Fixing Sync Problems caused by switching the Sync Catalog

Written Fall 2024

This is part 3 of a 3 part series concerning the sync process between Lightroom Classic (LrC), and Lightroom (Lr or Lr/Cloud) and is current as of Lr/Classic 14.0.1 and Lr/Cloud (desktop) 8.0.

Part 1 LR/Classic and LR/cloud Sync behavior discusses how various operations and commands done in Lr/Cloud and Lr/Classic affect synced images. 

Part 2 Changing Which LrC Catalog Syncs with Lr/Cloud concerns the reconciliation process between Lr/Cloud and LrC when the synced catalog is changed and many of the problems that come from that process.

Part 3 (this part) discusses options for fixing Lightroom Sync problems caused by changing the sync catalog.  This includes the dreaded “images don’t sync and can’t be made to sync” problem plus many others.

Two types of sync problems

There are two major categories of sync problems.  The first is when images are “stuck” in the sync process.  In this case the sync status shows an unchanging “xx images syncing”

06 LrC - Sync Status in process

And the sync activity log (Preferences -> Lightroom Sync) shows a list of items waiting to sync.

07 LrC - Sync Activity list

The other category of sync problems is different.  I don’t have a good name for this category so let’s just call it “Structural” sync problems.  In these the sync status shows “synced” with a green checkmark, there are no images in the Sync Activity list

11 LrC - Sync Status Complete

12 LrC - Sync Activity empty

But, when you sync or un-sync some images the sync process seems to function as it should but it doesn’t.  Many images (especially newly imported ones) may sync fine while other images have problems.  Here are some of the most common symptoms for this category of sync problems

• Smart Previews Invade Catalog:  All of a sudden you have tons of smart previews in your catalog, that in many cases are duplicates of full size originals also in your catalog.
• Mismatched images:  The version of the image in Lr/Cloud is different than the version in LrC and they can’t be synced to reconcile those differences.
• Orphan images:  This is where you have a synced image in LrC which do not have a mate in Lr/Cloud even though the sync status says “Synced” and there are no sync errors to be found.
• Un-syncable images:  This is where you have images that when you try to sync them to the cloud, the sync status shows “x images syncing” but as soon as the sync process finishes those images are removed from all synced collections (including the “All Synced Photographs” special collection) and they never show up in Lr/Cloud

Before you start troubleshooting sync problems

No matter how careful you are, unexpected things can happen.  Even if you are working with Adobe Tech Support, they too make errors.  Therefore it is a good idea to take out some insurance before you start troubleshooting ‘just in case”.

Backup your catalog

Backup your catalog.  I suggest copying ALL the files/folders relevant to your catalog to another folder not just the “.lrcat”, and “.lrcat-data” files you get in the backups produced by LrC itself.

Create a Sync Log

Many times, Adobe requests a Log to help them debug sync problems.  These logs are not really meant to be viewed by customers but sometimes they do make interesting reading – especially if you are a techie. 

1. Open the Lightroom Sync tab of the Preferences menu
2. Hold down the Alt/Option key and click “Generate Diagnostic Report”

It may take several minutes to generate the report.  Take a look at it if you wish by clicking the “Show in Finder/Explorer” button in the dialog box you’ll get when it is done generating (unzip foe report and open the HTML file).  But otherwise you can just ignore it for now.

Clear or change the default sync folder

This is the folder, specified in “Preferences -> Lightroom Sync”, where the sync process places images which originated in one of the Lr/Cloud apps. 

09 LrC - Set Download folder

If you are still using the default shipped with LrC, that folder is “Mobile Downloads.lrdata” (not shown in the preferences dialog) and is in the same folder as the catalog but it is not a regular folder with images (on Mac’s it is a package).  Rather it is a special format and only really usable by LrC.  In this case using preferences you can designate or create a real folder and choose to copy the images from the default folder as part of the process. 

08 LrC - Move Mobile Downloads confirmation

Once it’s a real folder, if it has any images in it, either copy them to other folders or use ‘Preferences -> Lightroom sync” to designate a different and empty folder. 

We do this in case in our troubleshooting Lightroom decides to download a large number of images form the cloud it will be convenient to have them all in one place and not intermingled with previously downloaded images.  This does happen.

Clear “From Lightroom” Collection set

When Albums are in Lr/Cloud but are not linked to corresponding Collections in LrC, the sync process creates new synced collection in a collection set called “From Lightroom” (and will create it if it’s not already there).  If you already have collections in “From Lightroom” it is a good idea to move those collections to some other collection set. 

10 LrC - From Lightroom Coll Set

We do this so that if the troubleshooting decides that the Albums in Lr/Cloud are no linked to their mate in LrC, and as such syncs them all down to LrC as new collections you’ll have them all in one place and not intermingled with previous ones.   This does happen.

Save your LR/Cloud Originals

This is in case the images in the cloud get wiped out as some cloud originals may not have synced to LrC.  Images that originated in LrC are still in your catalog, which you just backed up, and those physical image files should also still be in your disk file system as well so we don’t need to worry about those. Here’s how to do this using the Lr/Desktop app.

1. In LrC, Pause syncing
2. Switch over to Lr/D (Lr/Desktop)
3. Select “All Photos”
4. Create a new Album called “Lr Originals” and copy all images to it
5. With “Lr Originals” selected, set the filter for: Sync status -> Synced from Lightroom Classic
   01 LR - Synced from LrC Filter
6. Remove all images still showing after applying the filter
7. Turn the off Filter
8. The remaining images are LrC originals.
9. Depending on when your syncing issue started, most of these images may have already synced down to LrC and you can remove those from this Album.  Sort the grid by Capture Date.  If you click on an image with the “info” panel open on the right it will show you the capture date and you can zero in on the date where your issue started
   02 LR Capture Date
10. Select all of those images created after you started having sync issues.  If you want, you can unselect ones you don’t care about, or for other reasons don’t need to be exported.  Export these images to your computer (you may need to import these to LrC later). 
    
    Use menu “File -> Export”. Then select “Original + Settings” as Image Type.  And “Original” as File Name.  then click the blue “Export xx Photos” button and in the popup navigate and create a new folder for these images (perhaps “Originals from LR”)
    03 LR Export Originals

Save your recently edited LR/Cloud Images

This is only useful if you do edits in the Lr/Cloud apps.  Again depending on when your sync problems started, most edits have already synced to LrC.  However edits done after your problem started may not have synced down to LrC.  Those are the ones we’re after.

If you’ve made edits in Lr/Cloud that did not synced down to LrC and you’d like to keep them you will need to export them.  This can be tricky but you probably know the date where your sync issues started so the ones you want are those edited on or after that date.  I don’t know of a way to isolate this to only images that were edited in Lr/Cloud after some date so you’ll wind up with images edited in both Lr/Cloud and LrC after that date.

1. In Lr/Desktop select all photos
2. Sort grid by Modified date
   04 LR Sort by Mod date
3. Filter by Edited-yes
4. Now you need to go to Lr/iOS or Lr/Android on your phone or tablet as this is not available in Lr/Desktop or Lr/Web (go figure)
5. Select album “My edits” rather than All Photos
6. Use the 3 dot menu to segment the grid by day
7. Scroll down to the day where your system stopped syncing properly
8. Make a note of the last image from the last day when syncing was working well
9. Now go back to Lr/Desktop and with the grid sorted by capture date in descending order (new on top) scroll down to that same photo
10. Select all the photos before that one (i.e. with more recent edits) and export them to your system using “originals + Settings”.

Troubleshooting ‘stuck’ images

Most common Lightroom syncing problems are ‘stuck’ images and can be resolved by following “normal” troubleshooting processes and this is not really the purpose of this article but I do suggest following the “before you start” tips near the top of this article before you start.

A good description of those normal troubleshooting steps can be found in How to troubleshoot Sync issues with Classic 13.3 and later from “The Lightroom Queen”.  In most cases this will get you back to normal.  But before you start any corrective procedures, even ones you try on your own, make sure you have a current backup of your catalog as sometimes a fix turns out to make things worse.

Before you contact to Adobe

One of the steps at the bottom of the normal troubleshooting is to contact Adobe Tech Support (which you may consider as an optional step).  Adobe doesn’t know your catalog or how you are using it and in their eagerness to fix your problem may do something that messes you up or even causes additional syncing problems.  So, it’s a good idea to take another catalog BU before you make that call.

If the normal troubleshooting has failed to solve your problem, or you have one of these symptoms try these “Advanced” troubleshooting ideas which comprise the rest of this article. 

Smart Previews invade Catalog

Mismatched images

Orphan images

Un-Syncable images

One major cause of these ‘structural’ sync problems (as I call them) which are not resolved by the normal troubleshooting is changing which catalog is syncing with the cloud.  Most of these cases stem from changing which catalog syncs with the cloud.  If you’re curious of how you might of gotten into your predicament, see Changing Which LrC Catalog Syncs with Lr/Cloud.

LOW VOLUME RESOLUTIONS

The solutions described in this section tend to work best when you have a manageable number of images exhibiting the problem.  In cases where the number of images with the problem is too large to deal with using these techniques, sometimes an export/import will work.  See HIGH VOLUME RESOLTUIONS below. 

Smart Previews Invade the Catalog

This is most often caused by restoring a backup catalog from awhile ago and making it the sync catalog and is also be caused by switching to an un-related catalog and making it the sync catalog.

Smart Previews will invade the catalog when Lr/Cloud contains images originally synced up from an LrC catalog but a newly synced catalog does not contain those images or Lightroom does not perceive that the newly synced catalog contains those images.

In these cases the SP’s in Lr/Cloud are synced down to LrC and placed the DSP (“downloaded-smart-previews”) subfolder under the transfer folder (the one designated in preferences to get Lr/Cloud downloads).  No Disk file is created for these but the DSP folder is created.  BTW, the reason we emptied or re-pointed the default Lightroom sync folder to an empty folder was to prevent these newly downloaded SP’s from being intermingled with ones perhaps already there.

13 LrC - SP's in DSP folder

In many cases the SP’s that synced down from Lr/Cloud are duplicates of full size original images already in your catalog in other folders.  But in other cases they will be the only version of the image in the catalog. 

SOLUTION

If the SP is the only copy in the catalog, but you still have a full size original on disk someplace

1. Using your OS place that full size original (or a copy of it) in the DSP folder which will make the image no longer missing in LrC. 
2. You can then drag it to whatever folder you wish using the Folders Panel (if there’s already a copy where you drag it to you’ll need to move or delete the image already there using your OS first).

If the SP is a duplicate of an original image still in your catalog and you don’t have too many of them you can do something different.  These steps pretty much retain everything except the LrC edit history.

1. Transfer information from the Original to the DSP using LrC
   1. Assign the same KW’s
   2. Add to same collections and Publish Services
   3. Make any other metadata changes needed
2. Remove the original from LrC using the Folders Panel.
3. Using the Folders Panel drag the image to the folder you want it to be in

If you are happy just keeping the original still in the catalog you can.  But there is a problem as the one synced to Lr/Cloud is the SP in the DSP folder, not the original. As long as the SP remains in Lr/Cloud you may not be able to sync your original.  To keep the original (with its edit history and other metadata), but losing any edits done in Lr/Cloud which had not synced to LrC, do this.

1. Delete the version in the DSP folder (don’t just remove it from collections, delete it from the folder)
2. Let the delete sync to Lr/Cloud.
3. Now you should be able to sync the Original

Empty Cells

Empty cells are empty grey cells in the gird/filmstrip.  Even in normal operations this can occur when images are “missing” and there is no preview in the catalog.  But changing the sync catalog can also create missing images in the catalog and sometimes SP’s downloaded from Lr/Cloud need a nudge to show up in the grid and filmstrip.

SOLUTION

If the empty cell is an SP, take it to the develop module which usually will cause it to appear in the grid and film strip.

Empty cells can also be fixed by using your OS to put a copy of the physical file into the folder where LrC thinks it should be or by using the “find missing” tools in LrC. 

1. See if these missing images are SP’s in the DSP folder.  The DSP folder is the “downloaded-smart-previews” folder under the XFER folder and the XFER folder is the one designated in Preferences as to where Sync will put images downloaded from Lr/Cloud)
2. If they are, see if they are duplicates of images already in your catalog in other folders
3. Compare the original with the one in the DSP folder to determine which one has the edits you want to keep.  In most cases they will be the same.
4. If you want to keep the version in the DSP folder, after placing a copy of the physical image in the DSP folder on disk, delete the original In LrC and then using the Folders Panel move the one in DSP to the folder where the original had been.
5. If you want to keep the original, there is a problem. As long as the SP remains in Lr/Cloud you may not be able to sync your original.  So, delete the one in the DSP folder (don’t just remove it from collections, delete it from the folder using the Folders panel) and let that delete sync to Lr/Cloud.  Now you should be able to sync the Original

In many cases ‘Empty Cells” also have no matching image in Lr/Cloud so see the next section if that is also the case.

Different edits in LrC and Lr/Cloud

This symptom is where the same image is different in Lr/Cloud compared to Lr/Classic.  In most cases you will not be able to reconcile those differences through the normal sync process.  What makes this problem maddening is that doing further edits using some edit controls will sync fine, but using other edit controls will not sync.  In particular, the edit controls that resulted in the differences are not syncable but other controls are. 

This can occur when you restore from an older catalog where edits had been done on synced images after a BU you reverted to was created and the last such edit was done in LrC.  If the last edit was done in Lr/Cloud this problem does not happen.  Spooky, huh?

NOTE:  This result occurred in 3 test runs in November but in December (using the same versions of LrC and Lr) these images all retained their most recent edits in two successive tests as they should.  I am leaving this in this article as you may experience this behavior.  As I can no longer reproduce this situation I cannot provide a canned solution for how to handle cases where the last edit was done in LrC. 

SOLUTION

I’m sure there are solutions but as I can’t reproduce the problem, I can’t test different solutions so I don’t feel it is proper to include guesses here.  If anyone reading this has this problem let me know. 

However, you can try the Export/Import solution below whish should work but you’ll lose edits not present in the LrC catalog.

Orphan Images - No Matching image in Lr/Cloud

Here you have images in LrC which are marked as being synced, and are in the “All Synced Photographs” special collection but there is no matching image in Lr/Cloud.  As it turns out, these images are also un-syncable so see the ”Un-Syncable Images” section below as well.

• Editing the image in LrC does not cause it to appear in Lr/Cloud nor does the edit get applied to the image in the Lr/Cloud deleted list.  Sync status shows “syncing x images” but image does not show up in Lr/Cloud
• Un-deleting it in Lr/Cloud brings the un-deleted SP down to LrC (with any edits done before the LrC removal was synced) resulting in 2 images in LrC.  The SP from Lr/Cloud will arrive in LrC as a new (missing) image having only the SP.  The SP is placed in the DSP sub folder of the XFER folder.  If the original from the restore is in the physical XFER folder the new SP gets a “-2” appended to the end of the file name.  Placing a copy of the physical image file into the DSP folder using your OS and renaming it with the “-2” if needed makes it no longer missing.  The SP copy is synced but the original is not synced even though it looks like it is.
• •Un-syncing and re-syncing the original image in LrC does not work even though the sync status shows that it is syncing.  A few moments after doing this, the image becomes un-synced and is removed from all synced collections including the “All Synced Photographs” special collection.
• Un-syncing and re-syncing the original in LrC may work if you first remove or delete the SP in both LrC (if you had un-deleted it in Lr after the catalog restore) and in LR.  Then un-sync and re-sync the Original in LrC.
• Removing the image from LrC and from Lr/Cloud then re-importing it followed by re-syncing it usually works.  To preserve data save metadata to the disk file before removing the image from LrC.  To preserve edit history and other data that may not otherwise be saved, export original image as catalog from CAT2 creating CAT3.  Then remove the image from the restored catalog (CAT2) and let that sync to the cloud.  Now in CAT2 import as catalog from CAT3.  Then in CAT2 add images to the needed synced collections.  They will now show up in LrC with all edit history. If the culprit image is a Smart Preview that is a duplicate of another image in the catalog, you can first remove or delete the SP in LrC then un-sync and re-sync the original
• If the culprit is an Lr/Cloud original and is in the “Deleted” section of Lr/Cloud and you un-delete it, the undeleted image comes to LrC as a VC if the originally downloaded image is still in the catalog, otherwise it comes down as a new image.

Un-Syncable Image

There are two flavors of this problem.  In the first, when you edit the supposedly ‘synced’ image, the sync status shows that it is syncing but when it’s done nothing shows up in Lr/Cloud.  So it can’t be made to sync.  If you then un-sync it (remove from the “All Synced Photographs” special collection) and then add it back to a synced collection it becomes flavor 2

A flavor 2 un-syncable ‘synced’ image is one where if you edit the image in LrC, the sync status shows that it is syncing to the cloud but as soon as it is finished, it becomes un-synced, is removed from all synced collections, and is removed from the “All Synced Photographs” special collection.  Again remaining un-syncable.

For either flavor, see Export/Import Solution below

EXPORT/IMPORT SOLOUTION

This method can be used but you may lose some edits but it will usually make the image syncable again.  If you have the original image still on disk “save metadata to disk”, remove the image from LrC and Lr/Cloud, re-import it to LrC again and re-add it to its synced collections.  If you also want to save its participation in collections (other than Publish Service Collections) and retain its edit history you can Export as Catalog (without negative files),  remove from LrC and Lr/Cloud, then import from that exported catalog.

HIGH VOLUME SOLUTIONS

If there are too many images to deal with using the low volume solutions, take a look at these high volume solution.  These are more aggressive and affect the entire set of images but may do the trick.

CLEAR ENTIRE CLOUD SOLUTION

This approach involves clearing everything out of the Adobe Cloud and re-syncing it all from LrC.  But, there this is not a perfect solution as there are some negative aspects like losing edit history of edits done in Lr/Cloud (the edits can be kept but not the history)

1. First take a backup of your catalog DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP.  I suggest copying ALL the files/folders relevant to your catalog to another folder not just the “.lrcat”, and “.lrcat-data” files you get in the backups produced by LrC itself
2. LrC: Pause sync
3. LrC: Put a color label on all your synced collections and un-sync them
4. LrC: Create a new un-synced collection called "All Synced Copy” and copy all the images in the "All Synced Photographs" special collection to this new collection - NEVER SYNC THIS NEW COLLECTION
5. LrC: Delete everything from the "All synced photographs" special collection
6. LrC: Close LrC and delete or rename the “<catalog name> Sync.lrdata" folder on disk.
7. Lr/Cloud: Delete all images from "All Photographs"
8. Lr/Cloud: Delete all albums
9. Lr/Cloud:  Empty the “Deleted” list
10. Lr/Cloud: Let the deletes propagate through Lr/Cloud
11. Lr/Cloud: Check all the Lr/Cloud apps you use (Lr/Web, Lr/Desktop, Lr/iOS, etc) to assure empty
12. LrC: Un-pause sync.  Nothing should happen.
13. LrC: Sync one of your collections that had problematic images in it before.
14. See what happens. If unsuccessful stop and go to the next solution.
15. If successful, re-sync the other collections a few at a time letting the sync complete between each set
16. If unsuccessful go on to the next solution
17. When done, copy everything in "All synced copy" collection back to "All synced Photographs”.  This will re-sync any images that had been synced before but are not in any of your synced collections. If you don't care about any of those, then skip this step.  You can now delete the “All synced copy” collection.

CLEAR CLOUD & SYNC WITH CATALOG COPY SOLUTION

This approach involves clearing everything out of the Adobe Cloud, exporting your catalog as a new catalog, and syncing the exported catalog.  But, there are some negative aspects to this like losing edit history of edits done in Lr/Cloud (the edits can be kept but not the history), also issues with images in Publish Services, and shared/make public web pages. 

These steps are basically the same as the previous solution except we first make a new catalog using the ‘Export as Catalog” function and then use that catalog for the step listed above.

1. Take a backup of your catalog DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP.  I suggest copying ALL the files/folders relevant to you catalog to another folder not just the “.lrcat”, and “.lrcat-data” files you get in the backups produced by LrC itself
2. LrC: Pause sync in LrC
3. LrC: Put a color label on all your synced collections and un-sync them
4. LrC: Create a new un-synced collection called "All Synced Copy” and copy all the images in the "All Synced Photographs" special collection to this new collection - NEVER SYNC THIS NEW COLLECTION
5. LrC: Select all the images
6. LrC: Export as Catalog (no negative files, include previews) and place in a new folder
   05 LrC Export As Catalog
7. LrC:  Switch to the exported LrC catalog
8. LrC: Delete everything from the "All synced photographs" special collection
9. Lr/Cloud: Delete all images from "All Photographs"
10. Lr/Cloud: Delete all albums
11. Lr/Cloud:  Empty the “Deleted” list
12. Lr/Cloud: Let the deletes propagate through Lr/Cloud
13. Lr/Cloud: Check all the Lr/Cloud apps you use (Lr/Web, Lr/Desktop, Lr/iOS, etc) to assure empty
14. LrC: Un-pause sync.  Nothing should happen.
15. LrC: Sync one of your collections that had problematic images in it before.
16. See what happens. If unsuccessful stop and go to the next solution.
17. If successful, re-sync the other collections a few at a time letting the sync complete between each set
18. When done, copy everything in "All synced copy" collection back to "All synced Photographs”.  This will re-sync any images that had been synced before but are not in any of your synced collections. If you don't care about any of those, then skip this step.  You can now delete the “All synced copy” collection.
19. If unsuccessful go on to the next solution
20. When done, copy everything in "All synced copy" collection  back to "All synced Photographs”.  This will re-sync any images that had been synced before but are not in any of your synced collections. If you don't care about any of those, then skip this step

GO NUCLEAR AND SWITCH TO NEW ADOBE ACCOUNT

This approach is the last resort if all else fails and you have no more hair to tear out of your head.  It involves creating a new Adobe account, and re-syncing a copy of your catalog to the new accounts cloud.  But like the others, this is not a perfect solution as there are some negative aspects like losing edit history of edits done in Lr/Cloud.

1. in LrC, pause syncing and then close LrC
2. Log out of your Adobe account on the Creative Cloud App
3. Log out of your Adobe account on your Adobe.com web page
4. Log out of your Adobe account on any other devices you use Lr/cloud on including Lr/Desktop (if you've used it)
5. Lr/Cloud on all your devices should not show you any images and should ask you to log onto your account. Don't proceed if any of your Lr/Cloud apps or web pages actually still show you your images or the avatar from your old account.
6. Open LrC and go to the Lightroom sync tab of the Preferences. I should indicate that you are not connected to your adobe account. Don't logon yet.
7. Pause sync if it’s running
8. Put a color label on each synced collection and Un-sync it
9. LrC: Create a new un-synced collection called "All Synced Copy” and copy all the images in the "All Synced Photographs" special collection to this new collection - NEVER SYNC THIS NEW COLLECTION
10. LrC: Select all the images
11. LrC: Export as Catalog (no negative files, include previews) and place in a new folder
    05 LrC Export As Catalog
12. LrC:  Switch to the exported LrC catalog
13. Delete everything from the "All synced photographs" special collection
14. Go to Adobe.com and create a new Adobe Account (as if you were a new user).
15. Sign up for the same plan you have in your real account but use the 7 day free trial - don't pay for it.
16. Open your LrC catalog
17. In LrC the catalog should now be pointing to your new Adobe account (see Lightroom Sync tab of preferences). You'll probably need to supply your new UID and PW. Verify in preferences that you are connected to the new account
18. In LrC Un-Pause sync
19. Sync one of your collections and see if it works. check one of the Lr/Cloud apps to assure the album arrived with the proper number of images
20. If that worked, call Adobe Customer Services and explain what had happened and all the things you've tried.  Then explain that as nothing else worked you were advised to try it on a different Adobe account and that worked. Tell the CS rep that you want the months remaining on your old Adobe account transferred to the new account. It you're good (but polite) you may be able to get a free month or two added on for your trouble.
21. Re-sync your other previously synced collections a few at a time and wait for the sync to the Lr/Cloud to complete between each set
22. When done, copy everything in "All synced copy" back to "All synced Photographs' This will re-sync any images that had been synced before but are not in any of your synced collections. If you don't care about any of those there might be, then skip this step.
23. Delete the "All Synced Copy" collection unless you want to keep it for posterity.

Hope that helps but if you can’t get it figured out, see my Lightroom help web page for one-on-one private help over zoom.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE leave comments.  This series of articles related to syncing took me over 5 months to perfom the testing and writing the results and it was very complicated and I'm giving it to you for fee.  You are not seeing any ads on my website.  You did not have to provide a credit card or create yet another account to read this.  But, I would truly like to know your reaction.  Was it useful? Was it clear?  Did you find any errors?  Did it help you understand what was going on?  Did you come here due to a probllem?  Did you use this information to try and solve a problem?  Did this help you solve your problem?  And, anything else you wish to say.