Workflow for using Lightroom Classic with occasional use of Lightroom CC

[ingewertwijn]

I am aware that there have been various discussions on the topic of combining LR Classic with LR CC, but these seem to take the new LR CC as a central point. With me, it is the other way around.I want to keep using Lightroom Classic AND I want to keep my photo's on my desktop.

There are two situations when I am away from home.

1.

For new pictures which I import into LR CC,  I want to use LR CC for editing. Once I am back home, I want to move those pictures (including any edits I have made) into LR Classic  (and remove them from LR CC)

2.

Sometimes I have editing to do for pictures which I previously imported into LR Classic. I want to be able to do this whilst I am on the move, using LR CC.

Once I am back home, I want to move those pictures (including any edits I have made) into LR Classic, replacing the previous version  (and remove them from LR CC).

What would be the best workflow for situation 1 en 2?

[john beardsworth · Accepted solution]

1. New pictures imported into LRCC will automatically sync down as originals into "Classic". To remove them from LRCC, unsync them either by deleting them in LRCC once you know they are in "Classic", or by removing them from All Synced Photos in "Classic".

2. Sync them again from "Classic". This will mean that you will be editing the smart preview in LRCC, and remember that Adobe don't properly sync keywords or the four location fields back to "Classic".

Test this workflow, and don't try to be too clever with it - Adobe haven't really designed the LRCC "ecosystem" to work properly within the wider Lightroom world!

[Bill Sprague]

Trying to build a little on John's comment.

Before they renamed it LR CC I was beginning to experiment with what was then called "Lightroom Mobile".  I wanted to take occasional pictures with my phone had have them be in Lightroom when I got home.  I also wanted a few of my personal favorites from old Lightroom on my phone to show people. 

After the name change and feature enhancement I read where it is not a good idea to use both the cloud and folder systems together.  Much to my surprise it works fine!  Chosen photos in classic are in a synced collection.  And, Lightroom "mobile"  (now CC) on my phone is set to send images taken in the Lightroom app to that synced collection.  The only big difference (besides confusing naming) is the addition of controls in the phone version and desktop version of the mobile app (now called "Lightroom CC")

People with much higher pay grades inside and outside of Adobe employment continue to remind that the two systems may not work well together at all.  My experience is that they work together pretty well!  I suspect if I tried to put my 40,000 photo collection in the cloud Lightroom and keep it in the folder Lightroom the syncing would go into overload and be a nightmare!

[ingewertwijn]

Thanks, John.

The answer to (1)  I understand. I have tested this workflow and it works for me. It is a bit of pity that the files remain in the location for mobile sync rather than being offered the opportunity to transfer them to my own file/directory organization, but it works, that is the main thing.

The second answer I am not sure about.

Why do you mean by: "This will mean that you will be editing the smart preview in LRCC".

Is the smart preview the same as my edits?

Is the smart preview somehow located in LRCC and not on my local desktop where I want it?

[john beardsworth]

With 1, in "Classic" you can right click a folder and set it to be where mobile sync places the files.

With the second aspect, I am assuming that you were talking about images that were already in Classic or the ones which arrived from mobile sync and were then removed from syncing (as in your first question). So the originals are no longer in the cloud or in LRCC, only in the location specified in your Classic catalogue. When you want to edit some photos in LRCC, you would need to sync them again from Classic. It uploads to the cloud "smart previews", compressed versions of the originals, and your editing metadata too. LRCC gets these smart previews from the cloud and reads your edits automatically. Does that make sense? Again, using the new LRCC app on your other Mac/PC is just like running LRMobile, ie the iOS or Android app on your phone or tablet.

[ingewertwijn]

Thanks again John.

With regard to 1, when you say in ""Classic" you can right click a folder and set it to be where mobile sync places the files", do you mean the file location which is specified under "preferences" for mobile sync? Because I cannot change the file location of a collection or a photo by right-clicking it, or am I missing something?

With regard to 2, I think I am confused about where my edits to the original pictures are.

Are they inside the smart previews? Because if not, if they are stored with the picture when it is synced by to LR classis, my problems are solved.

[john beardsworth]

Yes, right clicking a folder is the same as the setting in preferences, just easier?

With Classic, your edits (adjustments) are recorded in the catalogue, and mirrored to the cloud when the photo is synced.