Synchronization - can it do what I want?

[petera22370016]

I have my Lightroom CC catalog and RAW image files stored on my desktop PC. I've worked that way for the past seven years: Lightoorm 3, 5 and CC. I'm comfortable with this arrangement. Last year I bought a Microsoft Surface 3 tablet. I would like to set it up so that the contents of one of my Smart Collections is synchronized from the desktop system. This will always be a one-way sync: desktop to tablet. There are some 4500 images involved, all with a complex set of keywords. I would want the keywords and the sub-structure of the Smart Collection retaining. I do not need to have the original RAW files. I will be able to get all that I need from a preview image.

Can this be done? If so, please advise me how.

[dj_paige]

Export the desired collection(s) using the following steps:

Right-click on the collection(s) and select Export This Collection As a Catalog, make sure the Export Negatives is checked, select a destination for the exported catalog on an external hard disk, attahc the external HD to the Surface tablet, then copy everything to the Surface tablet. On the Surface tablet, double-click on the catalog file that was transferred by this method to open it into Lightroom.

[petera22370016]

I understand that that is how to extract the subset and place a copy of it on the Surface tablet. But I want the content on the Surface tablet to be synchronized whenever new items are added into the Smart Collection. I am looking for automatic synchronization and not manual replication.

[dj_paige · Accepted solution]

There is no Lightroom synchronization between two Windows computers.

[JP Hess]

Smart collections cannot be synchronized with Lightroom Mobile. You can only synchronize regular collections.

[Todd Shaner]

JimHess  wrote

Smart collections cannot be synchronized with Lightroom Mobile. You can only synchronize regular collections.

You could create a Library Filter Preset with the same criteria used in the Smart Collection. Select the Library filter, Select All images (CTRL + S), and drag the image files into a new syncable regular collection, and sync this collection to LR Mobile.

To keep the desktop and mobile collections up-to-date perform the same operation anytime you import and/or edit image files that might fit the criteria.

[JP Hess]

Greater minds than mine, for sure.

But it still wouldn't be a totally  "automatic" update.

[Todd Shaner]

Agreed and after thinking about this some more there's no need to create a Library filter. Create a new regular collection that can be synced, select the Smart Collection you want to sync, Select All image files, drag them into the new regular collection, and sync with LR Mobile. Use the same procedure to update the collection after adding or editing files that might fit the Smart Collection criteria. Yeah, it's not "automatic, but pretty simple.

You can also add your vote here for a feature request to sync Smart Collections:

Lightroom: Ability to sync Smart Collections to Lightroom Mobile / lightroom.adobe.com | Photoshop F...

[THG_BO]

Hello

I use Collection Publisher by Jeffrey Friedl to export a smart collection to a local disc. Then I have a syncing service that syncs files to may tablet computer. But you have to start the publish process by hand.

[petera22370016]

Thank you to all who have replied to my original post. If I am understanding everything you've said, Lightroom cannot, at present, run any kind of automatic synchronization between two Windows implementations. Nor, if I am understanding correctly, can it run any kind of automatic synchronization between a Windows implementation and a mobile implementation if the desired input resides in a Smart Collection.

It would have been nice to have a subset of my master catalogue out on my tablet and for that subset to be kept up-to-date automatically when ever I made changes in the master catalogue that impinged upon the entries in the subset. I've lived without this capability since I got the Surface tablet. I guess I'll have to go on living without it. It's a shame! But there we are. That's life!.