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Back in October 2011 Adobe launched its Created Cloud service, and it promised to revolutionise how creatives work. An improved workflow, cloud storage for those vital design files and images etc, and all for a convenient monthly or annual subscription fee. On the face of it, this seemed like an awesome idea. It introduced the Adobe suite of products to an unlimited number of users that never had the finances to buy them. Back in the day, you would have to shell out thousands of pounds (or dollars) to buy all their products, but now you can subscribe to them on a monthly or annual subscription. A much more affordable way to purchase software.

However, they made one enormous, massive mistake. And it’s one they are refusing to admit or do anything about. It is certainly one that a very large community of users have been asking for since it’s release back in 2011. What’s awful, is Adobe are either trying to ignore the community, or just don’t know how to undo this script-kiddy mistake. Allow me to expound:

The issue is specifically with Lightroom CC and how this application uses the CC storage option

• Let’s say you have a desktop and a tablet.
• Let’s say you are a professional or semi professional photographer.
• Let’s say you have multiple catalogues, with many thousands of images.
• Let’s say you want to organise and edit your images on both devices.

Well, if you want to do the above, you are going to run into the same problems everyone else is having….. it’s a painfully slow, time consuming and pointless workflow.

Why? Because you have to upload all your images to the Adobe CC servers from your desktop, and then download all your images from the Adobe CC servers to your tablet. Despite the fact that they are on the table next to each other and can be connected via a synch cable. And, you can only synch one catalogue. So, if you have more than one catalogue (as many of us do), when you switch between different catalogues you have to go through the painful process of deleting all the online database and catalogue images, and re-uploading files from the new catalogue each and every time.

Yep, it’s that stupid.

When is this a problem? Well, there are several issues here. Despite BroadBand internet providers offering very fast services (30MB download speeds and above) this is not going to be your upload speed. Upload speeds can be as low as 1mb. Not only that, providers throttle speeds (especially upload speeds) at different times of the day based on usage in your area to prevent anyone having issues. This will have a massive impact on how long it takes you to upload all your image files to the Adobe CC servers. I’ve personally left processes uploading overnight, only to return in the morning to find it still uploading…….

This could so easily be solved by allowing local file transfers between devices via synch cable or even local WiFi.

For some strange reason, Adobe can’t (or won’t) solve the problem. Having analysed how their systems work, and having worked with other cloud services, it’s an easy fix.

I do not know how long Adobe will continue to ignore its client base. Don’t hold your breath.