Today’s Question: I wanted to ask a question about taking a break from photography and what to do with my photos in the meantime. What to do with my Lightroom Classic catalog? I currently am paying the monthly Adobe Creative Cloud subscription but would like to stop. I’m not sure what will happen with my photos or how I would view them.
Tim’s Quick Answer: You can actually simply suspend your Adobe Creative Cloud subscription, and you’ll still be able to import, manage, and export photos in the Library module. You won’t, however, be able to update your photos in the Develop module.
More Detail: While the Creative Cloud plans are subscription-based, if you cancel your subscription, you won’t lose access to your local photo storage or your Lightroom Classic catalog. You can therefore suspend your subscription and continue working in a limited fashion with Lightroom Classic.
As noted above, that includes being able to manage your photos in the Library module, including importing, organizing, and exporting photos. You won’t be able to work in the Develop module, but you could always export copies of your photos and use other software to apply any additional adjustments.
Should you decide you’d like to have full access to Lightroom Classic again, including new software updates, you can activate your subscription again. As needed, you would be able to upgrade Lightroom Classic and upgrade your existing catalog for that new version if applicable.
The bottom line is that suspending your Creative Cloud subscription is not as scary as it might seem when it comes to using the catalog in Lightroom Classic.