Today’s Question: Can you move an image from Lightroom Classic on your computer to your smartphone in order to use the Lightroom mobile app?
Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can make a photo in a Lightroom Classic catalog available in the Lightroom mobile app by adding the image to a collection that has synchronization enabled. Changes you apply within Lightroom mobile will then automatically synchronize back to your Lightroom Classic catalog.
More Detail: Lightroom Classic revolves around local photo storage, meaning you manage the overall storage and folder structure for your photos directly, such as with external hard drives connected to your computer. However, you can still leverage cloud-based storage by synchronizing photos to the Adobe Creative Cloud.
In Lightroom Classic photo synchronization to the cloud is managed through the use of collections with synchronization enabled. First, you’ll want to make sure that synchronization is actually enabled for your Lightroom Classic catalog. To do so, click on the cloud icon at the top-right of the Lightroom Classic interface. On the popup that appears, look for a button at the bottom-left that says “Pause Syncing”. That means that synchronization is enabled already. If the button says “Start Syncing”, it means that synchronization is paused, so you’ll need to click that button to enable synchronization.
Next, add photos to a collection within the Collections section of the left panel in the Library module, creating a new collection if needed by clicking the plus (+) icon to the right of the Collections heading on the left panel in the Library module and choosing “Create Collection” from the popup.
Once you have a collection that contains photos you want to synchronize to the cloud, you’ll want to make sure synchronization is turned on for the collection. To the left of the collection name within the Collections section of the left panel you want to make sure there is a sync icon to the left of the collection. This icon looks like a double-headed arrow, somewhat similar to a lightning bolt.
If you don’t see the synchronization icon, click on the empty box that will appear to the left of the collection when you hover your mouse over the name of the collection. That will turn on synchronization, and the photos within the collection will start synchronizing to the cloud.
You can then use the Lightroom app on your mobile device (or point a web browser to lightroom.adobe.com) in order to view and update the synchronized photos. Any changes you make will synchronize back to the images within your Lightroom Classic catalog.