Today’s Question: Several weeks ago when I opened Photoshop, this message showed up: “Syncing your Creative Cloud files, please wait.” What does it mean? Do I just ignore it? Can I get rid of it?
Tim’s Quick Answer: This message refers to the synchronization of files saved in your “Creative Cloud Files” folder. You can disable synchronization if you prefer, or simply remove files from the Creative Cloud Files folder on your computer.
More Detail: Many photographers are familiar with the synchronization of photos that is available with Lightroom Classic CC or Lightroom CC. In addition, however, with an Adobe Creative Cloud plan (https://timgrey.me/creativecloud) you can synchronize other files to make them available from any Creative Cloud application, or directly from your computer.
The message mentioned in today’s question indicates that synchronization is taking place. You may have inadvertently saved a file to the synchronization folder, either within Photoshop or from another application.
If you want to disable synchronization for any reason, you can do so within the Creative Cloud application. Start by clicking on the icon for the Creative Cloud icon on the menu bar or task bar. Click the icon with three dots at the top-right of the application popup, and choose Preferences from the menu that appears.
On the Preferences page click the Creative Cloud tab at the top-center. Then choose Files from the menu below the Creative Cloud tab. To disable synchronization, turn off the Creative Cloud Sync checkbox. This will disable synchronization without deleting the local copies of your files.
If you’d like to review (and possibly delete) images that are being synchronized, you just need to browse the folder that is being used for files to be synchronized with Creative Cloud. From the home page of the Creative Cloud application choose Files, and then click the Open Folder button. This will bring up a folder in your operating system displaying the folder that Creative Cloud is using for file synchronization. You can delete files from this folder, or move them to another folder, based on your intent for the files saved in this location.