Can I create photo albums on an iPad and sync those selections back to a Windows PC or Lightroom?
Asked 9/9/2012
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I want a workflow where I import photos on a Windows PC (ideally into Lightroom), copy them to an iPad for culling/organizing, then create albums or selections on the iPad and have those albums show up again on the PC. Ideally I would sync only the selected photos or album membership back, not duplicate the whole library, and syncing ratings/metadata would be a bonus. Is this possible with Lightroom and an iPad, or are most options only one-way from PC to iPad?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
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I use Lightroom Publish Services (tinker around with the settings for quality and space) to Export the photos to an iPad folder on my hard drive. I then use an app called PhotoSync which you can download on the iPad/iPhone and an app for Windows/Mac. When you have the app open on the iPad then you can select the photos on your PC and transfer them over WiFi.
It works quickly and doesn't appear to affect the quality of the photos. Photos look fantastic on my iPad with Retina Display. It is not as seamless I was hoping for but it is the best I have found so far.
The only problem is that even though it does sort the photos into albums in the iPads native Photos app it will have a photo in the Camera Roll. Due to iOS limitations if you delete the photo in the camera roll it will delete the photo everywhere. A bit of a pain if you use iCloud as you will quickly hit your limits so I have had to turn off Photo Stream and backing up of photos via iCloud (duplicates if you have an iPhone using the same iCloud account!). Also a bit annoying that I have 2000+ pictures in my Camera Roll although you could trick people into thinking photos you took with a DSLR were all took with your iPhone!!
Originally by user13703. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user13703
13y ago
0
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A full two-way album sync from iPad back into Lightroom/Windows is generally limited, especially with the iPad’s native Photos app. Based on the answers, most workflows are one-way: Lightroom/PC to iPad.
What does work:
- Export or publish photos from Lightroom to a folder on your PC, then transfer them to the iPad with PhotoSync over Wi‑Fi.
- This can preserve album organization on the iPad, but iOS may also place images in Camera Roll, and managing them there has limitations.
- Mosaic View can give iPad access to your Lightroom catalog and collections, but at the time described it did not support two-way syncing of collection changes.
- Photo Shack Pro was suggested as a possible option for organizing albums on iPad and exporting them back via iTunes file sharing, but it was not personally verified.
So: yes, partial workflows exist, but seamless two-way syncing of album selections from iPad back into Lightroom is not really supported in the options mentioned. The most practical approach is usually PC/Lightroom as the master library, with the iPad used mainly for viewing, culling, or temporary organization.
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AI13y ago
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