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Local Backups and automatic Syncing

B

ben_6

New Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2026
Messages
1
Lightroom Version Number
9.5
Cloud vs. Local
Cloud Sync & Local Folders
Operating System
  1. Windows 11
Hi - I use Lightroom (cloud) desktop on an Adobe account managed by my school, so the organisation owns the storage. If my licence is ever removed I lose access to the assets straight away, so I want a full local copy of everything now rather than relying on a recovery window.

What I need:

- All original RAWs on my own hard drive
- My develop edits saved locally too, not just held in the cloud catalogue

Questions:

1. Does "Store a copy of all originals locally" (Preferences > Local Storage) include edit settings, or originals only?

2. For the back catalogue already in the cloud, is Export as Original & Settings the recommended route, or the bulk Export my photos / ZIP option?

3. Going forward, if I work in the Local tab instead of Cloud, do edits write to XMP sidecars automatically for ARW files?


If somebody has an easy solution that would be great
 
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1. Originals only, no edits.

2. Probably, yes. You could consider the Downloader option, but that is flawed IMO.

3. Yes, so that would be one option, though of course you'd not have the cloud sharing capability.

If the license also includes Lightroom Classic, that would be a very good option, i.e. create an LrC catalog and sync it with the cloud. All images in the cloud (complete with edits) would be copied from the cloud into your local LrC storage.
 
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As, Jim said, Classic will bring down the full edits when you synch. This is what I do. Set classic to generate sidecar files, use a fresh catalog, Have it store them where and how you like. You will lose a lot of the organization, but if you are looking to use LR in local mode, you will lose that anyway. In general, don't edit files with classic, just let it do it's thing. You can safely use the other modules like print.

My workflow is as follows:
1. everything goes into the cloud
2. Files I just kinda wanna save get archived locally to a drive
3. Best edited stuff stays in cloud and is backed up using classic. Drives also are backed up redundantly.
 
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