trouble unlinking smart object in photoshop

[williamn3670753]

In Lightroom Classic, I'm opening images into Photoshop CC, by right clicking on the image in Lightroom and going to "Edit In > Open as Smart Object in Photoshop". After making some adjustments, I rasterize the smart object, save the file and close it. Lightroom always creates a linked version of my new Photoshop edit, even though the PS file has been rasterized.

So for every image that I open as a Smart Object in Photoshop, I get a linked file in Lightroom, even after I rasterize the layer. I don't want the duplicate linked images in LR. I can remove them from the catalog, but If I delete (delete from disk) the file in Lightroom, the saved and closed file in Photoshop is now automatically in my trash.

Why am I getting these linked versions in LR, even after rasterizing? I can remove them, but this seems dicey, because I might accidentally select "delete from disk", (which is what I usually do when removing files in LR).

[JohanElzenga · Accepted solution]

I think you misunderstand what happens. Lightroom does not create a linked smart object, but the Photoshop image comes back into Lightroom. If you don't want the image to come back in Lightroom, then don't use 'Edit in Photoshop' but export the image and then open it in Photoshop.

[williamn3670753]

Thanks so much. I understand now.