New Lightroom user / Old question & frustration about OneDrive

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Goodwood Contributing Member • Posts: 923
New Lightroom user / Old question & frustration about OneDrive

Hi
Trust me I have spent hours Googling this issue but no one seems to have an answer that works.

My situation is that I am using Lightroom with Creative Cloud and also have a 1TB 365 account that is nearly full. I have a 1TB C: disk that is half full. I have a 1TB D: disk that is almost empty.
All I want is for my Library (or whatever it is called) of imported RAW files to be stored on the D: drive rather than in Pictures on OneDrive. If Adobe is storing them in the Cloud I see no point in storage of local copies actually being with another cloud provider. No matter what I do, fresh installs etc I can’t change this.
Has anyone ever achieved this and would they mind telling me how to do it - preferably with settings but if I have to move stuff, do registry edits then I will do? After less than a week I am thoroughly fed up of this and it is preventing me from getting on and using it. I am seriously considering scrapping the subscription while I can, even though I fundamentally like the ecosystem.

Thanks

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mclewis Senior Member • Posts: 1,593
Re: New Lightroom user / Old question & frustration about OneDrive
1

Goodwood wrote:

Hi
Trust me I have spent hours Googling this issue but no one seems to have an answer that works.

My situation is that I am using Lightroom with Creative Cloud and also have a 1TB 365 account that is nearly full. I have a 1TB C: disk that is half full. I have a 1TB D: disk that is almost empty.
All I want is for my Library (or whatever it is called) of imported RAW files to be stored on the D: drive rather than in Pictures on OneDrive. If Adobe is storing them in the Cloud I see no point in storage of local copies actually being with another cloud provider. No matter what I do, fresh installs etc I can’t change this.
Has anyone ever achieved this and would they mind telling me how to do it - preferably with settings but if I have to move stuff, do registry edits then I will do? After less than a week I am thoroughly fed up of this and it is preventing me from getting on and using it. I am seriously considering scrapping the subscription while I can, even though I fundamentally like the ecosystem.

Thanks

Do you have Lightroom or Lightroom Classic?  If you are using Lightroom Classic then you just put the pictures on the other drive.  If you are using Lightroom I have no idea as I don't use it.

(unknown member) Senior Member • Posts: 2,064
Re: New Lightroom user / Old question & frustration about OneDrive

Goodwood wrote:

Hi
Trust me I have spent hours Googling this issue but no one seems to have an answer that works.

My situation is that I am using Lightroom with Creative Cloud and also have a 1TB 365 account that is nearly full. I have a 1TB C: disk that is half full. I have a 1TB D: disk that is almost empty.
All I want is for my Library (or whatever it is called) of imported RAW files to be stored on the D: drive rather than in Pictures on OneDrive. If Adobe is storing them in the Cloud I see no point in storage of local copies actually being with another cloud provider. No matter what I do, fresh installs etc I can’t change this.
Has anyone ever achieved this and would they mind telling me how to do it - preferably with settings but if I have to move stuff, do registry edits then I will do? After less than a week I am thoroughly fed up of this and it is preventing me from getting on and using it. I am seriously considering scrapping the subscription while I can, even though I fundamentally like the ecosystem.

Thanks

You can have your files imported to any drive or folder you want by simply telling Lightroom where to place those files. See this video on importing files and saving where you want...

And BTW, the "Pictures" folder need not be tied to OneDrive (mine isn't)... Turn On or Off OneDrive Folder Backup Syncing Across Windows 11 Devices Tutorial | Windows 11 Forum (elevenforum.com).

Though I use OneDrive, I don't have Pictures, Documents, or Desktop sync'd to OneDrive for backup.  The tutorial linked above will show you how to disable/enable syncing.

OP Goodwood Contributing Member • Posts: 923
Re: New Lightroom user / Old question & frustration about OneDrive

Thanks for the reply both. I aim to use both versions of Lightroom, if I see a need and if I can live with the different interfaces. Why couldn’t they combine them by now?

OK thanks for the confirmation about moving the Pictures folder. It was on my list to try out. It helps to know that someone has actually done this in 2022

Should I uninstall everything and then Regis install after moving “Pictures”?

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SecondTimeAround Contributing Member • Posts: 731
Re: New Lightroom user / Old question & frustration about OneDrive
1

Goodwood wrote:

Thanks for the reply both. I aim to use both versions of Lightroom, if I see a need and if I can live with the different interfaces. Why couldn’t they combine them by now?

OK thanks for the confirmation about moving the Pictures folder. It was on my list to try out. It helps to know that someone has actually done this in 2022

Should I uninstall everything and then Regis install after moving “Pictures”?

I've never moved any of the special default folders, Documents, Downloads, Pictures, etc.

I prefer to create new folders with the same (or similar) names on my data drive and tell programs that use the special folders to use the ones I created instead.

As with many things, YMMV.

OP Goodwood Contributing Member • Posts: 923
Re: New Lightroom user / Old question & frustration about OneDrive

Dont know where Regis came from. That should have been reinstall. 
I spent a lot of time trying that, including reinstalls but it nothing worked and I don’t seem alone there. Sure there are settings in preferences but they don’t work. Adobe needs to make this easy for people.

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(unknown member) Senior Member • Posts: 2,064
Re: New Lightroom user / Old question & frustration about OneDrive

Goodwood wrote:

OK thanks for the confirmation about moving the Pictures folder. It was on my list to try out. It helps to know that someone has actually done this in 2022

Should I uninstall everything and then Regis install after moving “Pictures”?

Just follow the procedures in the linked tutorial. No need to uninstall/reinstall anything.

OP Goodwood Contributing Member • Posts: 923
Re: New Lightroom user / Old question & frustration about OneDrive

Thanks. I’ll give it a go over the weekend.

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(unknown member) Senior Member • Posts: 2,064
Re: New Lightroom user / Old question & frustration about OneDrive

Goodwood wrote:

Thanks. I’ll give it a go over the weekend.

It's not like the procedure is overly complicated. In fact, the whole thing should take less than a minute (if that).

Good luck.

OP Goodwood Contributing Member • Posts: 923
Re: New Lightroom user / Old question & frustration about OneDrive

Perhaps I should have clarified. I want to use Creative Cloud as my main storage. I have set this up to work almost perfectly. I can go in through my iPad and other devices. I can access photos through my Windows machine in Lightroom, I can access “Lightroom” photos in Classic. The only thing I want to change is the default sync folder for Lightroom - not Classic. This is where the problem lies.

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(unknown member) Senior Member • Posts: 2,064
Re: New Lightroom user / Old question & frustration about OneDrive

Goodwood wrote:

The only thing I want to change is the default sync folder for Lightroom - not Classic. This is where the problem lies.

I don't use "Lightroom" only use "Lightroom Classic" so I can't answer that question. BTW a Google search for "folder synchronization" only shows up for dealing with "Lightroom Classic" so.... 🤷‍♂️

That said, this "might" be of interest - How to sync Lightroom Classic photos with Lightroom (adobe.com).  It looks like you need to go through "Classic" to setup syncing parameters to include changing the default folder.

Good luck.

OP Goodwood Contributing Member • Posts: 923
Sorted - I think

OK thanks all. I think I have it working and currently moving originals to the new location. Last time I tried this LR refused to accept my location in Preferences and kept resetting it. This it retained the path I gave it.

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BobT3218 Senior Member • Posts: 2,222
Re: New Lightroom user / Old question & frustration about OneDrive

Lightroom Classic (LrC) was never intended to work with network drives and can't be made to do so nicely.  That's why Adobe developed Lr (cloudy).  LrC will seem to work in the cloud with a small catalogue but will begin to become unreliable as the catalogue gets bigger.
I have a simple system that I think works very well.  LrC software and associated files are on the C: drive and interact with OneDrive as normal.  However, all the image files are on the D: drive in a nice hierarchy of folders in YYYY-MM-DD order.  The D: drive does not interact with OneDrive.  Also, on the D: drive is the catalogue, 2nd copies and the catalogue backups.  It's just a matter of pointing the software to the catalogue on the D: drive.  The catalogue knows to location of the images in the image folders.
As you probably know, OneDrive is a weird animal that cannot be viewed as a simple cloud drive.  It's a kind of interactive mirror of the C: drive and therefore unsuitable for backups.  However, I use SyncBackPro for backups.  It has a way of using OneDrive to store backups.  Don't ask me how or why it works but it does.

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