Lightroom Mobile Sync Problem

[rdonson]

Mike it's disconcerting that your Collections have disappeared on your Mac.  If the catalog has been hosed I hope you can restore a catalog backup. 

Once or twice I've had Lr CC weirdness cured by going into the CC app and logging then waiting a couple of minutes and logging back in.  It wouldn't seem to make sense but....

[mbaginy]

Upon opening LR CC today, I was thrilled to see, the collections have returned.  That was scary!  Ron, you were right signing out and then in again can work wonders.

I'm once again signed into LR CC and LR Mobile.  Of the formerly 305 images which were (somehow) synced to LR Mobile, now 155 remain.  I had attempted to delete the catalog from which the syncing had taken place (also, since I can't figure out which catalog that might be).  I've only ever used one catalog.

I am suspecting a sync with some of my iPhone (or more precise: Apple Photos) images.  It seems, that 150 images actually were deleted from the sync.  I'm hoping to get rid of them all and somehow get those small rectangles to appear to the left of my LR CC collections.  They still haven't appeared.  Only on my MacBook do they show.

Really weird.  Are there two possibly current versions of LR CC and I somehow got the screwy one installed on my iMac?

[john beardsworth]

I'm hoping to get rid of them all and somehow get those small rectangles to appear to the left of my LR CC collections.  They still haven't appeared.  Only on my MacBook do they show.

This goes back to the comments about only being able to sync with one catalogue. If they appear on the MacBook, that means it is that catalogue which is synced with Lightroom Mobile. They don't appear on the iMac because that catalogue isn't the one catalogue which you can sync.

[mbaginy]

John, that makes sense.  But I don't have any images on my MacBook and the only collections on the LR CC of the MacBook are those default ones from Adobe.

I will need to remember you comments about trying to sync with the MacBook at some later date.

Currently I haven't got a clue how those images which are on LR Mobile were synced.  I wasn't aware of syncing any collection because it was my intention of doing so from my iMac.  And that's where the rectangles are missing from the collections.

Really screwy.  I hope to possibly delete those images currently synced and start from scratch, step by step.  But the incomplete panel in LR CC is troubling me.  I guess I'll have to contact Adobe and request their assistance.

[john beardsworth]

What do you mean by "the incomplete panel in LR CC", Mike? I'm not sure it's relevant though.

When you log into your account at https://lightroom.adobe.com/, that's the authoritative record of pictures and collections that are synced. Review them. Do you have still have the originals elsewhere (eg in the camera roll on the device or on a hard drive)? If so, and if you want to start over again....

On your iMac, go into Preferences, Lightroom Mobile, and choose Delete All Data. This wipes all your content from Adobe's servers. It also tells Adobe that the catalogue on the MacBook isn't synced any longer (the fact you see the arrow boxes there means you must have started sync on the MacBook at some point). The dialog box should show you signed in - if not, sign in.

Still on the iMac, ensuring you are in the catalogue you intend to sync, go to the Identity Plate (in the top panel) and click the down arrow. Then the first line should allow you to start Sync. You should now be able to sync collections in that catalogue.

John

[mbaginy]

John, thanks for the detailed explanations.  The synced images are (slowly) being deleted - only 64 synced at this moment.  So I should reach zero images synced sometime tomorrow.  It sure takes time.

What I mean with incomplete panel are the missing rectangles to the left of the collections.  These need to be ticked in order to sync that collection.  Ron posted a screen shot of his collections and those rectangles can be seen, they're also on LR CC of my MacBook (which currently has no images - I only use it when traveling).

But LR CC on my iMac is missing those rectangles.  I've signed in but there simply are no rectangles for me to tick.  That the problem I can't figure out.  As if they aren't being shown for some reason or I've installed some oddball version of LR CC.  But I'm running the current versions of all software.

I've searched the net but can't find anything like this.  Either users have LR6 without the sync rectangles or LR CC with them.  But my version is somewhere in between.

[john beardsworth]

OK, the "incomplete panel" isn't really relevant, Mike. I think it's merely a case of you not understanding that you won't ever get these triangles in a catalogue which isn't your synced catalogue. You do see them on your MacBook because that catalogue is your synced catalogue.

If you want to start over, forget whatever you see on your MacBook and follow my instructions from "On your iMac...." . The "Delete All Data" step should complete immediately, and you should then be able to start Sync in the catalogue on your iMac.

John

[mbaginy]

John, I'm starting to see light at the end of the tunnel.

I just signed off and shut down everything.  Then rebooted the iMac and installed an update to LR Mobile (4.2.1).  Sign into Adobe and suddenly all images were removed (from LR Mobile) - even though it took all last night to remove 150.  And best of all, my panel shows those rectangles next to the collections.

I haven't a clue what cdid the trick, but next is to try and sync one collection from my iMac catalog.  Since I need to leave now, I'll have to leave that till tomorrow.  But the sun is beginning to shine (despite the continued rain this summer).

[mbaginy]

An update on my sync problems: I just returned home from the office to find that the collection I marked to sync with LR Mobile actually had done so (at least 536 out of 537 images).

What I learned was: those rectangles to the left of the collections (on my iMac), with which to mark a collection to be synced, appear only once the START commend is clicked (and accepted) above the name plate.  Then the rectangles disappear from other computers (e.g. my MacBook).

What remains mysterious: while I had known that only one catalog can be synced to a LR Mobile at any one time, I don't have a clue how the images initially synced to LR Mobile got there - it seems from my iPhone.  But then why were the rectangles showing on LR CC on my MacBook?  The MacBook didn't have any collections and also no images.  And why did it take a total of two days to finally delete those initially synced images?

I won't give the mysteries any more thought.  Syncing now seems to work (as intended).  I don't have an odd LR CC version.  I don't plan on processing images on my iPad, they're for viewing only.

Thanks for your assistance, guys!  You've all been most helpful!

[john beardsworth]

What I learned was: those rectangles to the left of the collections (on my iMac), with which to mark a collection to be synced, appear only once the START commend is clicked (and accepted) above the name plate.  Then the rectangles disappear from other computers (e.g. my MacBook).

Correct. You can only have one synced catalogue, so when you start sync in a catalogue "the rectangles disappear from other computers catalogues".

What remains mysterious: while I had known that only one catalog can be synced to a LR Mobile at any one time, I don't have a clue how the images initially synced to LR Mobile got there - it seems from my iPhone.  But then why were the rectangles showing on LR CC on my MacBook?  The MacBook didn't have any collections and also no images.  And why did it take a total of two days to finally delete those initially synced images?

They were showing because you must have inadvertently started Sync in the catalogue on your MacBook. To be kind, I'm not sure I trust your explanation of how you got things into the state they were in

I won't give the mysteries any more thought.  Syncing now seems to work (as intended).  I don't have an odd LR CC version.  I don't plan on processing images on my iPad, they're for viewing only.

Showing pictures and after reviewing them (adding stars and flags) have always been my main LrM activities, and processing them has come third. It's not for fine tuning - the screen isn't even calibrated - but it's fine for ball park adjustments that mean your time at the desk can then be devoted to fine tuning.

Do look at lightroom.adobe.com again. If you're on your MacBook, it lets you use your browser to see pictures synced up from the synced catalogue that's on your iMac and download JPEG versions. You can do some adjustments, flags and ratings, add titles and captions. Also let's say you create something on your MacBook, you can drag the file from Finder and drop it into the browser - this uploads it to LrMobile and the file will subsequently appear in your synced catalogue and be downloaded to your iMac. That can be very convenient.

John

[rdonson]

Thanks, John, for the lightroom.adobe.com reminder.  Its very useful.

My only beef with the site is that I have to pause my ad/tracker blockers for the site to work. 

[mbaginy]

John, I'm not finding how to view my images when opening lightroom.adobe.com  I've clicked Photos (I assume that's the proper button) but nothing happens.  The only button which does anything is the LR button where I can view my account and get suggestions.  Clicking any of the two icons on the left boarder also doesn't produce anything.  Is there anything I'm doing wrong or haven't done properly?

Here's a screen shot:

[mbaginy]

My only beef with the site is that I have to pause my ad/tracker blockers for the site to work.

Ah, that's interesting!  I'm using Ghostery.  Need to check that in an hour, when I return - need to run now.

[john beardsworth]

Thanks, John, for the lightroom.adobe.com reminder.  Its very useful.

My only beef with the site is that I have to pause my ad/tracker blockers for the site to work.

I use Adblock with Firefox and never have to pause it. However, I have set up a custom blocking filter to get rid of the background photo - whatever their merits, I just don't want someone else's photos being shown as a page background when I'm working on my collections.

[mbaginy]

Disabling the ad-blocker has done the trick!  I now see my synced images on the LR site.

I'll now have to check if I can adopt a feasible workflow of LR Mobile while using Ghostery, else I'll uninstall it.  It's been giving me problems in the past when booking hotels, rental cars, making payments, ...

[john beardsworth]

John, I'm not finding how to view my images when opening lightroom.adobe.com  I've clicked Photos (I assume that's the proper button) but nothing happens.  The only button which does anything is the LR button where I can view my account and get suggestions.  Clicking any of the two icons on the left boarder also doesn't produce anything.  Is there anything I'm doing wrong or haven't done properly?

Here's a screen shot:

I get this when I initially log into my account, and clicking Photos takes me to pages of photos. I've always thought of my own use of adblocking as pretty aggressive and I block all sorts of things, but maybe there is something in your adblocking that's causing this problem?

[mbaginy]

Thanks John, my ad-block has been blocking the LR site.  After omitting the LR site from the blocking, I now also see all that information (as well as my synced images).

I'm breathing a sigh of relief; things seem to be functioning now.  Thanks for your assistance John, Ron and Rikk!  I've learned a great deal in the past days.  Some questions remain but I'll not worry about them.

[john beardsworth]

Hopefully those questions will soon answer themselves!

[rdonson]

For the record my ad/tracker blockers in Chrome include:

- Ghostery
- Flash Blocker
- AdBlock
- Privacy Badger (EFF)

In Safari I use:

- 1Blocker

On my iPad and iPhone if I'm not at home I use:

- 1Blocker

If I'm using WiFi outside of my house I also use Open VPN

[mbaginy]

Ron, I never thought of running various ad-blockers in parallel.  Maybe my experience with anti virus software lead me to active only one.  Thanks for your list.