Skip to main content
Adobe Photoshop Family
peter_r_hawkes_3815288

8 Messages

 • 

228 Points

Mon, Apr 10, 2017 10:23 AM

Answered

Lightroom Classic/Mobile: Sync permanently pending

I am using the latest version of Lightroom CC and its iOS Apps on iPad and iPhone.

My online Lr account Dashboard shows I have 9296 images and 10 videos

Both iOS devices agree and have total showing correctly at 9306

Lr Desktop itself is stuck on synching 42 photos which show as Pending in the synch list. All photos synched with iOS devices are stored in  a separate directory and the total shows in Lr Desktop as 8785.

How do I force Lr past this 'pending' phase and get it to 'see' all the images the majority of which have been imported on the iPad from Camera Roll?

Peter H

Question

 • 

Updated 

9 months ago

397

14

Responses

Victoria_Bampton_Lightroom_Queen

Champion

 • 

5.9K Messages

 • 

104K Points

4 years ago

Firstly, make sure the iPhone and iPad both say "up to date" just in case they're pending because they haven't finished uploading.

Secondly, go to LR's Preferences > Mobile tab and click on one of the files that it thinks are pending and check that it's definitely safely in the cloud.

Thirdly, which desktop OS do you use? Clearing the local Sync Data cache often does the trick (I had to do the same thing morning), but I'll need to dig up the right path for your OS.

Victoria Bampton a.k.a. The Lightroom Queen

www.lightroomqueen.com

Author of Adobe Lightroom Classic - The Missing FAQ and Adobe Lightroom - Edit Like a Pro books.

0

peter_r_hawkes_3815288

8 Messages

 • 

228 Points

4 years ago

Thank you for the prompt response Victoria;

1. Yes, both say up to date

2. Synch Type: Pending Asset Path/Link: starts https://lightroom.adobe.com/ libraries ...... Synch Details: Gives name of iPad and image filename

3. Windows 10

Peter H

0

0

Victoria_Bampton_Lightroom_Queen

Champion

 • 

5.9K Messages

 • 

104K Points

4 years ago

When you click on that https link, does the photo show up correctly in the web browser?

If so, back up your desktop catalog just for peace of mind.

Quit Lightroom. 
Go to C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Adobe\Lightroom\Caches\Sync Data\ and delete (or rename) the Sync.lrdata folder. Restart Lightroom and it should try to reconcile your local synced data and the cloud synced data. That usually does the trick.

Victoria Bampton a.k.a. The Lightroom Queen

www.lightroomqueen.com

Author of Adobe Lightroom Classic - The Missing FAQ and Adobe Lightroom - Edit Like a Pro books.

16

viktor_hou_ka

3 Messages

 • 

32 Points

I am using Mac iOS ... where to locate that folder there? I am having the same trouble and iPhone is up to date...

Like

2 years ago

0

John_R_Ellis

Champion

 • 

5.4K Messages

 • 

95.8K Points

There's now an easier way to do this: Go to Preferences > Lightroom Sync. Hold down Opt / Alt and click the button Rebuild Sync Data that magically appears. 

Like

2 years ago

viktor_hou_ka

3 Messages

 • 

32 Points

A magic indeed - and it works! Thank you.

Like

2 years ago

0

ASKproduKtion

3 Messages

 • 

82 Points

For months my Lightroom Classic has been stuck syncing 1 photo. I recently uploaded a lot of content to Lightroom mobile while I was away for some weeks, when I got home it was now stuck syncing a couple hundred photos. I tried the "Rebuild Sync Data" suggested above, and it cleared away the couple hundred photos, save and except for one single photo. I have tried "Rebuild Sync Data" multiple times, but still it remains stuck syncing one photo... help?

Like

2 years ago

0

akshay_mathur

33 Messages

 • 

698 Points

Here is a shortcut to do the same : Classic -> Preferences -> Lightroom Sync -> Press alt/option -> Click on Rebuild Sync data .

Like

2 years ago

john_porter_363h4dqxk0bov

2 Messages

 • 

70 Points

Wow! Thats a magic tip.  So easy when you know how.  many thanks, Akshay.

Like

2 years ago

0

frank_kohn

23 Messages

 • 

340 Points

When you say alt/option I assume that means alt on a windows machine and option on a mac. I tried alt on a windows machine but didn't see anything that said Rebuild Synch data.

Like

2 years ago

0

ninjaneer80

40 Messages

 • 

712 Points

Victoria, this worked for me as well going to the physical location 

Akshay - I tried doing the ALT - Rebuild Sync Data, and that is what caused the permanent pending options. I went that route because I was getting errors syncing, and once I click rebuild everything was stuck on pending. Doing the above wiped out all pending and now there is no activity. 

Hopefully lightroom does a check to see if I have everything in the lightroom cc echo system folder. 

Like

2 years ago

0

pedro_marques_89u9zxs478fro

1 Message

 • 

62 Points

Wow... that worked Akshay! I've often encountered this issue, eventually just giving up and allowing 3 photos to be syncing forever and ignoring the warnings when closing the app. Hopefully Adobe can prevent this issue from happening to begin with but alt/option Rebuild Sync Data worked for me. 

Like

2 years ago

0

charles_brooks

2 Messages

 • 

90 Points

I'd been searching for this fix for about a year... Rebuild sync data fixed it. Thanks.

Like

2 years ago

0

alexandra_pobortscha

3 Messages

 • 

120 Points

How would this work on a Mac? thanks*

Like

2 years ago

rajat_ghadigaonkar

4 Messages

 • 

92 Points

Please give a solution for android mobile app too.

Like

a year ago

0

rajat_ghadigaonkar

4 Messages

 • 

92 Points

Please give a solution for android mobile app too.

Like

a year ago

0

martin_schultheis

3 Messages

 • 

108 Points

I had the same issue with the iOS Lightroom mobile app: Sync pending for ever.
The "clear cache" button inside that app did not help.
Uninstalling that app and reinstalling from appstore did help.

Many of these sync problems are related to broken local data storage. This is the reason why uninstalling solves the issue. This will wipe all local data of course, including the broken local sync cache.

Don't know why Adobe software developers are unable to detect such inconsistency situations and heal it without user intervention.

Like

a year ago

fauve_othon

1 Message

 • 

60 Points

This didn't work for me, I still have 26 pending files on my LR desktop app WIN10... how do I fix this??

Like

9 months ago

0

tpnotes

85 Messages

 • 

1.7K Points

You can try this:
Go to the sync settings in the preferences. You should see a list with those 26 pending files. Click on them one by one and delete them from the sync. Wait a while and see, if the sync is going back to normal. If everything is back to normal, add those 26 images to "all synced photos". If sync stuck again, something might be wrong with the metadata of one or more of those images.

Like

9 months ago

tpnotes

85 Messages

 • 

1.7K Points

4 years ago

If you have not done so yet, you can try to pause the sync of the desktop app and then restarting it after closing and restarting Lightroom.

I had a similar issue a couple of month ago and it worked for me back then.

0

0

peter_r_hawkes_3815288

8 Messages

 • 

228 Points

4 years ago

Victoria

I had already gone with your original suggestion and backed-up and deleted the sync.lrdata file.

On restart lost of activity and now Lr reports in Preferences that sync is complete and all is good!!

Thank you for your support.

Peter H

0

0

frank_kohn

23 Messages

 • 

340 Points

3 years ago

My synch data seems to be stuck as well. Using LR 2015.13 on windows 10 and I have a long list of images waiting to be synched but the latest collection I'm trying to synch is not showing up on my ipad.  Can I just delete the synch data folder as well?  Error messages  listed include Master image missing, error. But the latest collection I tried to synch has all the master photos in place.

0

0

frank_denis

12 Messages

 • 

260 Points

3 years ago

Another (presumably safer) workaround is to click the "Syncing x photos" link in the top left. This opens the "Lightroom sync" preference pane, that displays what photos are trying t be synced.
Click each of them, and change anything to them. I usually just change the rating, and set it immediately back to the original value.
This should make these pictures sync again.

0

0

jeffrey_rothburd

3 Messages

 • 

90 Points

2 years ago

Frank Denis’ suggestion worked like a charm!

0

0

jeffrey_rothburd

3 Messages

 • 

90 Points

2 years ago

Replied too soon. Didn’t work. Also deleted sync.lrdata folder. That din’t help either. Anybody at Adobe monitor this? Any suggestions??

0

0

roy_mclaren

44 Messages

 • 

750 Points

2 years ago

Have same/similar issue. "Syncing 1 photo" link at top left remains on all the time. On reading this thread also tried renaming sync.Irdata folder forcing re-build of sync data. Now that that's complete I still have the "syncing 1 photo" message. When I click on link it says there is no sync activity, 0 uploading, 0 downloading, 0 pending!

0

0

eric_bordelon

1 Message

 • 

60 Points

2 years ago

Same issue here, I can't seem to find that sync.lrdata file equivalent on the Mac.  

I cleared out all data from the cloud, did the alt+ data thing too, and started over, but no luck.  It'll start to sync and then get held up,  the number of synced images goes up then down then back up.

0

0

veronica_contino

3 Messages

 • 

120 Points

2 years ago

MY SOLUTION:  I have been struggling with this issue for a LONG LONG Time.  I have uninstalled and Reinstalled.  i have Migrated, Deleted and Remigrated.  I finally figured out a SOLID SOLUTION that worked PERFECTLY for me.  

Open Both CC & Classic.
In Classic, Click on the Highlighted "Syncing" number on the top left.  
When the Window Opens, and you see the Images that are Pending Or Downloading,   Click on one of them and they will open up a Browser CC tab. 
**My tab had no image, just image data. 
Click the BACK ARROW in the Top Left Corner.  It will then open up a CC Window in your browser that will have images that have been trying to sync. 
Click all of them and DELETE.
Wait 2 minutes,  Then Sign Out of both CC & CLassic
Restart Both CC & Classic.
Sign In Both CC & Classic
Wait a few minutes and the Syncing Errors should be gone.  

This worked for me.  I hope it works for you as well.  Good Luck 

2

ninjaneer80

40 Messages

 • 

712 Points

I have done the solution from Victoria and it works from time to time. 

But what you suggested works as well, soon as I click delete from syncing errors, I don't need to log out or close the programs. I see it disappear right away. 

I haven't gone and looked yet to see what photos I am potentially missing out on saving

Like

2 years ago

0

jacob_egbert

3 Messages

 • 

84 Points

Hi, Veronica,
I am intrigued by your SOLID SOLUTION... But I can't seem to make it work. Why do you need to open CC? I installed and opened CC but it seems to make no difference since links just lead to a browser window.

From classic (trying to sync 5K images for two weeks now) I click the blue "syncing" number. Once errors appear under the "sync activity" (far fewer than the 5K in perpetual syncing status) I click the Asset Path/Link. It opens a tab in my browser with a LR mobile screen that almost never loads an image. There's an edit button in the top left. There is no BACK ARROW. If you mean the browser back arrow it is greyed out since the browser is on the first landing location from the link.

I can close the photo window (x in top right) and see my entire cloud gallery, but there's no indication of which photo is in error status.

Is there somewhere else you've described this in more detail? Or can you tell what I'm missing from my description?

Thanks!

Like

2 years ago

0

kyle_wells_avjgggq2ata5o

4 Messages

 • 

92 Points

2 years ago

Hello, I've had a similar issue. However, none of my previous photos are showing up and my Lightroom is stuck syncing. Can I get some help?

0

0

arnold_bartel

216 Messages

 • 

4.8K Points

a year ago

I also hate the sync issues when Lightroom Classic freezes/shuts down when syncing. ANd when reopening Lightroom I get a message that I would use a wrong catalog.
As these freezes happen due to bugs in LR I'm really not amused to end in a loop restartig LR several times and having to delete several images from LR classic and in LR web to reestablish syncing...

0

0

Helpful Widget

Tags

No tags available