CC file storage exceeds linked devices

[breadfairy]

Does anyone know what happens if CC file storage amount exceeds the available storage capacity of linked IOS devices? For example, say I have purchased 1 TB of Creative Cloud storage and upload 500 GB of images. How would this be handled by LR Mobile on a synced iPad with a max capacity of 256 GB?

[Neox99]

The cloud stores your full resolution files. Only thing on your mobile device, or desktop for that matter, are smart previews.

This video may help>>

The All-New Lightroom CC: An Overview - YouTube

[Jim Wilde · Accepted solution]

breadfairy  wrote

Does anyone know what happens if CC file storage amount exceeds the available storage capacity of linked IOS devices? For example, say I have purchased 1 TB of Creative Cloud storage and upload 500 GB of images. How would this be handled by LR Mobile on a synced iPad with a max capacity of 256 GB?

On your iPad/iPhone etc. you have various controls which help you manage within the capacity of the device. You could, for example, set the option to only download smart previews to the device, which would take up a lot less space that the full resolution files. Also, note that the mobile app does NOT automatically download all the images, it only initially downloads small thumbnails, the larger files (smart previews or originals) would only be downloaded when you open a single image into the loupe view. So there's no risk that the app will attempt to fit all your 500Gb of images on it! These smart previews/originals would then remain on the device until you decided to remove them by using the "Clear Cache" option. Even if you don't use that 'Clear Cache" option, there is supposed to be intelligent space management built into the app such that smart previews/originals could be automatically removed from the cache if the available device space started to get too low.

[breadfairy]

Thanks, Jim. I was alarmed by the fact that photos taken with the Lightroom camera on the device were being stored locally as ORIGINAL. So you are saying that these would be adjusted to SMART PREVIEWS if space became an issue?

[Jim Wilde]

Yes, that's my understanding of how it works. The original will always be retained on the iDevice until it's safely uploaded and backed up in the cloud, after which "management" will take over and depending on various factors (e.g. your preference setting, frequency of opening, amount of free space on the device) it could silently be replaced on the device either by a Smart Preview or even just a grid thumbnail. With a 256GB device, you might not need to be overly concerned, but it's always worth keeping an eye on the Local Storage tab of the LR Settings menu. That'll give you sufficient info to help you decide if you need to get actively involved in managing your usage.

[breadfairy]

Thanks. I think Mobile needs some way to manually set the percentage of storage space similar to the way LR CC Desktop works. I don't see any way to adjust local storage size currently.

[Jim Wilde]

It might be worth putting in a feature request at the official Adobe feedback site:

Lightroom CC | Photoshop Family Customer Community