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LR CC iPAD TO CLASSIC SYNC ADVICE PLEASE

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stevevp

Active Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2016
Messages
283
Location
Milton Keynes, UK
Lightroom Experience
Intermediate
Lightroom Version
Classic
Lightroom Version Number
8.1
Operating System
  1. Windows 10
Further to my recent post here: Photographer Plan - more storage? , I am primarily a Lightroom Classic user. I have just returned from Sri Lanka where I did a number of safaris and have uploaded about 2500 photos to Lightroom CC on my iPad. This is way more than my 20 GB account allows so it has stopped syncing. I have processed about 500 of these images and am keen not to lose the edits. I would also prefer not to upgrade my subscription.

So, a couple of questions please:
  1. If I delete the unprocessed images to get back below the 20 GB limit, I think the remainder should sync back to Classic. Will the RAWS come back down to the desktop or just the previews?
  2. To save download time, if I import the RAWS directly into Classic, will the edits sync back from CC or does this just confuse things?

Separately, my understanding was that the only way to get the images into LR CC on the iPad in the first place, was to import them into Photos first and thence into CC from the Camera Roll. I now have 2500 photos which I no longer need in Photos mixed up with iPhone photos which I do need. Is there any way to selectively delete the RAWS from photos as I can’t work out how?!

Many thanks.
 
Let's put the word "Delete" to one side - do not delete anything in LRCC or Lightroom Classic . What you will need to do is unsync those images when in Lightroom Classic, leaving the original on your hard drive (back it up) and freeing up the space in LRCC. LRCC will then sync the next 20gb.

As for #2, I think you're right about confusing things. I think it is possible to fool Lightroom Classic by disabling sync, then importing the originals into precisely the same folders as sync would put them in, then allowing sync again. But one would do this for an experiment, and I wouldn't recommend doing it.

To get back to the D word, in Photos you tap Select, then swipe over row after row (ie you don't have to tap each one) and then hit Delete. Are your iPhone photos not being imported into LRCC automatically? I ask because there may be a way in Settings / Storage to zap Photos - but it would be all or nothing.
 
Very many thanks for your advice John.

On the first point. The images are not yet in Lightroom Classic they are all on my iPad (with the originals still on the camera memory cards). Some have synced up to the cloud before I hit the 20GB barrier. Are you saying that I should let Classic sync that first batch of files - and will this be the RAWS coming down to Classic rather than previews?

On the last point, I don't want to delete the iPhone (HEIC?) files, just the camera RAWS. There does not seem to be anyway to differentiate between them in Photos to do a selective delete.
 
On the first point. The images are not yet in Lightroom Classic they are all on my iPad (with the originals still on the camera memory cards). Some have synced up to the cloud before I hit the 20GB barrier. Are you saying that I should let Classic sync that first batch of files - and will this be the RAWS coming down to Classic rather than previews?

Yes, precisely that. Once you see files have arrived safely in Classic, you can unsync them in Classic (remove them from All Synced Photos) which frees up cloud space.

On the last point, I don't want to delete the iPhone (HEIC?) files, just the camera RAWS. There does not seem to be anyway to differentiate between them in Photos to do a selective delete.

I wouldn't be surprised if there is a way, but I don't know Photos well enough to say.
 
Thanks again John.
I now have 1449 pictures showing as Pending under Sync Activity in Classic. Hopefully they will stop being Pending soon although there's currently no sign of any movement! ;)
 
Examine the folders where they should be appearing. Sometimes moving the mouse over the "syncing 1449 photos" (in the top left ) forces the number to update immediately rather than every minute or two.
 
With still nothing happening I had a support chat with Adobe but this did not help. I declined to allow remote access to my PC as, in the absence of telephone support, I would not know what was being done and my PC has been wrecked by remote access before.
At the suggestion of LR support, I renamed the Sync Data folder. LR has resynced but is again stuck on the new photos. I will let it run overnight and see what happens. Interestingly, all the pics are viewable in Lightroom Web and have also synced to LR CC on the desktop (which I installed accidentally but do not use), they just are not coming down to Classic.

Am I right in thinking there is no UK Adobe phone support as I can't find a number?
 
Is sync enabled in the catalogue? Not paused? Try signing out of Adobe on both the computer and online.
 
Hi John,
All the usual suspects had been addressed and it was still not syncing. I found a UK phone number for Adobe support (020 7365 0735). I allowed remote access albeit with great dread! It seems to have been a problem with the catalog.
On creating a new test catalog the new photos are now syncing but it is taking a long time to pull down the 3,634 total of online photos in the various Collections/Albums.
Assuming they all sync ok (which will probably take all day) I will then have to a) import all the Collections which I do not share - which should be easy and, b) import the 12,000 odd photos which are not in collections - which I imagine is going to be a nightmare as they are in multiple folders ...
 
I'd be surprised if it was really a problem with the catalogue, but just let everything sync.

I'm not sure what you mean by "import the 12,000 odd photos which are not in collections - which I imagine is going to be a nightmare as they are in multiple folders ... ". But going forward you would make this test catalogue into your main one. So, after everything has synced down into this new test catalogue, you would then use File > import from Another Catalog to bring in whatever is in the old catalogue.
 
Thanks again John,
This is proving to be a long and tortuous process!
With the sync now working and the first batch of photos (within the 20GB Cloud limit) downloaded I have merged the 12,000 odd photos from the old catalog. Unfortunately this has created a lot of virtual copies with no clear way to identify those which have been created by the merge vs those which were created by me and have different edits. One for later ...
I am now removing photos from the Synced Photographs in batches to let the remaining Pending photos come down. This is happening slowly and steadily. Hopefully at the end of the process I will just have a bit of housekeeping to do on the Virtual Copies. My new images are now in a generic LR_Mobile folder. I hope, once the dust has settled, I can move them (within LR) to a more meaningfully named folder.
Although I enjoyed being able to do some editing whilst travelling, it has clearly created a lot of problems and if I want to do this again I at least need to upgrade to the 1TB plan.
 
Focus on a few images with virtual copies and investigate those in detail. One possibility is that Import from Catalog has an option to create VCs when the image is recorded in both the current and the imported catalogues. But that is an option. What you might do is remove those 12000 from the new catalogue and try it over again. But investigate a few first.

That generic folder is a pain. In Preferences you can choose where files should download, and split the folder by date. It's probably too late now, and I am hesitant to suggest going back and starting again at the point where you created a new catalogue.... You'd create it, but set the preference before beginning sync. But you're probably better off moving stuff out of the LR_Mobile folder.
 
It is certainly a real pain and I am tempted to go back and start over. I did resist the temptation to merge the new Catalog into the old (rather than old into new) as it would have potentially been much quicker and less problematic - but not if there really was a problem with the old Catalog.

On the Virtual Copies, I have examined a few and whilst the vast majority do seem to have been created during the merge (as an option I guess I ticked), I have come across a few photos where there is more than one copy because I had deliberately created a Virtual Copy during the editing process eg for a B&W version of the image. I don't think I can selectively delete the former whilst keeping the latter?

Similarly, I do not know how to identify the 12,000-odd images (unsynced and not in Collections) imported from the old Catalog to selectively delete them. If I hadn't edited so many images on the iPad I would just unsync them and import the all new photos direct from the camera cards but I really don't want to lose the edits - although at this rate it might be quicker!

For the moment I will let the process complete - it's still syncing down as I remove photos from the All Synced Photographs - and will see what it looks like. Hopefully it will finish today as it would be good to do some editing.
 
Well it completed but not without a couple of glitches. In Classic all of the Collections which were set to sync have "unclicked" themselves. In addition, 6 Albums from the iPad which had successfully synced over as Collections in Classic have now disappeared in Classic! It would be good to get them back.
 
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