Synced photos looking for originals in old local folder location

[JoeDay]

I have a ton of photos that used to be in local folders on my hard drive. Then, I migrated to Lightroom CC so everything could be in the cloud. Now all my photos are definitely all in the cloud, I can see them all in my account at lightroom.adobe.com.

The problem I'm having is for any photo in Lightroom Classic CC that existed pre-migration to Lightroom CC. They appear to be looking for their originals FOR SYNCED PHOTOS in a local folder that no longer exists. I can't seem to find any information on what to do about this. So, in the meantime, I can't edit, print, etc...

Help! What do I do?

P.s. My current workflow is to upload photos using Lightroom CC, then organize/edit/print in Lightroom Classic CC.

[Tony_See]

. . . "that used to be in local folders on my hard drive"?

Joe

Have you moved those hard drive folders post migration?

Where did you keep your imported images and catalogue file(s)?

In your case I would probably stick with LR Classic CC, but it sounds like you have moved your original image folders.

[JoeDay]

Yes, the original folder is no longer there. Once those were uploaded to the cloud, why would I keep the local folders?

[dj_paige]

I'm not expert in LR CC but doesn't it upload all your photos to the cloud storage? It doesn't leave the photos on your hard disk where Lightroom Classic CC can find them — unless you turn on an option in LR CC. Isn't that right?

[JohanElzenga]

dj_paige  wrote

I'm not expert in LR CC but doesn't it upload all your photos to the cloud storage? It doesn't leave the photos on your hard disk where Lightroom Classic CC can find them — unless you turn on an option in LR CC. Isn't that right?

No, that isn't right. When you migrate a Lightroom Classic catalog to Lightroom CC, all your photos will be copied to a temporary location, from where Lightroom CC uploads them. The originals stay where they are, and that's where Lightroom Classic should still be able to find them.

The problem is that migrating a Lightroom Classic catalog and then continue to use it is not recommended and can lead to problems. If you do want to use the two together (which is not officially recommended either, but works fine), then you should not use the migration path. Instead, you should first sync the entire Lightroom Classic catalog to the cloud, and then import the originals into Lightroom CC. Lightroom CC will then be clever enough to recognise the smart previews in the cloud as being the same images, and replace these by the originals. And Lightroom Classic will then not try to download these again.

[JoeDay]

The problem is that migrating a Lightroom Classic catalog and then continue to use it is not recommended and can lead to problems.

Yes. This is what I'm trying to fix. I don't want Lightroom Classic looking in the old location for the originals. I want it to be looking for those in the cloud. It makes zero sense having two sources of truth (Local and Cloud). How do I tell Lightroom Classic that the original is now in the cloud?

[JohanElzenga]

JoeDay  wrote

The problem is that migrating a Lightroom Classic catalog and then continue to use it is not recommended and can lead to problems.

Yes. This is what I'm trying to fix. I don't want Lightroom Classic looking in the old location for the originals. I want it to be looking for those in the cloud. It makes zero sense having two sources of truth (Local and Cloud). How do I tell Lightroom Classic that the original is now in the cloud?

You can’t, because that is not how Lightroom Classic works. Lightroom Classic is the desktop focussed version of Lightroom. It always stores the originals locally and there is no way to change that. To Lightroom Classic there are no originals in the cloud. It may not see that the synced smart previews have been replaced, but that does not mean it can use them as originals.

[JoeDay]

JohanEl54​

Let me ask a different way: For all my photos I've uploaded since migrating to Lightroom CC, Lightroom Classic does not have this problem. I think that means that it's downloading an original from the cloud to a local location. If that's true, how do I tell the pre-migration photos to behave the same way?

[JohanElzenga]

JoeDay  wrote

JohanEl54

Let me ask a different way: For all my photos I've uploaded since migrating to Lightroom CC, Lightroom Classic does not have this problem. I think that means that it's downloading an original from the cloud to a local location. If that's true, how do I tell the pre-migration photos to behave the same way?

The pre-migration photos should still be where they always were, unless you moved them or deleted them. From your first message I get the impression that this is exactly what you did. In that case you should restore these images from a backup, just like you would have to do if they weren't uploaded to the cloud.

[JoeDay]

JohanEl54​

I really appreciate your patience in bearing with me here.

So, I find what you just said confusing. If they're still local after I migrate to the cloud, then what was the point of the migration? And I know it's in the cloud. Here's proof:

As for deleting the old folder, you are correct. They were originally in a folder in Google Drive. I deleted it after migrating for two reasons:

1. They were now in the Adobe Cloud

2. I don't want to pay for both

3. The files need to be backed up and not just local (and since I'm using Adobe Cloud as a backup, I don't want to pay twice for something else)

I can't restore that folder, it is gone (that's a story in itself). So, the question remains, how do I get Classic to actually sync with my entire library that is in the Adobe cloud?

[JohanElzenga]

I think you keep missing the point. Lightroom Classic already syncs all the images. That is not the problem. The problem is that you trashed the local storage. Migrating a catalog to Lightroom CC is meant for people who want to change from Lightroom Classic to Lightroom CC. The idea is that you will stop using Lightroom Classic, so then you can indeed delete the Lightroom Classic local images after the migration.

You don’t want to stop using Lightroom Classic however, so you can’t delete the locally stored images after you migrated the catalog. You will simply have to accept that you will have the originals in two different locations now.

If the local storage is gone and you don’t have a backup, then you do have a problem. The best (only?) solution is probably to start Lightroom Classic, create a brand new catalog, and start syncing this catalog. Before you do that, you should set the destination of the downloaded images in the preferences - sync tab, and choose a dated folder structure, because this new catalog will download all the online images once you start the sync. You don’t want all these images to end up in one single folder.

Yes, Lightroom CC keeps some images locally as well, to speed up your workflow. If you don’t want that, then set the disk space for these images in the preferences to zero percent.

[JoeDay]

That was my understanding. This is why I don't understand why it's still looking for the file locally.

But the big question is how do I point it to the cloud for it's original? That part is not clear.