or to All Synced Photos)....and it's smart previews only that are uploaded.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

So here's another dumb question. I'm considering (just to get a feel for things) adding some images directly to Lightroom CC, the new one. That means that the full-sized images will be downloaded to the cloud if I'm understanding things correctly. Will that only download the images that I choose from the SD card, or is that going to start the process of uploading my entire catalog which I don't want to have happen?

Only the images you add from the SD card will be uploaded.

 

[MarkNicholas]

I can confirm that smart previews synced from Classic do not take up any storage at all (at the moment !) I now have over 12,000 photos synced. Storage was only required for the 3 folders I created which was nominal.

An interesting update (for some perhaps). I now have 23,500 smart previews uploaded to the cloud in 4 folders. The 4 folders I had created took up a nominal 36 MB (not the contents of the folders). However as of today they don't take up any storage at all and my Cloud Storage says 0 bytes of 20 GB used. Seems there has been a little tweeking of the Cloud storage rules.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Yep, that’s intentional. Only originals count toward the allowance.


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